Movie Nation

No franchise dies these days. It just spins off from it’s spin off.

A “Saw” picture with Chris Rock as a cop and Samuel L. Jackson having Jigsaw pretentions.

April.

They still take walks together and still goof around a bit when they do.

Their bickering is more cute bantering, about “When’re you going to take the (Xmas) decorations down?” “When’re YOU gonna take them down?”

“Kid” is his term of endearment for her. “EED-jet” (idiot) is hers for him.

Theirs is the very picture of contented domesticity, of “Ordinary Love.”

But that love could be all on the surface. When any couple faces one of those “ultimate tests,” the fault lines show. Lucky for us this domestic melodrama has Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville to act all that out for it.

It’s a film that begins with lives that have a suburban Northern Ireland intimacy to them — meals, wine, always together. We start to wonder, “Is she retired? Is he?” We see a young woman’s photo in several rooms. Off at school?

Even the “alarm bell” moment has a light, lived-in feel.

“Feel my left breast.”

“Just the one?”

Yes, Joan has felt a lump. Yes, they — emphasis on THEY — need to have it checked out. What follows is standard-issue couple-coping-with-cancer “Lifetime Original Movie” fodder.

Except that it’s a little more than that. The “reveals” may be less revealing than they expected them to be, the heated arguments feel a trifle contrived.

But two wonderful players put this over with warmth, worry and honesty.

American viewers of this Northern Ireland/UK production may be struck, as I was, at the way directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn put the “social” in socialized medicine.

This depiction of National Health Service treatment is both honest — there’s a  shared “prep for mammogram” room that gives the feeling this system is built for efficiency, not privacy — and touching.

Women ask each other about their procedures, joke and comfort one another. Men that Tom (Neeson) runs into at the hospital sing its praises to put him at ease.

There’s a kindness and community here that implies a support system that extends beyond family, when you leave the bottom-line-terror that the insurance industry brings to the equation.

Manville (“Maleficent,” “Mr/ Turner”) has an earthiness that throws the performance’s no-holds-barred scenes into sharp relief.

And Neeson, freed from the straight-jacket that too many action films have slapped on him, gives Tom a stoic, crusty vulnerability that comes out in every line, post-diagnosis.

“How d’you say to someone, ‘Don’t die?'”

Not a lot of new ground is covered here, and not every viewer will embrace the “socialized medicine” subtext that pops up. But “Ordinary Love” quietly celebrates a committed marriage with physical and emotional pain, fear, pity and self-pity testing it.

Maybe that’s because they never have to worry about insurance coverage.

MPAA Rating: R for brief sexuality/nudity.

Cast: Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, David Wilmot, Amit Shah.

Credits: Directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, script by Owen McCaffrey. A Bleecker Street release.

Running time: 1:32

It’s brutishly heavy-handed, with a performance or two so hammy they came straight from the smokehouse.

But those quibbles aside,  “Beneath Us” is a torture porn satire that never fails to hold one’s interest, even if it doesn’t quite come off. It takes you from point A to point U — underground, literally “beneath us,” with efficiency and visceral verve.

This topical tale is about illegal immigration, bigotry and the exploitation that always wins out when capitalist bigots struggle with their consciences on the subject.

In large cities in some corners of America — especially Southern California — you can find day laborers standing on the corner next to your home improvement/lumber store. They work on the cheap, off the books. Because they’re not legally here or allowed to work here.

Day after day, guys like this get into strangers’ vehicles and ride off for a job site they hope will be lucrative, safe and easy. The simple but clever conceit here is “What if it is none of the above?”

After a bit of “Give away your movie whydoncha?” as a prologue, we meet Memo (Josue Aguirre), a sullen young man riding into America in the trunk of a car. He’s here to reunited with older brother Alejandro (Rigo Sanchez).

The reunion isn’t tearful or even that pleasant. Antonio has been in SoCal for years. He has a wife and son he is saving to try to get across the border. And Memo seems to resent all that this American Dream has cost them.

He’s not that crazy about the whole day-laborer thing. Hector (Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez) is the macho guy in their “crew” who jokes about gringos telling each other never to get into a stranger’s van or car, “but we do it” no questions asked.

Their “We can do it cheaper” hustle pays off — maybe too easily. And the curvaceous customer (Lynn Collins) is awfully brazen about letting four men she doesn’t know into her SUV. Is it her crucifix that protects her?

“What kind of man sends his woman to pick up strangers?” Hector wonders.

We instantly wonder who’s in the REAL “stranger danger” here?

The “four man job” involves Hector, Alejandro, Memo and Tonio (Thomas Chavira) renovating a guest house. They dry wall, put in flooring, paint and dig and pour cement for a new patio.

Sound like a lot to get done in a day? Even a very LONG day? It is. They can’t finish. But she hasn’t come out to dismiss them, pay them or offer them a lift back to town.

Worklights kick on.

“I’ll bet they’re hoping we leave,” Hector complains, (in English and Spanish with Engish subtitles). They won’t be bluffed.

If nobody picked up on the clue that a drill bit they’re using has bits of blood and hair on it, surely Liz (Collins, of TV’s “Manhunt”TV) turning the hose on them to wake them in the middle of the night is the give-away.

They’re not going anywhere. With no pay, no “papers,” no transport and no way out of a gated, electric-fenced rural farmhouse, she has all the power. Her husband (James Tupper of TV’s “Big Little Lies”) may be in and out, off playing golf in ugly white-fop stereotype shorts and black socks. Liz has a shotgun.

And things turn from unfair to unpleasant to unsurvivable in a flash.

This debut feature from Max Pachman ups the violence ante without doing enough to ratchet up suspense at the same time.

