“Critical Thinking” is a cluttered, cliched and ungainly story about disadvantaged kids becoming a formidable chess team under the tutelage of a teacher/coach who “won’t give up on them.”
It’s the feature directing debut of star John Leguizamo, who plays that “cool” teacher at Miami’s Jackson High, and tries with limited success to wrestle a Dito Montiel (“The Clapper”) script into a smooth flowing film. “Critical” has many characters, too many character “types,” melodrama by the bucketful and too little that breaks from the “Big Game” sports movie formula.
Punch up the class discrimination and racial inequality messaging, with the history of chess illustrative of the whitewashing of history — “How come they always paint us out?” — and you’ve got a movie with plenty of good intentions, lots of speed chess, and so many elements it can’t get out of its own way.
Thankfully, we jump right into the fray. Top dog player Sedrick (Corwin C. Tuggles) finishes off an argument with his dad (Michael Kenneth Williams) with a chess match before heading off to his favorite elective class — chess.
Mario Martinez (Leguizamo), “Mister T” to the kids, starts another semester of chess, going over the basics for “the fish” (new kids), batting down banter and personality conflicts among his stars, the four guys who comprise his team.
Sedrick is stoic and steady. Rodelay (Angel Bismark Curiel) is the cocksure braggart. Ito (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) is the hothead and bully with a drug dealing future seemingly laid out for him. But they won’t be competitive unless Sedrick can lure white boy Gil (Will Hochman) away from the video games and back to class.
To do that, Sedrick — who once took great offense at having his new sneakers stepped on — has to find Gil and apologize.
It’s mostly a man’s world, with the girls in the class taking a timid back seat as Mister T goes into “The Philidor Defense,” “The Opera Game,” the career of Jose Raul Capablanca and finer points of “The Scandinavian Defense.”
The usual obstacles are trotted out — lack of funding from the district, an understanding but hands-tied principal (Rachel Bay Jones), the threatening lure of a gang, the guy with a girlfriend, the working class dad who flips out over the money this ISN’T bringing into the house, the dead mother, the cops watching one player in particular.
“We’ll be the guys with the mirrored shades on.”
A shocking death rattles the first act, prompting the teacher to poetry. “You guys know about Pablo Neruda?”
“You mean from ‘Family Matters?'”
The boys come together as a team, getting even better when a fresh-off-the-boat Cuban prodigy (Jeffry Batista) comes on board. Road trips, fund raising activities to pay for the tourneys, contests where sportsmanship doesn’t figure into Mister T’s teaching. Bullying and trash talk are just who they are, it is implied.
I wasn’t shocked on learning, after the fact, that Montiel scripted this. The narrative is shambolic, with blasts of violence and random “feels” tossed in with the high school (pot-seasoned cookies) hijinx and long long scenes of chess being played, with precious few shots of what’s actually going on at each board.
Filmmakers fall for the temptation of pounded game clocks, glowers and flurries of speed-chess moves in an effort to animate what can be a dramatic but rarely cinematic game. Leguizamo takes that bait, too.
The performers never transcend the archetypes they’re stuck playing, and that goes for “Johnny Legs” as Mister T, as well. He’s a magnetic performer, but this guy is a photocopy in cardboard.
I like the messaging and films of this genre have their built-in “against all odds” allure. But “Critical Thinking” needed a vigorous edit before it went before the cameras, needed to figure out who we are meant to follow and identify with and probably needed some sense of remove from the “true story.” Because giving every character almost equal screen time out of obligation, when the movie’s going to be fictionalized, no matter what, makes for a maddeningly unfocused and unsatisfying movie.
MPAA Rating: unrated, violence, drug trade content, profanity
Cast: John Leguizamo, Corwin C. Tuggles, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Jeffry Batista, Angel Bismark Curiel, Will Hochman, Rachel Bay Jones and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Credits: Directed by John Leguizamo, script by Dito Montiel. A Vertical release.
There are worse labels a filmmaker could pursue that “That old softie.”
That’s Brett Haley’s niche. The director of “The Hero” and “Hearts Beat Loud” serves up another slice of sentiment with “All Together Now,” a high school “It’s a Wonderful Life” without the supernatural nonsense.
It’s an uneven affair that begins with a flourish, works to develop homeless street cred, wanders into the maudlin wilderness for the middle acts and rallies for a predictable, over-the-top, break-out-your-Kleenex finale.
Disney animation singer Auli’i Cravalho (“Moana,” TV’s “Rise”) is winsome Amber Appleton, a plucky teen who teaches her English as a Second Language class with song.
