Lisa Frankenstein

Posted on February 8, 2024 at 12:43 pm

B-
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for violent content, sexual assault|, language, bloody Images, sexual material, teen drinking, and drug content
Profanity: Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Teen drinking and drug use
Violence/ Scariness: Extended peril and violence, characters brutally killed, character sees her mother killed by an ax murderer, re-animated corpse, mutilation, murder
Diversity Issues: None
Lisa Frankenstein Copyright 2024 Focus

An uneven mash-up of 80s teen comedy and horror wisely relies on the terrific Kathryn Newton as the title character, a high school girl whose mother was hacked to death by an ax murderer. Her father quickly remarried and they have moved in with her new stepmother, Janet (Carla Gugino), and step-sister, Taffy (Liza Soberano), a sunny-spirited cheerleader.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody famously began her film, “Jennifer’s Body,” with Amanda Seyfried saying, “Hell is a teenage girl.” That is the theme of that film, this film, and even her sweet, beloved screenplay for “Juno.” “Lisa Frankenstein’s” best moments are the ones that play off of the idea that horror and high school are a lot closer than we like to admit. So when Lisa falls for a re-animated corpse of a 19th century musician who died young, she matter-of-factly explains to him that Taffy told her it’s a mistake to try to change a boy, so she is just going to accept him the way he is, rotted, foul-smelling flesh and all.

Well, she does clean him off. When he first staggers into her house, covered with mud from the grave, he looks like a golem. And he does not speak. Cole Sprouse plays a character who is just identified in the credits as “the Creature” (an allusion, like the title, to the original Frankenstein story — remember, Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster). He worked with a mime to make his non-verbal character as expressive as possible. Once the mud is washed off, as he becomes physically and emotionally re-connected to the world of the living, he gives us a sense of who he was and what he is feeling.

Newton, who memorably starred in the body-switching horror comedy “Freaky,” playing a high school girl whose body is occupied by the 6’5″ deranged serial killed played by Vince Vaughn, brings just the right tone to Lisa, who begins the story still shell-shocked from the loss of her mother and her new home with the superficially welcoming Janet and the just plain superficial Taffy. She finds it comforting to visit the abandoned cemetery in the woods, and that is where she see the grave of the Creature, with the handsome bust on the headstone. She whispers that she wishes she was with him, and somehow that calls him to her. Luckily, her after-school job doing repairs in a dry cleaning ship has given her sewing skills that will come in handy when it turns out the Creature needs some replacement body parts.

Williams relies too heavily on 80s references to make her points. Those who did not come of age in that era will not have the instant emotional connection (or laugh) she is hoping for. The opening credits are a witty mash-up of 80s-era Lisa Frank designs and Victorian silhouette animation. It is a lot of fun to see Newton as Lisa become confident and brave, rocking those 80s, Madonna-influenced outfits, the 80s songs still hold up, and it is entertaining to see some switch-ups on the usual rom-com tropes. It’s the Creature who gets the trying-on-clothes sequence, for example. First-time feature director Zelda Williams (the daughter of Robin Williams) has some strong ideas but the tone wobbles when it tries to straddle.

Parents should know that this is a horror movie and many characters are murdered in a gory manner. It includes sexual references and teen partying.

Family discussion: What 80s touches are most important in this movie? Why was Lisa so drawn to the abandoned cemetery? What do you like best about horror movies?

If you like this, try: “Freaky” and “Young Frankenstein”

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The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Posted on November 16, 2023 at 5:45 pm

B
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for largely bloodless child death and disturbing content
Profanity: Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Some alcohol, drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness: Extended and graphic peril and violence including teens murdering teens. Characters are shot, impaled, poisoned, bitten by snakes, and hung.
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: November 17, 2023

Copyright Sony 2023

The Hunger Games prequel is a villain origin story. The popular trilogy centered on rebel Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), in a dystopic world ruled by Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland). Author Suzanne Collins was flipping channels one night and saw both sports events and news footage of the Iraq War. This inspired her idea of a future society where entertainment — and the fundamentals of a totalitarian society — rest on a television show with teenagers competing to the death like gladiators. The grotesquery of the competition is reflected in a perverted concept of the selection process as patriotic and the young competitors paraded in glamorous attire before the “games” begin.