There’s a passivity to the entrapped men — save for Hector, who is big and burly, a blowhard and sexist skirt-chaser. And then there’s Collins’ Liz, a campy cartoon of a villainness.

She tosses her hair, shows some leg or cleavage and archly plays up the lip-smacking cruelty of the character, always protesting that “I wouldn’t want you to think I’m being unfair!”

It’s not satire. It’s camp.

The movie itself never follows her down that Cruella-de-House-Flipper hole, and that muffles its impact. Either go over-the-top or don’t. No fence sitting.

“Beneath Us” scores its satiric points without the “15 million illegals” speeches, and there’s tension even in characters who seem quite helpless (She DOES have them over a barrel.) and unable to resist the ugly fate that seems to await them.

But “Beneath Us” leaves the viewer with more a “Nice try, guys” than any sense of release or righteous fury at what we’re watching.

MPAA Rating:R for violence, language and some nudity

Cast: Lynn Collins, Rigo Sanchez, Josue Aguirre, James Tupper, Roberto ‘Sanz’ Sanchez  and Edy Ganem

Credits: Directed by Max Pachman, script by Mark Mavrothalasitis and Max Pachman. A New Mainstream Entertainment release.

Running time: 1:30

Yes, this is what I do between screenings in a theater — post trailers I’ve just seen before the last show.

Kristen Scott Thomas brings her posh prickliness and Sharon Horgan her goofy “Catastrophe” irreverence to this late March release about a choir formed by the wives of British service members deployed to Afghanistan.

Well, that’s when Lionsgate is releasing “Run.” Mother’s Day. A Munchausen by Proxy tale of terror?

This Easter release looks awfully “Call of the Wild” — digital effects, flowers and birds, turning the classic novel “The Secret Garden” into something more “Alice in Wonderland” ish.

Colin Firth and Julie Walters are the big names in this ambitious, “Let’s try a new genre” STX release.

The trailers and TV commercials showed it to be a hard picture to sell.

Almost in the “Why was this movie animated?” vein. Human/elvish characters, a van trip “quest.”

Minimal effects. Not that touching, not that funny.

And then there’s this virus cancelling sports events and South by Southwest.

Pixar hasn’t had a movie open under $40 million in ages, but Deadline.com is saying that unless Saturday blows up,b”Onward” will open at $37 million.

Nobody is buying 3D tickets to it. Nobody. And even the critics without guts to pan it were lukewarm in their endorsements.

Deadline underestimates Saturday kiddie films take by force of habit, so maybe that $40 low-ball prediction pre opening will be met. Still, kind of a dud.

Ben Affleck’s hoops drama “The Way Back” will clear $8, right in the middle of its predicted range.

That will play it third, with “The Invisible Man” losing just over 50% of its opening weekend take and pulling in $14 .

“Emma.” is managing a robust $5-6 on its first wide release weekend.

“Call of the Wild” and “Sonic” are fading to black.

https://deadline.com/2020/03/onward-opening-weekend-disney-pixar-coronavirus-invisible-man-1202876016/

The cancellation of the coolest cultural event in Texas due to fears of spreading the Corona Virus among musicians, filmmakers and fans prompted this tweet from the director of “Sean of the Dead.”

edgarwright (@edgarwright) Tweeted:
I love SXSW, it’s been so good to me over the years. With its cancellation, spare a thought for the many indie film-makers, bands, artists and fans who were excited to go & to the people and businesses of Austin who were relying on that trade. Show your support however you can. https://twitter.com/edgarwright/status/1236187140733755392?s=20

It is Pixar’s weakest release, in terms of laughs, story, characters and heart, in years.

As its director also helmed “Monsters University,” “Onward” comes to the gate in the same condition. Winded.

A lot of reviewers were lukewarm on it, echoing the same sentiments I related from my review. Judging by Rottentomatoes, however, they didn’t have rhe guys to pan it. Metacritic is more sanguine on this misfire.

But the reviews won’t keep parents from bringing the tykes. Coronavirus fears, on the other hand…

“Onward” is projected to do $100 million worldwide on opening, at least $40 in North America. $50 is within reach, deadline.com insists.

The other wide opening this weekend is a Ben Affleck drunk basketball coach gets sober melodrama. As Affleck himself went through rehab just before making it, that’s become the story for this redemption AFTER the closing credits downer.

Good on Affleck for cleaning up, but that story has made people cut a lot of slack in reviewing a mediocre movie. A sidebar story I saw yesterday even had his ex Jennifer Garner “begging” director Gavin O’Connor to hold the film while Ben sobered up.

Please.
O’Connor and Affleck had great success with the midding hit man thriller “The Accountant.” So “The Way Back” was never going to get made without Affleck in it. The BS the studios put out to sell a movie never ceases to amaze.

It should do on the low end of its $7-10 million expected take.

“Emma.” goes into wider release and may clear $5 million.

Will “Invisible Man” conjure up another $15-20? Will “Sonic” make a hasty exit? We will know Sat Am.

https://deadline.com/2020/03/onward-ben-affleck-the-way-back-box-office-coronavirus-1202873492/

They called it “The Battle of the Atlantic” back in “The Big One, WWII.”

German U-Boats, later forming into “wolfpacks” attacked Allied convoys from North America to Great Britain.

Destroyers and corvettes, “tin cans” or “Greyhounds,” dashed about and hunted the U-Boats while escorting the merchant ships, troop ships and tankers across.

This has a lot of “Midway” about it. Because it’s a digital recreation of naval vessels of the day and combat. VERY digital.

This sort of war movie was commonplace from the ’40s on into the ’60s –“In Which We Serve,” “The Enemy Below.” Now, they can do it with computers, some nautical sets and a good cast.

Tom Hanks stars in “Greyhound,” which is based on a C.S. Forester novel.It opens June 12, pushed back by the virus maybe?