by Josh Sewell
Everything Everywhere All at Once
(Rated R for some violence, sexual material and language. Now playing in limited release; opens wide on April 8.)
Impossible to fully explain in a brief paragraph, this hilarious, heartwarming sci-fi epic centers on a Chinese American woman named Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who is in the middle of preparing for an IRS audit of her family’s struggling laundromat. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, she’s approached by a version of her husband (Ke Huy Quan) from an alternate reality who tells her she must save the world by connecting with Evelyns from different universes and utilizing their various skills.
The word “masterpiece” has been mostly drained of its power because it gets tossed around in hyperbolic fashion. However, there’s no other way to describe the latest film from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels. The plot seems excessively convoluted at first, but all the pieces click into place by the end.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is an incredible viewing experience from start to finish, one that works best if you don’t try to figure things out along the way. Instead, let the current sweep you along as the narrative pinballs from absurd to hilarious to confusing, ultimately arriving at a life-affirming conclusion. I would’ve never predicted a silent scene involving two rocks and subtitles would make me cry, but – then again – I’ve never seen a movie like this one.
Material this unconventional could come off pretentious or cutesy in the wrong hands, but that’s not a problem here. Daniels has a keen eye for casting, putting beloved performers in roles that allow them to showcase their talents in delightfully bizarre ways. Hollywood is notorious for sidelining actresses once they hit a certain age, but the directors prove why that’s dumb by allowing Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis (playing a monstrous villain, an irritating bureaucrat and a surprising love interest, depending on the universe) to deliver some of the best performances of their long careers.
They’re matched by equally killer work from Quan (best known for his roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, returning to acting after a long break) and Stephanie Hsu. The actors, along with Yeoh, craft a family dynamic that’s somehow both relatable and unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the big screen.
I could write a dozen more paragraphs about this wonderful film – indeed, there are going to be so many great essays about it in the future – but I don’t want to spoil the experience of walking in cold like I did. Very rarely does a movie catch me by surprise, but Everything Everywhere All at Once did it for almost two-and-a-half hours straight. It’s easily the best movie of 2022 so far.
Grade: A+
Ambulance
(Rated R for intense violence, bloody images and language throughout. Opens in theaters on April 8.)
Director Michael Bay’s new thriller focuses on a decorated military vet (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his desperate attempt to pay for his wife’s much-needed surgery. He turns to his adopted brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) – a career criminal – for help and ends up pressured into joining a bank robbery. When the getaway goes south, the brothers hijack an ambulance and quickly realize there’s a wounded cop on board, as well as a tenacious EMT (Eiza González) determined to save his life amidst the chaos.
For 90 minutes, Ambulance is an entertaining, adrenaline-fueled throwback to Bay’s heyday (one character even makes not-so-subtle references to The Rock and Bad Boys). Unfortunately, since the running time is well over two hours, the flick runs out of gas long before the credits roll. That’s a shame considering the trio of outstanding actors at the heart of the movie.
Mateen and González are clearly having fun, but not nearly as much as Gyllenhaal. He gets to go full, wild-eyed crazy as a hotheaded crook clearly in over his head, trying to live up to his damaged father’s legacy. Bay casts several recognizable faces (including Garret Dillahunt and Keir O’Donnell) as cops trying to subdue the speeding ambulance, but those characters don’t get nearly the screen time or shading afforded the leads.
In some admirable ways, Bay has grown as a director over the years. Ambulance doesn’t contain the blatant racism, misogyny and homophobia found in his earlier films. He also doesn’t seem to possess the same casual disdain for humanity – there’s no excessive collateral damage this time around.
However, he utilizes a lot of the same unnecessary flourishes that get him branded as a filmmaker who prefers style over substance. The first half hour of Ambulance contains so many dizzying drone shots, quick cuts, crash zooms and whip pans that it induced motion sickness. That almost never happens to me.
After that however, the flick settles into an enjoyable groove until it goes off the rails in the third act. That’s when all logic and reason disappear from Chris Fedak’s screenplay (an adaptation of the original, far shorter 2005 Danish film). The requirements to suspend disbelief are egregious even for a Bay movie, with almost every character making decisions that fly in the face of what viewers have learned about them, simply because it’s time to wrap things up.
The last few minutes are downright laughable, requiring some characters to be galactically stupid. It also seems as if the cops magically forgot about the enormous losses they suffered just a few hours prior, all so another person can be painted as a hero despite all evidence to the contrary.
Regardless, I don’t think I was supposed to approach Ambulance with the film critic side of my brain. For viewers in search of cinematic junk food, Bay’s latest will do just fine – just don’t start pulling at narrative threads once you get home. The whole thing unravels if you think about it too hard.
Grade: C-
Home Video Spotlight
Scream (2022)
(Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references. Now available.)
The fifth entry in the Scream franchise arrives on physical media this week in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD. A 2-Movie Collection featuring the latest film and the 1996 original is also available.
Set 25 years after the original streak of brutal murders that shocked the small town of Woodsboro, a new killer picks up the Ghostface mask. As the bodies pile up, a teen with a link to the past (Melissa Barrera) seeks help from the killer’s most famous survivors: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), former sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid and Marley Shelton.
The disc boasts a wealth of bonus content, including filmmaker commentary; deleted scenes; two behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a tribute to horror legend Wes Craven, who directed the first four Scream films.