Collins has said she was drawn to “the idea of an unjust war developing into a just war because of greed, xenophobia and longstanding hatreds.” With this new installment, we get a better look at how that happens, on both a structural level and a personal one. Young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), whose name harks back to the title character in a Shakespearean tragedy about a general who is a hero in battle but becomes resentful that he is not honored enough by his community and then loses his own honor. As this story begins, he is a senior at the country’s prestigious school, barely scraping by with his grandmother (Fionnula Flannagan) and cousin who is like a sister (Hunter Schafer as Tigris). He does his best to keep up appearances as he hopes to win the school’s lucrative top prize for academic achievement. But there is an announcement — the prize has been canceled. The games, in the 10th year and much less elaborate than the ones we know from the original trilogy, are losing their audience. And so the candidates for the prize will each be assigned a games contestant to “mentor.” The contestant who does best — that means “spectacle, not survival.” The mentor who wins will be the one whose contestant gets the most support from the audience.

At this point, Coriolanus is devoted to his family and a loyal friend. He meets his assigned contestant, Lucy Gray (“West Side Story’s” Rachel Zegler) and quickly shifts from wanting her to be spectacle to wanting her to survive. Lucy is the songbird of the title, a roots-style singer with spirit and a strong sense of community.

The “games” are nowhere near as flamboyantly extravagant as the ones we have seen in the earlier films, and it is intriguing to see the foreshadowing and origins of the familiar elements. Jason Schwartzman as oily weatherman/magician/emcee Lucky Flickerman is not as outrageous as Elizabeth Banks’ Effie Trinket, but we can see the origins of the gulf between the “entertainment” and lethal in the tone of the events. Coriolanus himself is responsible for coming up with some of the most significant elements of the later games. Viola Davis has a lot of fun as mad, gene-splicing, snake-loving scientist Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Ms. Collins is quite the name-giver!) and Peter Dinklage shows us the terrible compromises of the school’s Dean, (another bonkers name) Casca Highbottom.

Fans of the series and the book will appreciate this faithful version, but others may find the relentless butchery outweighs the lessons about morality, trust, and resilience, leaving open the question of whether lethal gladiator games, even by proxy, are inevitably seen as entertainment.

Parents should know that this film includes intense and graphic violence including many murders with teenagers attacking other teenagers and military attacking civilians. Characters are shot, impaled, poisoned, bitten by snakes, and hung. The MPA’s “largely bloodless” rating is an inadequate description of the images, many of which are graphic and disturbing.

Family questions: Were there any indications in the early scenes that Coriolanus might turn out the way he did? Was he trustworthy? Why did he record Sejanus? What made Lucy Gray change her mind?

If you like this, try: the other “Hunger Games” movies and the books

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Bottoms

Posted on August 24, 2023 at 5:57 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated R for crude sexual content, pervasive language and some violence
Profanity: Very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Graphic violence including punching, martial arts, some disturbing images, some "comic" deaths
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: August 25, 2023

Copyright 2023 MGM
“Bottoms” is a cheerfully deranged take on the classic high school underdog story and I mean that in the nicest possible way. It’s a twisted take on the classic story of teenagers who want to have sex and be popular. Usually, that story is about boys. Almost always, it is about heterosexuals. This time, in a film written by director Emma Seligman and star Rachel Sennott, it is about two queer BFFs, not romantic partners, and the title comes from their status at the bottom of the ultra-hierarchy of their school. It is not because they are gay; lots of gay kids are popular. It is because they are “gay, ugly, and untalented,” at least from the narrow perspective of high school.

They both have impossible crushes. PJ (Sennott) yearns for Brittany (Kaia Gerber, with the supermodel bearing of her mother, Cindy Crawford). Josie (breakout star Ayo Edebiri) longs for the lovely Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), who is the girlfriend of the school’s star quarterback, Jeff (breakout star Nicholas Galitzine).

