The Cabin in the Woods (2012) *****

What happens when you bring Joss Whedon (“Firefly”) and Drew Goddard ("Cloverfield") together? Same thing that happens when you play a tape recording of an old, Sumerian incantation (see “The Evil Dead”). You get something scary, funny, and absolutely amazing. Goddard is mainly known as a writer, with credits including the excellent monster flick “Cloverfield” and the outstanding "Bad Times at the El Royale." He knew Joss Whedon from writing episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Whedon, of course, needs no introduction. The two joined up to write what they hoped would be both a celebration and a critique of the horror genre.

I've been debating how much to say about the plot, without ruining the zany surprises. Basically, five friends head out to, you guessed it, a cabin in the woods, for a fun weekend. It doesn't turn out to be much fun. Let's just say they unleash horrible forces that will be familiar to horror fans. Meanwhile, one of the friends, despite constantly smoking weed, starts to realize that outside forces are influencing events.

And that's all I'll say. The surprises in this film are too delicious to ruin with anything as quotidian as a plot summary. From the very first scene, this movie will have you scratching your head, and it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. Even as confused as I was in the early scenes, it quickly became apparent that Cabin is way more intelligent than the standard horror film.

For horror fans, half the fun will be picking up on all the classic horror films referenced in the movie. The story most closely resembles Sam Raimi's 1981 classic “The Evil Dead,” but Cabin is littered with Easter Eggs from other films.

For non-horror fans who can deal with the gore in this movie, the payoff is a wickedly-funny critique of the horror genre and the audiences who lap it up. Cabin owes a debt in that regard to "Scream," another horror-comedy that deconstructs horror tropes. The background story of Cabin, however, is quite original. It invites us to examine ourselves to understand why horror films always seem to feature certain themes. Sex and nudity, of course, never go out of style. As one character laments, “Your basic, human needs disgust me!” A bigger question, though, is why we get so much satisfaction from watching young people suffer and die. As Drew Goddard opined in an interview, "Why do we feel this need to marginalize youth on screen? Why do we feel this need to idealize youth, and then slaughter them?" Another question is, why do so many horror films make a point of featuring a “Whore” and a “Virgin?” The Whore is a sexually-active, young woman, who usually is the first to die. The Virgin has to suffer tremendous horrors, but because she doesn't have sex, she may survive them. What's the lesson there? What underlying cultural values does that speak to?

Our art teaches us, and it also reflects us. Art can open our eyes, make us think, and teach us empathy. When it gets lazy, however, art may simply allow us to wallow in age-old prejudices and screwed-up double standards that we don't even realize we have. This is why art criticism is as important as art itself. “The Cabin in the Woods” works as both art and criticism, which is why it's a modern classic.

5 stars out of 5

Booksmart (2019) ***

In Olivia Wilde's directing debut, Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein play high-achieving BFFs on the last day of school. Having spent their school years buckled down, working hard, and notching academic achievements, they are smug in the knowledge that their hard work will put them miles ahead of their jock/stoner classmates in the game of life. They are stunned to discover that many of those slackers are also getting into Ivy League schools. Feeling like they may have done high school all wrong, the friends have a wild night trying to get to a graduation party that they view as their last chance to party. The adventure opens them up to new experiences, while testing their friendship.

If you feel like this sounds a lot like the 2007 movie "Superbad," you aren't alone. In interviews, Olivia Wilde has made known her displeasure at the frequent comparisons, blaming them on gender bias. The problem is, “Booksmart” pretty much IS a female version of “Superbad.” You would have to be blind to miss the similarities, and to top it off, Beanie Feldstein is actually the sister of “Superbad” star Jonah Hill. After watching “Booksmart,” I actually assumed that Wilde had intentionally done an adaptation of “Superbad,” so I was nonplussed to find her bitching and moaning about critics making the comparison.

The biggest difference between the two movies is that “Superbad” has an infinitely better supporting cast. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera get huge assists from Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogell), Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Emma Stone, and Joe Lo Truglio, and even the actors with small parts knock it out of the park. (Remember the liquor store clerk, or the crazy fight guys at that one party?) “Booksmart” has an undistinguished supporting cast, and has to rely entirely on the charms of Dever and Feldstein.