She also works in a donut shop, always brings donuts when she volunteers at a local nursing home, runs the annual high school charity variety show, nurtures her pun-obsessed on-the-spectrum cousin (Anthony Jacques), dreams of getting into Carnegie Mellon University’s music conservatory and takes her chihuahua, Bobby Big Boy, with her everywhere she goes.
And where she goes at night is a school bus on the Portland School District’s maintenance lot. That’s where she lives with her widowed mom (Justina Machado). Amber is bubbly, relentlessly upbeat and keeping up appearances. But she’s poor, proud and homeless.
“I’m great. Never better.”
Following her, we see the juggling that goes on. The prepping for school she manages at her aunt’s (Judy Reyes of “Scrubs”) house, the showers she cadges off the elderly grump (Carol Burnett) she cozies up to at the nursing home.
“One of these days I will make you laugh.”
“Not if I make you cry, first!”
Amber is always thinking of others, vowing to make this year’s variety show a fund-raiser to replace the school marching band’s stolen tuba.
“SOUSAPHONE.”
“All Together Now” is about when all those balls Amber juggles in the air tumble to the ground.
Mom’s an alcoholic with an abusive boyfriend. Auditioning at Carnegie Mellon (Disney or not, she seems a little thin-voiced for a conservatory) means she has to fly cross country, which costs money. Everything she owns is in her backpack. And her little dog isn’t the youngest chihuahua we’ve ever seen.
“Uneven” works for “All Together Now” because of the relentless, “How much more can she take?” parade of calamities that visit our heroine, whose poker face in a tear-jerker suggests limited range, not stiff-upper-lip stoicism. It’s not just the singing voice that comes off “thin” here.
“It’s under control!”
Fred Armisen has a role as a cool teacher of…something. He’s barely in this thing, but he’ll be in the talent show, for sure. On the drums? Not saying.
The “romance” with the rich boy Ty (Rhenzy Feliz) doesn’t spark, a promising circle of friends is cast by the wayside and for all the “reality” of homelessness, this plays like a Disney Channel gloss on the experience.
Still, Haley knows how to wring a tear or three out of a finale, and he manages that here, other shortcomings notwithstanding. You wish it was better, even as it isn’t. But at least “All Together Now” manages to make one feel, even if you feel manipulated as you do.
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic content, some language and brief suggestive comments
Cast: Auli’i Cravalho, Rhenzy Feliz, Judy Reyes, Justina Machado, Fred Armisen and Carol Burnett.
Credits: Directed by Brett Haley, script by Brett Haley, Marc Basch and Matthew Quick, based on the novel “Sorta Like a Rock Star” by Matthew Quick. A Netlix release.
The old showbiz maxim “Always leave’em begging for more” is pushed beyond its limits in “Mambo Man,” a perfectly charming and utterly predictable Cuban dramedy that is over entirely too soon.
It’s about a Cuban entrepreneur, a pig and tomato farmer and concert promoter, beloved and thriving in his corner of Eastern Cuba, but a man who is out of his depth in the dog-eat-dog New Capitalism sweeping over his island.
JC (Héctor Noas) may gripe about the weather, the government, “The Soviets,” the Chinese and “the gringo trade embargo” (in Spanish with English subtitles). But the 50ish Michael Eisner look-alike is doing OK.
He’s got a nice farm in Bayona, and a very nice house on it where he can keep his wife Rita (Yudexi De La Torre Mesa) and spoil their little girl. He teaches her about “freedom” by buying her a bird a the street market, lecturing her through her tears as he lets the bird go.
JC knows that many with any sort of ambition have already fled the island. But he hosts tourists who visit the farm, does well with his pigs and does well by the many musicians who rely on him for bookings, recording sessions and exposure. The film’s composer, co-writer/director Mo Fini is one of them, appearing as himself, declaring his loyalty.
JC built a life of friends and business relationships built on handshake deals and grew up in a Cuba where you always pick up hitch-hikers, where an engine problem in his ancient Chevy could be solved by that one mechanic in whatever village he and driver David (Alejandro Palomino) often without charge.
Then this “old friend,” Roberto (David Pérez Pérez) with this secret “deal” he wants JC in on. Damned if the hustler isn’t out beating the bushes for cash, from a bank, old friends who owe him a favor — everybody.
His wife weeps. David says “There’s something fishy about it.” And anybody who’s ever seen a movie about a hustler trying to hustle up a big score will tense up, fretting over JC’s trusting ways.