No one is even pretending to care about them or their education, including their principal (Wayne Pére) and their teacher, Mr. G. (a hilarious performance by football star Marshawn Lynch). The girls decide to start a self-defense fight club, despite having no ability or qualifications, because they think it might attract and impress Brittany and Isabel. Shockingly, Mr. G. agrees to be their sponsor. Even more shockingly, Brittany and Isabel show up. And most shocking of all, the girls in the group beat each other up and somehow feel empowered by it.

The girls have lied, though, about more than their intentions and skills. They said they learned to be tough when they were in juvie. They are so thrilled with how well the club is working, especially after Josie gets to comfort Isabel after she finds out Jeff has been cheating on her, that they do not think about what will happen when they are exposed.

Sennott, Galitzine, and Edebiri are a decade older than the characters they are playing, but this is not a movie that is going for realism. It is also not a movie that, like “PEN15” wants you to know that adults are playing teenagers. It just invites us into a world where somehow this all makes sense, and we are happy to follow along because the characters and situations are completely crazy but very funny. Heightened, even bizarre tones work well in stories of adolescence because that is a heightened, bizarre time of life. Every emotion and especially every humiliation seems so vitally important and earth-shaking, and the family support system that has been there all your life (if you are lucky) suddenly seems useless and incapable of understanding.

Galitzine could not be further from the elegant, refined, British prince he plays in “Red, White & Royal Blue.” His Jeff is an arrogant idiot and very funny. Edebiri (also in “The Bear” and “Theater Camp”) is a non-stop delight, with the most expressive face you will see on screen this year and a knock-out sense of timing. Needless to say, this movie is not for everyone, but those who appreciate subversive and transgressive humor will have a blast.

Parents should know that this movie has non-stop strong and crude language, a reference to suicide of a teenager, violence that becomes lethal, disturbing and graphic images, explicit sexual references and non-explicit sexual situations.

Family discussion: Is there anything in this movie that resembles your high school experience? What will happen next?

If you like this, try: “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” “Book Smart,” “Heathers,” and “Polite Society”

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Landscape with Invisible Hand

Posted on August 17, 2023 at 11:30 am

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language and brief violent content
Profanity: Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Alcohol
Violence/ Scariness: Suicide by gun
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: August 18, 2023

Wherever you think this is going, I can guarantee you will be surprised. Based on the book by National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson, “Landscape with Invisible Hand” is a story about the aftermath of an alien invasion of Earth, but not like one we’ve seen before. This is not about evil invaders like “War of the Worlds,” “The Tomorrow War,” “Independence Day,” or benign, wise aliens like “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and “E.T.” These aliens, called vuvv, do not look like giant insects, robots, or humans. They look like a cross between a big slab of pink tofu and a rectangular sofa cushion, with two big front teeth. One character calls them “squishy coffee tables.” They communicate by scraping their flippers together and the rasping sounds are translated by little bluetooth speaker-like boxes.

Copyright MGM 2023

The movie takes place a few years after they have colonized the Earth and siphoned off its wealth and resources. We are brought up to date over the opening credits, with a theramin-influenced score that is a throwback to 50’s sci-fi. We see a series of drawings, labeled as though they are in a museum, with titles, dates, and identification of media. The first is a very young child’s portrait of his family, and then we see his skill grow over the years. There is a drawing of a family Christmas. There is a drawing of a bustling market. And then there is a drawing of the market after the arrival of the aliens. It is empty of food and customers.

The artist is Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk), a high school student who lives with his mother, Beth (Tiffany Haddish) and sister Natalie (Brooklynn MacKinzie). Like most adults who have not sold out to the vuvv, Beth is unemployed, but they still have their home, which makes them much better off than most people. Adam impulsively offers their basement to Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers of “Yellowstone”), a new classmate who has been living in the family car with her anxious father (Josh Hamilton) and surly brother Hunter (Michael Gandolfini). Chloe and Adam like each other, and that creates an opportunity.

The vuvv are curious about human culture, especially romance. They pay to watch it. So Chloe and Adam attach sensors to their foreheads and start racking up views and money. That does not go well, And then things really take a turn.

