Tag: comedy

Film Review: A Hitman’s Mind Starts To Crumble

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Knox Goes Away is a 2023 thriller starring Michael Keaton, who also directed this movie. Gregory Poirier is the director. Keaton is joined by James Marsden. Ray McKinnon, Al Pacino, Marcia Gay Harden, and Suzy Nakamura.

Keaton plays a hitman John Knox, who has just been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of dementia and only has a few weeks before he loses his cognitive awareness. As he is making preparations for his inevitable decline, his son shows up with a wounded hand and in a panic. He explains that he had just killed a man who had lured his teenage daughter online and got her pregnant. The son, Miles, played by James Marsden, is aware of his father’s dubious and lethal profession and calls upon his expertise to help him get away with the understandable murder. Of course, Knox has yet to reveal his condition and is compelled to keep his sanity together as best he can in order to aid his son.

This film has a pretty intriguing plot, and Keaton’s performance is captivating. Knox handles his diagnosis with an impressive amount of stoicism. There is a certain subtlety to how Keaton portrays the lapses in Knox is experiencing as he tries to resolve this crisis and get his personal affairs in order.

Al Pacino plays Knox’s friend who ends up being the only one told about this condition. He is fine in this role, but there just isn’t much for him to do here.

The cast was pretty good overall. Ray McKinnon is one of these character actors who tends to leave an impression for some reason. Much like someone like John Goodman, he tends to make the scenes a bit better regardless of the size of his role. McKinnon plays Knox’s partner who takes the brunt of the consequences brought by Knox’s illness.

There is a fair amount of decent suspense that plays out effectively. One can feel a certain sympathy for Knox’s plight in spite of his terrible career choice.

I still wouldn’t call this a terrific film, but there is some effort at creativity. Keaton does a good job holding it together as both the star and director. It’s a decent enough diversion and has enough depth to keep one engaged.

Film Review: Live From New York…You Know The Rest

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Saturday Night is a film about the premiere of what would be better known as Saturday Night Live, and the idea is better than what I saw onscreen. Jason Reitman directed the film which he co-wrote alongside Gil Kenan. The cast is quite lengthy, but it includes Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Dylan O’Brien, and Willem Dafoe.

This supposedly chronicles the ninety minutes leading up to the first broadcast of the venerable sketch comedy show. All manner of chaos is occurring including a writer getting high, a stage light crashing down during a practice run, and one of the cast members picking fights at random. Lorne Michaels has his hands full trying to get this eclectic, chaotic group of diverse performers to work together to create a unique television experience for the American public. Of course, it’s no major spoiler to reveal that it does work out obviously.

The impressions of some of the more well-known original cast members were not that bad. Corey Michael Smith pulls off a pretty convincing Chevy Chase. O’Brien’s impression of Dan Aykroyd is also impressive. The cast on the whole seems to be well selected. I was not familiar with Lorne Michaels as a younger man, but I imagine that LaBelle did just fine in that role as well.

Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t find the film to be on the whole all that interesting. The antics and chaos that supposedly went on behind the scenes really seemed to be exaggerated. I know there needs to be some allowance for artistic license, but Reitman is asking for a bit too much suspense of disbelief.

It’s not quite to the level of being a dumpster fire of a movie, but there was not much there to really impress me. I just found this particular story to be rather unnecessary. There were no real surprises. It’s a waste of a rather talented cast.

Film Review: Even The Eye Doctor Has Some Trouble Seeing The Light

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Sight is a pretty good biopic about renowned eye surgeon, Dr. Ming Wang. Andrew Hyatt directed the film as well as co-wrote it with John Duigan and Buzz McLaughlin. Terry Chen stars as Ming Wang with Greg Kinnear taking on the role of his business partner, Dr. Misha Bartnovsky. Fionnula Flanagan also stars as a nun who brings in a young girl who lost her sight at the hands of a wicked stepmother. The film is based on an autobiography written by Ming Wang and is likely quite compelling.

Dr. Wang had grown up during a period of time in China when there was a violent uprising against the Communist government. He had a thriving practice in Nashville, Tennesse after he earned his medical degree and worked alongside Dr. Bartnovsky. As Ming tries to help a young girl from India regain her sight, he struggles to put his painful childhood memories to rest. He is haunted by the memory of a young girl with whom he was friends who was torn from him by the dissidents, never to see her again. Ming is dedicated, but the dark memories are often on the verge of overwhelming him. It will take a young girl’s courage and sense of hope for him to develop a perspective that propels him to rediscover the drive to continue his mission to help as many people as possible out of their darkness.

Angel Studios produced this, and it is a pretty solid film. It is quite interesting and inspiring as intended. I also appreciated some exposure to some of the history and culture of China. The performances were quite compelling. Ming has a younger brother who is a bit of a mooch, and it’s not quite explained what happened there. The brother is a likeable mooch, but he feels like a bit of a loose thread as far as the story goes.

Angel Studios does a much better job of sharing their religious beliefs or biases without a lot of clunky or unrealistic dialogue. The producers and writers were smart to not have all of the challenges resolved in a perfect, glorious manner which would feel just a little too contrived. The ending is still heart-warming and seems to fulfill the message that the movie was trying to convey.

The film doesn’t drift into anything too incredulous. The book is still likely much better. The major purpose of this film seems to have been fulfilled quite effectively.

Basically, Angel Studios released a film that is not necessarily flawless, but it is still better than many Christian or faith-based films that have been produced in recent years.