So, “Booksmart” is pretty much a low-rent, female version of “Superbad.” I feel that justice demands making this completely clear, what with Olivia Wilde out there whining about gender bias. Is it any good? Fortunately, yes! Dever and Feldstein are hilarious together, and the movie is a fun, raunchy comedy. It's not a classic like “Superbad,” but you could do a lot worse. I suggest you take a break from studying, and check it out!

3 stars out of 5

Judy (2019) ***

If you're a heterosexual male like myself, you probably haven't spent much time thinking about Judy Garland. I knew that she starred in “The Wizard of Oz” and later gave birth to Liza Minnelli, and that she had problems with drugs. She was a big deal, once upon a time, though. She was also a Hollywood cautionary tale. As a child actress, she was started on drugs to sleep and drugs to stay thin, and the chemical habit stuck with her, ultimately leading to an early death at age 47.

The film “Judy” focuses on the last few years of Garland's life, with a few flashbacks to lend context. The film picks up with Garland struggling to revive her waning career and make enough money to live. She winds up taking an offer to do a prolonged singing engagement in London, where she is still loved, especially by the gay community. She also meets and marries her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans, who tries to save her from herself. Unfortunately, Garland's self-destructive tendencies win out in the end.

Renee Zellweger plays Garland beautifully. If you pull up youtube videos of Garland's performances and interviews, even the drunk interviews, when her health was failing, her spirit really shines through. Even when she was a complete mess, she was classy, funny, and charming, and “Judy” captures that. Renee Zellweger has always looked a little like she is smiling through pain, so she was perfect casting for this role, even though she doesn't strictly look a lot like Judy Garland.

Rather than taking on Garlands's entire life and career, “Judy” focuses in on her final year. This focus lends it a much greater intimacy than a big biopic could have, and the film is poignant and absorbing. The film's strength, however, is also its weakness. Representing such a small piece of the life of an entertainer from before my time, “Judy” ends up being, for me, rather forgettable. Zellweger is rightfully nominated for an Oscar for the role, but by the time the Oscars roll around, I wonder how many people will be wondering why she is there.

3 stars out of 5

Midsommar (2019) ****

It would once have been odd that one of the best films of the year is a horror film, but we are living in a new Golden Age of horror, with movies like "Get Out," "Green Room," and "It Follows" exploring our darkest fears with great stories and great acting. I wasn't so sure about watching the latest from "Hereditary" writer/director Ari Aster. “Hereditary” was ably-directed, and plenty scary, but in the end I found the story didn't justify the gross-out scenes. Fortunately, for “Midsommar,” Aster has learned to scare the audience with what is implied, with just the occasional gore sprinkled in to remind us how fragile we are.

Florence Pugh plays Dani, whose emotionally-distant boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), is considering breaking up with her. That gets put on hold when Dani is struck by a family tragedy, and Christian winds up begrudgingly inviting her to come along with him and his grad-school buds on a summer trip to Sweden. The trip is ostensibly to witness a mid-summer ritual at an obscure commune, and another classmate, Josh, is planning to write about the event for his anthropology thesis. Really, though, the plan was to do drugs and hook up with Swedish girls, and Dani is clearly the 5^th wheel on this trip.

The commune is an interesting place, to say the least. The people, dressed all in white in honor of midsummer, call themselves the Harga, and they greet the visitors with hallucinogenic mushrooms. They are clearly an insular group, but they generously welcome Dani, Christian, and friends to share in their celebration. Dani, however, becomes increasingly unsettled by the Harga, and sleeps poorly in the almost constant daylight of Sweden's summer. It's not much of a spoiler to reveal that the Harga are a pagan cult, and they have ulterior motives in welcoming outsiders to their isolated community. Even if you didn't see the trailer, you get quite a bit of foreshadowing from the various artworks that appear throughout the film. The foreshadowing starts on the walls of Dani's apartment back home, and continues in the painting and needlepoint art at the Harga commune.

“Midsommar” is, at heart, a story about a relationship, and Aster actually wrote it in the wake of a painful break-up. I initially had some sympathy for Christian. At the beginning, I got the impression that he and Dani had only been dating a short time, and she WAS carrying a lot of emotional baggage. Then we learn that they have actually been together four years, at which point it is pretty messed up that Christian would forget Dani's birthday, let alone that she would hesitate to ask him to share her grief. Christian is the worst kind of lover, unwilling to invest emotionally, but too chicken to break up and move on. “Midsommar” is about Dani's alone-ness as she works through her grief and tries to rebuild her life and her self. Ultimately, Christian is another piece of baggage that Dani has to shed in order to heal and be free.