The novelty of “Mambo Man” is the vivid portrait of street life in a changing Cuba. The 50somethings like JC may all seem to know each other — the engineer of the local freight train with his knowing wave, the mechanic who can “fix anything” who eyeballs a busted irrigation pump (jerry rigged with a car motor piston) and says, “It won’t be perfect, but we can get it figured out.”
The magic of “Mambo Man,” performances in clubs and restaurants, concerts and cookouts. Real musicians from the “Buena Vista Social Club” generation sing JC’s praises from the stage.
Rum, cigars, “sugar cane water — natural Viagra” and all this food — mouth watering its way right off the screen — adds to the texture.
Noas (“Sergio & Sergei”), as JC, floats through this world, irked when he’s late but not blowing a fuse, trusting this or that employee or business associate like “my brother,” trading on his good name for the New God of Cuba — cash.
“The Bible says love of money will send us straight to Hell,” he muses. Not that he’s taking the Bible’s advice. Not in today’s Cuba. It’s just that he’s one of the last playing by the old rules.
The parable is simple to the point of simplistic, but Noas makes a most engaging tour guide on this slide down the slippery slope. And the people, places, music and food of Cuba make one long for the day when “the gringo embargo” and travel ban are gone and we can all sample its charms.
Let’s hope the gringos, and the Cubans who emulate them, don’t eat guys like JC for lunch
MPAA Rating: unrated, a little drinking, a little smoking
Cast: Héctor Noas, Yudexi De La Torre Mesa, Alejandro Palomino, David Pérez Pérez and Mo Fini
Credits: Directed by Edesio Alejandro and Mo Fini, script by Mo Fini and Paul Morris. A Corinth Films release.
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“The New Mutants,” shelved even before Fox made it an orphaned film by selling out to Disney, became a classic “late August release when The Mouse took custody. Dumped in theaters this weekend, a last gasp of X Men rebooted earned $7 million, when $8 to $10 had been projected. Friday’s opening numbers pointed to $8 but it fell off a cliff Saturday.
“Mutants” with a no name cast, earned only $2.9 million in the rest of the world, where more cinemas are open because they had more competent folks handling the pandemic.
“Unhinged,” last weekend’s big (ish) opener, fell off by 34% or so and managed another $2.6.
It’s worth remembering that “Bill & Ted” is a 31 year-old franchise, that all involved and most of those who adore them have gotten that first AARP solicitation in the mail. I’m guessing this one did decent business as a video streaming release. In theaters? $1 million. Whoa. Big bomb.
The Dickens adaptation “The Pesonal History of David Copperfield” did not lure its even older target audience into cinemas. Over $520,000, but on over 2,000 screens. Bad weekend for a good film.
“Words on Bathroom Walls” added $435 to last weekend’s meek total.
Yes, it is now Disney+’s “Mulan.” The live-action remake of the animated musical (made in Orlando) based on a Chinese folk legend was headed to theaters, seemed sure to be the blockbuster of the summer, and then Wuhan Don’s blunders killed that idea.
So, Disney+ it is. Hope it’s great. Or at least better than “The One and Only Ivan.”
“Unknown Origins” (Spanish title “Orígenes secretos”) plays like the penultimate draft of a mash-up of “Se7en” and “Kick-Ass,” a not-quite-there script that Netflix let its Spanish division put before the cameras.
Co-writer/director David Galán Galindo, who also wrote the book this is based on, cooked up a serial killer story set in the comic book geek universe.
Yes, there’s a “Big Bang Theory” comic book subculture in Madrid, too.
It’s a rather ungainly blend of glib and grisly, with a few laughs, a heart-tugging moment or two and a screen filled with archetypes and stereotypes, cop movie cliches and comic book nerds.
But as its the sort of movie that plays around with comic book origin stories — with a murderer turning his victims into a lifeless Tony Stark or “Fire Man” (Cough cough, “Human Torch”) — and rewards fans who get references like “Joe Chill” and “Detective #33,” well, it’s worth watching in Spanish before Hollywood takes a shot at a remake.
Javier Rey plays David Valentin, a buttoned-down new detective on the force paired up with the legendary Cosme (Antonio Resines) on the older cop’s “last day on the job.”
They show up at the crime scene where a dead body-builder lies, his corpse an unusual hue, a torn comic book cover one of the clues found there.
The squeamish Valentin barely has time to clean the puke off his shoes when his new boss (Verónica Echegui) shows up to remind Cosme to clean out his desk and turn in his badge. She’s hard to take seriously, not because she’s gorgeous, but because she’s all dolled up in a cosplay costume of her own making. Norma is into this stuff.