That turn is strange and it gets stranger, in smart and interesting and thought-provoking ways I will not spoil. It is refreshing especially in what is usually the slowest time of year for movies to see one that is willing to challenge the audience. That applies to the small details, from the design of the vcvvs and their settings to the mixture of humiliation and resentment in the male Marshes, the way some humans adjust their appearances to more closely resemble the vuvv, the difference between two characters, each seen only in a single brief scene calibrate their priorities about their interactions with the aliens. And its message about art and its significance to those who create it and those who observe it, comes through with great clarity.

Parents should know that this film includes some strong language and a suicide by gun. It is offscreen but we see the blood splatter. There are some sexual references and brief underage drinking.

Family discussion: What parallels are there between the vuvv and historical colonizers? What does this movie say about the importance of art?

If you like this, try: The book by M.T. Anderson and the film “Upside Down”

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When You Finish Saving the World

Posted on January 19, 2023 at 6:00 pm

B +
Lowest Recommended Age: High School
MPAA Rating: Rated R for language
Profanity: Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Wine, teenage drug use
Violence/ Scariness: References to domestic abuse
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters: January 20, 2023

Credit: Beth Garrabrant Copyright 2022 !24
Jesse Eisenberg’s first feature film as writer and director is reminiscent of his breakthrough performance in Noah Baumbach’s “The Squid and the Whale.” They are both stories of teenagers beginning to understand themselves and their parents a little better through some of the inevitable painful discoveries of adolescence.

“Stranger Things'” Finn Wolfhard plays Ziggy, a high school student who is very proud of the 20 thousand fans worldwide who tune in to hear his weekly live streaming performances. He sings original songs he describes as “folk rock with alternative influences” and thanks them for their comments and tips in their native languages.

Ziggy lives with his parents, the reserved, bookish Roger (Jay O. Sanders) and the slightly formal and sardonic Grace (Julianne Moore), director of a shelter for women and children who are survivors of domestic abuse.

Both Ziggy and Grace make efforts to connect to new people. Abused wife Angie (Eleonore Hendricks, creating a character of great specificity and depth in her brief scenes) and her teenage son Kyle (Billy Bryk) arrive at the shelter after police intervention, and Grace is touched by Kyle’s empathy and support for his mother. She becomes over-involved in trying to help him, perhaps displacing her feelings out of frustration with Ziggy. When she brings him on errands and sees him warmly speaking Spanish with one of the shelter’s former residents, she abruptly insists on leaving. She encourages Kyle to apply to college, which makes Angie feel threatened.

And Ziggy is drawn to a girl at school. Her name is Lila (a wonderfully charismatic Alisha Boe). He awkwardly tries to impress her with his live streaming success, but sees that what she cares about is activism on behalf of social justice and the environment. He has no idea how to approach her, and his awkward attempts will be painfully familiar to anyone who has survived adolescence.

There are three kind of music in the film, perhaps three and a half. The first is the light, electronic tune played for us in the audience to establish the tone. The rest are diegetic, the music played and listened to by the characters. Grace favors classical music which she plays in the car. She listens to Bizet’s “Carmen” when she drives Ziggy to school, refusing when he asks her to play anything else. Ziggy plays his original songs on an acoustic guitar, at first about his feelings but then, as he using Lila’s poem about colonialism and exploitation of the Marshall Islands for lyrics.

Eisenberg’s screenplay, based on his Audible book, is thoughtful with an actor’s sensitivity to tone and character, with impeccable casting choices. He knows that he can tell us as much by having Ziggy and Kyle pass each other at school or by the Ziggy he walks down the same sidewalk at different times in the story as he does with Ziggy’s painfully awkward attempts to tell Lila how “lit” and “terra” she is. Moore, as Grace finally watching Ziggy’s songs on YouTube, gives another of her gorgeous performances, with so much going on underneath Grace’s air of righteousness, a sense of loss of the closeness she had to Ziggy as a child, exhaustion over the overwhelming difficulties of the people at the shelter. Some parts of the story do not quite work, but the details are thoroughly imagined and the performances are thoughtful and involving.

Parents should know that this film includes very strong language, wine, and teen drug use, with references to domestic abuse.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Grace want to listen to Ziggy’s music and what changed her mind? Why didn’t Grace tell the truth about helping Kyle? Why did Ziggy go to the shelter? What should he have said to Lila?

If you like this, try: “The Squid and the Whale” and “The Edge of Seventeen”

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