Florence Pugh is outstanding here. Dani is a character who has given up on herself, wearing baggy clothes and clearly not caring much how she looks. When she isn't wracked by grief, however, her natural beauty shines through. The actress is having quite a year. In addition to “Midsommar,” she is in “Little Women” and the upcoming “Black Widow.” In one year, she has done a culty, horror film; artsy, award-bait; and a big-paycheck, superhero movie. This girl's talent agent is psyched!

The big innovation in “Midsommar” is the trick of creating horror in broad daylight. The majority of horror films make use of darkness, as we fear what we cannot see. In the Harga commune, everything is brightly-lit, and if we and the characters don't see something, it's because we are looking away. The Harga make no attempt to hide the horrors there, and don't even view them as horrors. In the Swedish summer, the daylight never fully recedes, but there is still plenty to fear in “Midsommar.”

4 stars out of 5

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) **1/2

In my mind, there's no worse review you can give a movie than to say it's “alright.” Damning with faint praise is no fun; I'd much rather pan a movie or celebrate it. Sometimes, though, a movie is adequate to its task, and no more, and that's how I felt about “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

James Franco plays scientist Will Rodman. Will has developed a gene therapy for Alzheimer's. Introduced into a chimpanzee's brain using a virus, the gene makes them smarter. Unfortunately, one of the female chimps becomes inexplicably aggressive, and the project is scrapped. After all the chimps have been put down, the reason for the female's aggression become clear – she was hiding a baby in her cage. Will takes the baby home, names him Caesar, and raises him into a remarkably smart ape, one who we know is destined to lead a planet of apes.

It's a good-enough origin story, dragged down by lazy writing. James Franco does the best he can with the material, and Freida Pinto, as a veterinarian and love-interest, at least looks really good. John Lithgow chews some scenery as Will's father, who has Alzheimer's. (You didn't think they would have Will study Alzheimer's without having a completely obvious, personal motivation, did you?) The mustache-twirling villains are paper thin, doing whatever ridiculous action is required to advance the plot.

The brightest spot in the film is actor Andy Serkis, who did the physical acting and facial expressions on which the CGI character of Caesar was built. Serkis, who played Gollum in “Lord of the Rings,” owns this niche, and he's in top form here. With body language and facial expressions, he gives Caesar more subtlety and depth than all the human characters in this film, combined. If you have nothing better to do, it's worth watching the film just for him. Still, I can't help thinking that an infinite number of apes, typing on an infinite number of keyboards, could, given some time, write a better movie than this.

2.5 stars out of 5

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019) ***1/2

You have to know just a little bit of history to get this movie. The story is built around the Manson Family murders, in which members of Charles Manson's cult committed a series of home invasion murders in the summer of 1969. They killed the actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant, along with several other people.

But Quentin Tarantino's latest isn't about those events; they simply serve to anchor the story in time and space. The main story revolves around a fictional pair of friends, fading actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). No longer the leading man, Rick is now relegated to villain roles on TV shows. With Rick working less, Cliff doesn't get much work anymore, so he mostly scrapes by as Rick's driver/personal assistant. We find Rick in the midst of something of an existential crisis, trying to come to terms with his aging career, and considering an offer to make spaghetti-westerns in Italy. Cliff seems to be more philosophical about his place in life. He understands that he has a pretty easy job, basically getting paid to hang out with his best friend. Still, there's an edge to Cliff that sometimes suggests he might like to be doing more.

Running his errands around Hollywood, Cliff meets a sexy hippy-chick named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley). She introduces him to her “family,” a bunch of hippies, mostly young women, who live on an old ranch and answer to a guy named Charlie. Did I mention that Rick lives next door to the house that Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Roman Polanski are renting? Clearly, all these characters' fates will become intertwined.

Since you know the history of the Manson Family, you probably think you know how “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” ends, but you don't, and that's all I'll say about that. Just watch it! It's a crackin' good movie, with interesting characters and dialogue, as you'd expect from Tarantino. DiCaprio and Pitt are at the top of their game. I also really appreciated the treatment of Sharon Tate. I always just knew of her as the most famous victim of the Manson murders. Margot Robbie's performance really brings her to life.

