reviews
great sketch stretched tissue-paper thin at nearly an hour and 40 minutes. Instead, the movie holds strong throughout, managing to gain confidence as the jokes fly and stick landing after landing. A despondent Rell (Jordan Peele, who co-wrote the movie with Alex Rubens) adopts a kitten—he names him Keanu— and starts to live again. When a street gang, By Drew Wheeler movies@flagpole.com led by Method Man, catnaps Keanu, Rell and his cousin, Clarence (Keegan-Michael while Yelchin continues to separate himself GREEN ROOM (R) Remember the acclaimed Key), must impersonate a pair of gangfrom his under-30 peers. 2014 revenge film Blue Ruin, with the bangers in order to recover the cutest feline Though more exploitation than horror, breathtaking performance by an unknown Green Room will sate horror junkies without ever. The logline sounds silly because it is; actor named Macon Blair who should have however, it not only works but excels on the turning off indie film lovers looking for won every available acting award? No? their latest post-festival high. Green Room is power of the duo’s fearless play on stereoCorrect this oversight immediately, and types and ’80s action movies. then go see writer-director Jeremy The movie is less composed Saulnier’s tense follow-up. Keanu of a series of gross-out gags (see After a gig at an out-of-thealmost every R-rated comedy of way bar, a punk band (Anton the last few years) than based Yelchin, Alia Shawkat of “Arrested around the humor of mistaken Development,” Joe Cole and identity. Laughs are generated Callum Turner) witness an act of every time the very middle-class violence that puts them at odds Rell and Clarence act tough for with a gang of white supremacists Cheddar’s street gang, including led by Patrick Stewart. The film’s Jason Mitchell, aka Straight Outta tension keeps increasing as the Compton’s Eazy-E. Clarence’s adapband’s Carpenterian situation (no tation of a corporate team-building one-location movie can escape exercise for his thuggish new comcomparisons to the master of horYes, my real name is Kitty Smalls, the Notorious K.A.T. patriots is a prime example of the ror) gets ever more dire. film’s playful nature. The running George far and away the best film currently playing Saulnier structures this film to make its Michael gag never gets old, either. small cast and location a benefit rather than in Athens; see it before it is gone. (I hope The climactic showdown occurring at you did not miss the quick run of the previa cost. The film’s extreme violence is meana shut-down Rock-afire Explosion factory ous best film in Athens, Midnight Special.) ingfully striking; I am a desensitized horwas a personal treat; I grew up a big fan of And watch Blue Ruin, for goodness’ sake. ror regular, and I physically reacted to the Showbiz Pizza’s animatronic band, espeYou will not be disappointed by either. realistic harm being perpetrated. Naturally, cially gorilla frontman Fatz Geronimo. The Saulnier again employs Blair, whose fantasKEANU (R) Well known for their sketch com- cleverly funny Keanu should appeal to the tic performance as reluctant bar manager comedy duo’s longtime fans and newcomers edy, Key and Peele jump into features with Gabe (he has to earn those red laces) is alike. a movie whose narrative threatens to be a far away from his Blue Ruin breakthrough,
movies
Scares, Laughs and Cuteness Three Flicks to Check Out Now
RATCHET & CLANK (PG) Does Ratchet & Clank really have the cuteness quotient to be a mainstream animated hit? I adore the duo from their many video-game adventures (12 of which I have played), the charms of which cannot quite be replicated by their first feature film. Based upon the duo’s initial video-game appearance in 2002—a game reimagined to coincide with the release of the movie— Ratchet & Clank tells how Ratchet (v. James Arnold Taylor), a Lombax mechanic, met Clank the robot (v. David Kaye). The last of his feline kind, Ratchet dreams of joining the ranks of the Galactic Rangers, led by the idiotic but well-endowed-of-chin Captain Qwark (v. Jim Ward). After Ratchet and Clank save the planet from robots, they are asked to join this elite squad, but the villainous Chairman Drek (v. Paul Giamatti) and thought-to-be-dead Dr. Nefarious (v. Armin Shimerman) have alternate plans. The movie leans heavily on its cadre of cute characters, led by the title duo and charming bumbler Captain Qwark. Sure, some vocal star power was added in Giamatti, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone as a militaristic robot commander, but the fun is in the interactions of the heroes. All three stars could have been voiced by game-level talent with no drop in quality or entertainment value. A theatrical release was probably too ambitious for this movie, as it is not strong enough on its own to gain traction amidst the likes of Zootopia, the upcoming Angry Birds Movie or its own interactive cousins. Why watch Ratchet beat up some Blarg with his entertainingly exotic coterie of futuristic weapons (yes, even the RYNO) when you can do the beating up yourself? f
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MAY 4, 2016 · FLAGPOLE.COM
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