The latest film releases include “Jules,” “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” “Medusa Deluxe,” “Men of Deeds,” and “Red, White, & Royal Blue.” KCRW gets reviews from Christy Lemire, film critic for RogerEbert.com and co-host of the YouTube channel “Breakfast All Day;” and Carlos Aguilar, film reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and The A.V. Club.
“Jules”
In this sci-fi adventure, a Pennsylvania man’s life changes after a UFO crashes into his backyard. It stars Ben Kingsley and Jade Quon, who plays Jules the alien. It’s directed by Marc Turtletaub, who produced “Little Miss Sunshine.”
Aguilar: “The government is trying to find this alien. These elderly people are trying to help them go back to their planet. It's strange. It's funny. I think it kind of works for the most part. … It's, at times, superficial in a way that it deals with some of the problems that elderly people go through, but for the most part, it's a warm film.”
Lemire: “This is the kind of movie that could have been cloying, overly quirky, weird, adorable, indie. But the cast brings a great deal of emotional groundedness to this, in particular Ben Kingsley, who is taking this assignment absolutely seriously and finds a gentle authenticity in all of this elderly gentleman's struggles. It's really sweet, and it feels very lived in.”
“The Last Voyage of the Demeter”
This horror flick is about a merchant ship crew that starts to experience strange events at sea. It’s based on a chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel “Dracula.”
Lemire: “It is essentially ‘Alien’ on a boat, but the alien is Dracula. It's got some jolts that are effective. It also has way too many jumpscares. It's extremely screechie. I found it difficult to engage with it in terms of perspective and menace, because it's this giant ship. A lot of it takes place at night. A lot of it takes place below deck. … Having said that, when you do actually see the dude, he's terrifying. The creature effects are really cool. And so that was effective as each of his powers became obvious. This movie does not pull its punches. There is some gnarly stuff that happens. If you have a problem with dogs being hurt and/or killed, you see it. So I found that needlessly gratuitous.”
“Medusa Deluxe”
This A24 murder mystery involves a group of hairstylists at a competition in England, who must figure out who killed one of their own.
Lemire: “It's meant to create the sensation that it is one take. It's got a lot of ‘Birdman’ in its DNA in a lot of ways, one of which is several very long takes that are seamlessly stitched together. And that is the most impressive part of this film. … But while it's technically very impressive … [it’s] actually quite boring from a narrative perspective. It's kind of dull, and there's not a whole lot to these characters. The pacing for the most part is kind of draggy. And so it's hard to get engaged in the whodunit element of it because there's not a whole lot to these people.”
Aguilar: “I thought it was very fascinating. I find the characters were engaging. It kind of reminded me of a Pedro Almodóvar film, not only because all the characters are women and queer men, but also because all of them seem to me to have layers to them. The dialogue is very sharp.”
“Men of Deeds”
This Romanian black comedy focuses on a small-town police chief who becomes an accomplice to a murder.
Aguilar: “It is a totally strange film. … The movie won several Romanian Awards — the GOPO Awards — which are sort of the equivalent to the Oscars in Romania. It won best film and best director. … There's a lot of chickens around town, and the chickens seem to be the only witnesses to what happens. It's kind of funny to see. It's kind of like staring at the eyes of the chicken that knows the truth.”
“Red, White, & Royal Blue”
This romantic comedy follows the son of a U.S. president who falls in love with a prince. The film is based on a New York Times bestselling romance novel by Casey McQuiston. It stars Nicholas Galitzine, Taylor Zakhar Perez, and Uma Thurman.
Lemire: “I love this movie. It is so fun and just crackling, and sexy, and hot and totally charming. … It's a very traditional romcom premise where they can't stand each other, and they both run in these rarefied circles, and they keep seeing each other, and they hate each other. But of course, that simmering chemistry is just because they're secretly attracted to each other. But they both feel like they can't be because neither of them is really out.”
Aguilar: “This one wasn’t for me. I don’t think the cloying romantic trope works for me. But I will say that I do think that the two leads are charming. … I do think that the film is less successful when it focuses on Alex trying to win the campaign for his mom in Texas. The politics of the United States and of the royal family feels superficial here.”