I suppose I've given up on Quentin Tarantino making another film on the level of “Reservoir Dogs” or “Pulp Fiction.” The new normal for Tarantino is this sort of capably-told, long-running, violent tale that is absolutely enjoyable, but also a bit forgettable. I can't imagine people forcing their friends to watch “Inglorious Basterds,” “The Hateful Eight,” or “Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood” the way we did with Tarantino’s earliest films. The man was a god in the 1990's. I watched his films over and over, savoring every detail. Now, once is enough.

So, if this movie slips by you, no big deal, it's not going to change your life. Watch it, though, if you get the chance. It's not one of the best of all time, but it's probably one of the best movies of the year. The ending is bound to be controversial, but remember that any story that starts out “Once Upon a Time” is bound to be a fairy tale.

3.5 stars out of 5

I Lost My Body (J'ai Perdu Mon Corps, 2019) ****1/2

The main thing I remember from shop class in high school is that every power tool had a horror story. The table saw, the band saw, the planer, every piece of equipment had a story of someone losing an appendage. In the animated film, “I Lost My Body,” Naoufel is a young man who learns the dangers of power tools the hard way. As the title suggests, however, this isn't just a story of a man who loses his hand; it's also the story of a hand trying to get back to its body.

Through beautiful animation, we see Naoufel and his hand, living life together, as God intended. We see them growing up as the child of immigrants in France, then making their way as an orphan after Naoufel loses his parents. We see them fall in love, which leads them to an apprenticeship with a carpenter, the uncle of the object of Naoufel's affection. We also see them after the accident, as Naoufel tries to heal his body and soul, and his hand makes its way across Paris to reunite with him.

This is the kind of Kafkaesque story that works best if you just relax and go with it. How does the hand, see, for example? Don't worry about it. If you simply allow yourself to experience this deeply existential story, it's a thrilling ride, and one of the best films of the year. Naoufel's story is very naturalistic, and might be banal, but it takes on extra piquancy when set against the enchanting sequences of his hand making its harrowing way across Paris. The film, by Jeremy Clapin, is based on a novel by Guillaume Laurent, who wrote the screenplay for “Amelie.” It's originally in french, but Netflix offers an english version, with voice acting from Dev Patel and Alia Shawkat. The best parts of the film, though, are speechless, as the hand learns to ambulate and survive in the city.

The thing about Naoufel is that as an orphan, even before the shop accident, he has had the experience of losing a major part of himself. His disembodied hand has many experiences, but the most significant is witnessing a graffiti artist paint, on the side of a skyscraper, the words “Je suis le.” It means, “I am the...,” and the ending is left blank, perfectly expressing Naoufel's situation. Cut off from his family, and now from his hand, he has to fill in that blank. Really, to some degree or another, it's the situation we are all in.

4.5 stars out of 5

Dolemite Is My Name (2019) ***

“Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up mother-fuckas is my game!” That's the motto of the funniest, most unlikely action hero you've never heard of. Rudy Ray Moore, from Ft.Smith, AR, is a man most people today, especially white people, have never heard of. In the world of blaxploitation films and ghetto comedy, however, not to mention rap music, he's considered something of a legend.

Moore started his career singing, dancing, and even preaching in the 1950's and 60's. He cut a few R&B singles, but never really got any traction in the music business. Then, in 1970, Moore had a revelation. He heard a wino spouting some foul-mouthed, bragging, poetry, and he liked the way it sounded. He made the rhymes his own and incorporated them into a pimp character called Dolemite. Dolemite was a hit on stage, leading to successful underground comedy records. These gave him the cash to make a self-financed Dolemite movie (1975), risking everything he had for the kind of fame that could only come with movie-stardom.

“Dolemite Is My Name” tells Moore's story, with Eddie Murphy playing Moore with a heart and humor that remind me of his outstanding performance in “Dreamgirls.” The film may be a bit hagiographic, painting Moore as an extremely sympathetic, good-hearted character, and his success as purely due to his determination and self-reliance. Still, it's an entertaining and sometimes hilarious ride.

It's a Netflix original, a helluva sight!

Eddie Murphy shines as Dol-em-ite!

