In this week’s Criticize This! we take a look at an excellent Irish film, the latest M. Night twist, and a movie that’s easily one of our favourites of the year.

THE BIG ONE

If you’re looking for a new movie that invokes a vibe similar to Trainspotting, look no further than the Irish indie darling Kneecap.

Kneecap tells the story of the rise and controversy surrounding the real-life Irish rap group the film is named after. Like Danny Boyle’s aforementioned Scottish movie from the ’90s, there’s a lot of sex, drug use, foul language, great music, and hard-to-understand heavy accents on display (thankfully, the scenes spoken in Irish are subtitled, so you know exactly what is being said). It doesn’t quite go as far as Trainspotting did (no needles or dead babies), which helps keep it more fun and accessible to a wider audience.

The movie currently has a solid 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5 out of 10 on the IMDb. In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Strauss said “it’s as if The Commitments had a bastard child with The Crying Game, and it mutated into its own, magnificently defiant thing.”

In a review of it from Sundance earlier this, Film Inquiry’s Jules Caldeira called it a “fresh, vibrant, in-your-face” movie that “will destroy your Spotify Wrapped in the coming year.”

The music is great, but the one thing that stands out most about the film is the fact that the main characters are portrayed by the actual rappers themselves. They all do an amazing job, and in scenes up against Michael Fassbender, who is excellent in his brief supporting role, the trio appear like seasoned pros.

One of only two bad reviews we could find for Kneecap uses the comparison to Trainspotting against it.

“Kneecap wants soooo much to be the next Trainspotting — a gleeful celebration of drugs and youthful brutishness, but with a heavy dollop of Irish pride centered around the Gaeilge language. Instead it’s just an oddball, off-putting flick that makes it very hard to engage with its characters and disparate themes,” Christopher Lloyd wrote in the Film Yap newsletter.

Our take: Kneecap is an extremely fun movie to take in, and one that is sure to be an Oscar contender. But there is also an underlying message about fighting for your language and identity that many will connect with.

Kneecap is now playing in select theatres across Canada.

IN THEATRES

Trap

M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap was going to be “The Big One” this week, but unfortunately Warner Bros. decided to not screen it for the press or public ahead of time (usually a bad sign). As expected, the reviews from early Thursday showings are not that hot, which is too bad as we were looking forward to seeing Josh Harnett back in a leading role. Like most recent M. Night movies, this might be better enjoyed from the comfort of your home.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

It’s never a good sign when the release of a movie is delayed by over a year, which is what happened with the hybrid live action-animated adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Starring Zachary Levi as a grown up Harold (ugh), this currently has a 33% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and only seems to be getting worse as more reviews come in (there was no audience rating at the time of writing). It’s safe to say that if you have small kids they’ll probably enjoy it, but otherwise, just stay clear of this mess. Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery, and Jemaine Clement also star.

TOP BOX OFFICE

1. Deadpool & Wolverine
2. Twisters
3. Despicable Me 4

STREAMING

Daddio (VOD)

For a movie that is literally just two people talking in a New York City cab for an hour and 30 minutes, Daddio is an incredibly riveting and intriguing watch. It works so well because of the excellent script by Christy Hall and the solid performances by stars Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn (we smell an Oscar nomination in his future). It only has a 77% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, but an 89% audience rating! We wanted to immediately watch it again as soon as it ended, which is rare for us, and it’s definitely one of our favourites of the year now.

A Quiet Place: Day One (VOD)

A Quiet Place: Day One starts out as an exciting, full-blown alien invasion movie before it quickly falls victim to the slow, boring pacing of the other films in the series. There’s still a lot to like about the movie, such as the sound design in the first 15 to 20 minutes and Lupita Nyong’o’s performance, but overall, you might find yourself counting down the minutes until it’s over (and it’s not that long of a movie). We might be in the minority with our take on it as it has an 87% critics score and a 73% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Also streaming this week: Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie are on Netflix, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is on Disney+, and Tarot is on Crave.

COMING SOON

From director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), You’re Cordially Invited is an upcoming comedy starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. The two appear to have great chemistry and play off each other perfectly, and we’re hoping this will be a refreshing return to comedies made for adults. We won’t know for sure until it hits Prime Video on January 30, 2025.

Check out the trailer for You’re Cordially Invited on our YouTube channel and tell us if you’re excited for this one or not?

ON DISC

John Carpenter’s original plan for the sequels to Halloween was to get away from the Michael Myers character and tell a different story surrounding the holiday each time. After the studio forced Myers’ return in Halloween II, fans expected to see him in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. When it turned out to be a completely random storyline, sans Myers, people were rightfully mad (and as we all know Myers reigned supreme and returned in all the future sequels and remakes).

Looking at it outside of the Halloween franchise and as its own, standalone movie, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is actually a pretty wild and fun horror flick. The storyline of masks killing kids as some sort of ritual offering to ancient gods is truly out there. Add in some over-acting from stars Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin, along with a few questionable plot points, and it’s comparable to other decent one-off horror movies from the ’80s.

The 4K Blu-ray release for Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the best we’re ever going to see this movie. Even in spots where they didn’t have much to work from off the original (near the end for instance), it still looks and sounds better than previous versions (and that damn Silver Shamrock jingle will be stuck in your head for days).

Special features on the 4K Blu-ray includes audio commentary with director Tommy Lee Wallace, audio commentary with actor Tom Atkins, a making-of featurette, theatrical trailer and TV spots, a regular Blu-ray copy of the movie, and more.

The 4K Blu-ray for Halloween III: Season of the Witch is currently available for $39.99 on Amazon.ca.

Other great horror movies on 4K Blu-ray to check out include The Exorcist, Creepshow, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Funhouse.

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