But the expert Cosme recommends as Valentin’s sidekick is his sleep-till-noon lump of a son. Jorge (Brays Efe) is the classic “comic book guy” — bearded, bellied, with an astonishing memory for comic book arcana. Valentine is contemptuous of this slovenly dork, even when the dork is in his element. Jorge runs a comic book store.
“In MY shop,” Jorge sneers (in Spanish, with English subtitles), the ‘freak’ here is YOU.”
The reluctant partners, often rescued by the cool and often cosplay-attired Norma, and assisted by the seriously smart-assed coroner (Ernesto Alterio), must face a villain who taunts them, leaves them clues and keeps recreating “origin story” comic book hero corpses. Which character will he conjure up next?
“If only it was based on The Seven Deadly Sins,” Jorge cracks (a “Se7en” joke), “this would be a LOT easier.”
The “buddy” dynamic is classic nerd-earns-the-respect of the at-first-contemptuous “partner,” who refuses to call him a partner. “Sidekick?” Eventually.
Norma gets to make the “We’re not childish. We’re more successful than you, for starters” argument made in every “geeks like us” movie or TV show.
A nice twist is Jorge’s journey. Seeing the obsessed murderer’s geek art tableaux, consulting with underground comic expert “Paco” (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a paranoid recluse who keeps cats and hates people, Jorge sees himself.
This script is close enough to the mark that a funnier Jorge turn and more brittle take on David Valentin might have gotten it over the top.
It’s not as funny as “Kick-Ass,” or most movies that take-off on comics and “origin stories,” and not nearly as grimly desperate as “Se7en.” We feel nothing for the victims and the villain is pretty damned unimpressive when we meet him. Not one tasty bad-guy zinger for him to turn into a catch phrase?
There’s a “real heroes” prologue and an epilogue that tidies up a story that has already reached its comic-book-appropriate ending.
Which is why I say “Unknown Origins” is about one screenplay draft shy of being ready for the screen, no matter what the director and novelist who wrote the book it’s based on thinks.
MPAA Rating: TV-MA, violence, profanity
Cast: Brays Efe, Javier Rey, Verónica Echegui, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Antonio Resines and Ernesto Alterio
Credits: Directed by David Galán Galindo script by David Galán Galindo and Fernando Navarro, based on Galindo’s novel. A Netflix release.
“Entwined” is a moody, handsomely-mounted modern day Greek folk tale that never quite finds the urgency or suspense to lure us in.
It’s about a beautiful, mysterious woman (Anastasia Rafaella Konidi) who lives in the woods, and the new doctor (Prometheus Aleifer) in the village who falls under her spell.
Panos (Aleifer) has just buried his father when he takes the job in Alytis. It’s a primitive place, where you reflexively ask “Is there a phone in the village?” (in Greek, with English subtitles) when you already know the answer is “No.”
He’s all but shunned by the elderly locals, who tell him there’s never been a doctor there before. But there’s this ethereal music emanating from the woods. He hears it at night. And when he hunts for the source, he finds Danae (Konidi) living in primitive conditions, playing 78s on a wind up Victrola.
“I do not trust motorcars or their drivers,” she complains. “I long for the old ways.“
An ugly skin condition gets his attention, but before Panos can treat her, the grumblings of a drunken old man upstairs, “my father,” sends him scurrying. But he’ll be back.
People try to warn him. His brother George (screenwriter John De Holland) gave him the “science doesn’t have all the answers” lecture before he moved. The locals mutter “This is a small village. You are from the city” brush-off.
Never you mind, he returns to the house, confronts the old man, and eventually takes a drink of the face-melting local retsina Danae offers, and dozes off. He awakens to a house where “old ways” have the whiff of ritual. The fire in the hearth?
“This fire must ever be allowed to die!”
Walking back to his truck he gets lost.
“I could almost swear the trees are THICKER.”
Will Panos ever be able to leave? How long will he even try?
“Entwined” has trouble making us fear for the well-intentioned doctor. The sedate pacing, coupled with what feel like low stakes — Danae is never cruel or threatening — almost emasculates the predicament.
Aleifer’s Panos struggles to figure a way out, but never in ways that point to rising panic, desperation.
First-time feature director Minos Nikolakakis gives us a vivid sense of place, parks us in an enchanted wood, but leaves out the menace his hero must feel and face to escape it.
MPAA Rating: unrated, violence, sex, alcohol, some profanity
Cast: Prometheus Aleifer, Anastasia Rafaella Konidi and John De Holland.
Credits: Directed by Minos Nikolakakis, script by John De Holland. A Dark Star release.
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