(Rated R for some violence, sexual material and language. Now playing in limited release; opens wide on April 8.)
Impossible to fully explain in a brief paragraph, this hilarious, heartwarming sci-fi epic centers on a Chinese American woman named Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who is in the middle of preparing for an IRS audit of her family’s struggling laundromat. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, she’s approached by a version of her husband (Ke Huy Quan) from an alternate reality who tells her she must save the world by connecting with Evelyns from different universes and utilizing their various skills.
The word “masterpiece” has been mostly drained of its power because it gets tossed around in hyperbolic fashion. However, there’s no other way to describe the latest film from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels. The plot seems excessively convoluted at first, but all the pieces click into place by the end.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is an incredible viewing experience from start to finish, one that works best if you don’t try to figure things out along the way. Instead, let the current sweep you along as the narrative pinballs from absurd to hilarious to confusing, ultimately arriving at a life-affirming conclusion. I would’ve never predicted a silent scene involving two rocks and subtitles would make me cry, but – then again – I’ve never seen a movie like this one.
Material this unconventional could come off pretentious or cutesy in the wrong hands, but that’s not a problem here. Daniels has a keen eye for casting, putting beloved performers in roles that allow them to showcase their talents in delightfully bizarre ways. Hollywood is notorious for sidelining actresses once they hit a certain age, but the directors prove why that’s dumb by allowing Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis (playing a monstrous villain, an irritating bureaucrat and a surprising love interest, depending on the universe) to deliver some of the best performances of their long careers.
They’re matched by equally killer work from Quan (best known for his roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, returning to acting after a long break) and Stephanie Hsu. The actors, along with Yeoh, craft a family dynamic that’s somehow both relatable and unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the big screen.
I could write a dozen more paragraphs about this wonderful film – indeed, there are going to be so many great essays about it in the future – but I don’t want to spoil the experience of walking in cold like I did. Very rarely does a movie catch me by surprise, but Everything Everywhere All at Once did it for almost two-and-a-half hours straight. It’s easily the best movie of 2022 so far.
Grade: A+
(Rated R for intense violence, bloody images and language throughout. Opens in theaters on April 8.)
Director Michael Bay’s new thriller focuses on a decorated military vet (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his desperate attempt to pay for his wife’s much-needed surgery. He turns to his adopted brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) – a career criminal – for help and ends up pressured into joining a bank robbery. When the getaway goes south, the brothers hijack an ambulance and quickly realize there’s a wounded cop on board, as well as a tenacious EMT (Eiza González) determined to save his life amidst the chaos.
For 90 minutes, Ambulance is an entertaining, adrenaline-fueled throwback to Bay’s heyday (one character even makes not-so-subtle references to The Rock and Bad Boys). Unfortunately, since the running time is well over two hours, the flick runs out of gas long before the credits roll. That’s a shame considering the trio of outstanding actors at the heart of the movie.
Mateen and González are clearly having fun, but not nearly as much as Gyllenhaal. He gets to go full, wild-eyed crazy as a hotheaded crook clearly in over his head, trying to live up to his damaged father’s legacy. Bay casts several recognizable faces (including Garret Dillahunt and Keir O’Donnell) as cops trying to subdue the speeding ambulance, but those characters don’t get nearly the screen time or shading afforded the leads.
In some admirable ways, Bay has grown as a director over the years. Ambulance doesn’t contain the blatant racism, misogyny and homophobia found in his earlier films. He also doesn’t seem to possess the same casual disdain for humanity – there’s no excessive collateral damage this time around.
However, he utilizes a lot of the same unnecessary flourishes that get him branded as a filmmaker who prefers style over substance. The first half hour of Ambulance contains so many dizzying drone shots, quick cuts, crash zooms and whip pans that it induced motion sickness. That almost never happens to me.
After that however, the flick settles into an enjoyable groove until it goes off the rails in the third act. That’s when all logic and reason disappear from Chris Fedak’s screenplay (an adaptation of the original, far shorter 2005 Danish film). The requirements to suspend disbelief are egregious even for a Bay movie, with almost every character making decisions that fly in the face of what viewers have learned about them, simply because it’s time to wrap things up.
The last few minutes are downright laughable, requiring some characters to be galactically stupid. It also seems as if the cops magically forgot about the enormous losses they suffered just a few hours prior, all so another person can be painted as a hero despite all evidence to the contrary.
Regardless, I don’t think I was supposed to approach Ambulance with the film critic side of my brain. For viewers in search of cinematic junk food, Bay’s latest will do just fine – just don’t start pulling at narrative threads once you get home. The whole thing unravels if you think about it too hard.
Grade: C-
Home Video Spotlight
(Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references. Now available.)
The fifth entry in the Scream franchise arrives on physical media this week in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD. A 2-Movie Collection featuring the latest film and the 1996 original is also available.
Set 25 years after the original streak of brutal murders that shocked the small town of Woodsboro, a new killer picks up the Ghostface mask. As the bodies pile up, a teen with a link to the past (Melissa Barrera) seeks help from the killer’s most famous survivors: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), former sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid and Marley Shelton.
The disc boasts a wealth of bonus content, including filmmaker commentary; deleted scenes; two behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a tribute to horror legend Wes Craven, who directed the first four Scream films.
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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