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REVIEW: The Last Duel [2021]

2021/10/272021/10/29 Jared Mobarak

God will spare those who tell the truth. The tale at the center of Eric Jager‘s book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France is a compelling one that supposedly continues to inspire debate among historians today about who was telling the truth. While unsurprising considering there weren’t any witnesses of the crime that was said to have been committed, it explains how little has changed from 1386 where the patriarchal underpinnings of our world are concerned. Debate means that some people believe Marguerite…

REVIEW: 13 Minutes [2021]

2021/10/262021/10/29 Jared Mobarak

There’s always weather. I’m not entirely sure what the message is at the center of Lindsay Gossling‘s 13 Minutes. In fact, I’m pretty sure there isn’t one. A line of text runs before the end credits stating how the film honors those who have been affected by extreme weather, but there’s no mention of climate change, what you can do to help, or anything beyond the reality that extreme weather and affected people exist. And that’s how it treats everything across the board. Because despite being a disaster film, Gossling…

REVIEW: No Time To Die [2021]

2021/10/202021/10/29 Jared Mobarak

The past is not dead. The end of Daniel Craig‘s James Bond run is finally here—a year late. Five films in a decade-and-a-half serves as quite the accomplishment even if the quintet was marked by extreme ups and downs. Casino Royale impressively injected new blood to flip the script in numerous ways while Skyfall proved a high water mark for the franchise as a whole regardless of lead actor due to its aesthetic, craft, and dramatic gravitas. Sprinkled in-between, however, were Quantum of Solace‘s glorified epilogue to the former and…

REVIEW: Venom: Let There Be Carnage [2021]

2021/10/132021/10/13 Jared Mobarak

Responsibility is for the mediocre. I’m pretty sure there’s more exposition in Venom: Let There Be Carnage than there was in Venom. It’s not without reason. At the time of the original’s inception, Sony had their hands tied. The Marvel characters they had—namely those from the Spider-Man universe—couldn’t integrate with the Marvel Cinematic Universe at-large without an agreement like the one that allowed Spidey into the Avengers. And since Spider-Man was an Avenger, he couldn’t interact with those characters either. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) was therefore on an island alone…

REVIEW: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [2021]

2021/09/282021/09/28 Jared Mobarak

It’s all about staying in the pocket. A big success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been its ability to adapt. Case and point: The Ten Rings. Here’s a terrorist organization utilized in the first MCU film ever, Iron Man, with a logo inscribed by Mongolian symbols that didn’t go over well. It’s been said that the idea was to tease Shang-Chi in The Avengers before giving him and Iron Man’s arch-rival, The Mandarin, exposure afterwards. So enraged by the connotations of that first use, however, the possibility that China…

REVIEW: Copshop [2021]

2021/09/202021/09/20 Jared Mobarak

I’m on it. When rookie officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) gets a disturbance call, the last thing she expects upon arrival is an all-out brawl between men and women in tuxedos and dresses outside of a wedding reception. That’s Vegas for you. Since they’re only hurting themselves, her sergeant stays in the car to finish his burger while she pulls her revolver to shoot into the air and break it up. That’s when Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo) enters the frame with a sucker punch to Young’s jaw right before apologizing…

TIFF21 REVIEW: La hija [The Daughter] [2021]

2021/09/132021/09/14 Jared Mobarak

Nobody can know you’re here. The plan is simple, but risky. Javier (Javier Gutiérrez) has worked at a juvenile delinquent center for two decades, interacting with all kinds of troubled teens. After trying to conceive a child with his wife Adela (Patricia López Arnaiz) for almost as many, they’ve yet to succeed. As a result, Javier can’t help but see a new resident as a means to an end wherein both parties can benefit. Irene (Irene Virgüez) is fourteen, pregnant, and in love with a boy who’s currently in jail…

REVIEW: Prisoners of the Ghostland [2021]

2021/08/312021/09/13 Jared Mobarak

Time for us all to be free. How can someone who just escaped still not be free? It’s a question Bernice (Sofia Boutella) must ask at the beginning of Sion Sono‘s English-language debut Prisoners of the Ghostland without knowing if she’ll ever discover an answer. She and two others fled Samurai Town the night before, shuffling off to the cheers of other abused and oppressed women once the men all turned in. Not knowing what to do next, they get in a car and drive off only for Sono to…

REVIEW: Free Guy [2021]

2021/08/182021/08/18 Jared Mobarak

Don’t have a good day. Have a great day. Every day is awesome for Guy the bank teller (Ryan Reynolds). While so-called “heroes” in sunglasses run roughshod on Free City by wrecking it with explosions, crime, and debauchery, his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) and him get their favorite coffee (medium with cream and two sugars), talk about hitting the beach, and greet everyone the same exact way they did yesterday … and the day before that. If not for the hole in his heart where love was concerned,…

FANTASIA21 REVIEW: Indemnity [2021]

2021/08/102021/08/12 Jared Mobarak

It’s not weak to ask for help. Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld) jumps into action with CPR upon waking to find his wife’s (Nicole Fortuin‘s Angela) dead body by his side. He then immediately clams up when a knock at the front door is accompanied by the declaration “Police!” mere minutes later. He doesn’t remember hearing anyone enter their room that night nor recalls a violent struggle. Add the fact that he just lost his job due to an inability to overcome the PTSD he’s been battling since blaming himself for…

REVIEW: The Suicide Squad [2021]

2021/08/062021/08/06 Jared Mobarak

Welcome to anything. The opening battle scene to James Gunn‘s reboot/sequel (with the addition of an article), The Suicide Squad, couldn’t have been orchestrated better. It has everything you’d want from an ensemble superhero film: action, humor, suspense, uncertainty, and—I cannot stress this part enough—death. Real death. The kind you can’t walk away from (unless you decide to go the MCU or Arrowverse route and dip a toe in the multiverse sandbox). We’re talking beaches of Normandy in Saving Private Ryan levels of carnage (no, I’m not saying it’s on…