3 stars out of 5

Us (2019) ***1/2

With 2017's "Get Out," Jordan Peele put the world on notice that he was a storyteller to be reckoned with. With his second feature, “Us,” he threatens to extend that into a streak.

The Wilsons are a typical, American family. Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), Gabe (Winston Duke), Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), and Jason (Evan Alex) are visiting a family vacation home. Everything is beautiful, but there is an undercurrent of dread. This is partly because the movie started with a scene about 25 years earlier of a young Adelaide having a terrifying experience of running into her exact double. This traumatic experience left the little girl temporarily mute, but she has clearly overcome the experience, as the grown-up Adelaide seems totally normal. Returning to the beach where she had that creepy run-in so long ago has her on edge, however. She asks to cut the vacation short, but before they can leave, Jason announces that “there's a family in the driveway.” There sure is, a family that looks identical to the Wilsons, and they aren't there to welcome them to the neighborhood.

Before this night of terrifying home invasions is over, we learn that everyone is America has a doppelganger. These speechless doubles have been living in underground tunnels, spending their lives crudely aping the actions of their twins on the surface. Now they have climbed out of their holes to claim their place in the sun.

The plot doesn't make much sense if you think about it at all, so it's best to just go with it. If you just accept what you see on the screen, it's a fun, scary film, with just the right amount of humor sprinkled in. The movie is paced right, and the performances are excellent. Shahadi Wright Joseph particularly stands out as a young actress to watch.

Most critics feel that “Us” isn't quite as good as “Get Out.” I would agree, but “Us” is still an excellent movie. Both films can be enjoyed as straight horror, but don't hold up well to literal analysis. They are best appreciated as allegory. “Get Out” was Jordan Peele's parody of black people's fear about white people, that even the most liberal of us are secret racists who want to enslave black people again. It's an exaggeration, but I imagine it draws from some real suspicions that some black people have. “Us” flips the script. It's cleverly done, because the main characters are black, but “Us” is clearly exploring the anxiety of white Americans. The allegory is that America is built on top of an exploited underclass, a class of people who may someday rise up and try to take what white people have. Once again, it's an exaggeration of existing fears. There's also the theme of class, the idea that living right near us are people very much like us, living in poverty. At one point, Adelaide asks her twin, “What are you?”, to which the twin replies, “We're Americans.” It's a somewhat heavy-handed way to say that even in this wealthy country, there are people living in squalor. Who are these people who have nothing? Jordan Peele says they are Us.

3.5 stars out of 5

Marriage Story (2019) *

This will be more of a warning than a review, because I only watched half the movie. Why did I bail? Because this film is miserable and depressing. If I want to see a realistic depiction of a nasty divorce, I'll just go on Facebook.

Noah Baumbach (“The Squid and the Whale”) wrote and directed this story of a writer/director's divorce from his actress wife, and the fight over their kid. Despite any denials the director may make, it's basically the story of his own divorce from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Adam Driver plays Charlie, a talented theater director. He and his actress wife Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) are kind of a big deal in the New York theater scene, but Nicole's ambition is to get back to TV and movies, and this ambition rips their marriage apart. We meet them attempting to mediate a divorce, but, as tends to happen in divorce, things escalate. Nicole takes their son to L.A., gets a lawyer, and soon what started as an amicable “conscious decoupling” turns into as nasty a divorce as any.

What happens next? Maybe a giant asteroid menaces earth. Maybe aliens invade, and Charlie and Nicole are reunited as freedom fighters. Maybe they have a steamy threesome with cast-mate Laura Dern. I wouldn't know, because I couldn't watch the rest of this boring piece of crap. Do you remember how you felt the second or third time you watched “Kramer vs Kramer?” Me neither, because nobody watches divorce dramas a second time, which makes me question why we watch them the first time.

The sad thing is that “Marriage Story” is not “bad” in the sense that most bad movies are bad. The cast is excellent, and the dialogue is well-written. The problem is that I didn't like the characters or what was happening to them. I hated Nicole for being a ball-busting harpy, while passively-aggressively pretending not to be. I hated Charlie for letting a woman with such bad hair rake him over the coals. Then, of course, you have to remember that this is Noah Baumbach telling HIS version of his own divorce. That's his prerogative, but I can't think of a reason we should subject ourselves to it.

1 star out of 5