The latest film releases are Twisters, Oddity, Crossing, and Skywalkers: A Love Story. Weighing in are Monica Castillo, freelance film critic and senior film programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center, and Tim Grierson, senior U.S. critic for Screen International and author of This Is How You Make a Movie.
Twisters
This windy sequel to the 1996 original features Daisy Edgar-Jones as a former storm chaser getting back in the game and Glen Powell as a tornado-loving cowboy.
Castillo: “It's about the spectacle. It's about the twisters — now plural, there are many of them. And there is a little bit of a love story in the middle of that. I'm not sure that it's as effective as the forces of nature as a monster movie. But I think Glen Powell, what he's doing is really interesting and effective. He's like a cowboy Cary Grant — very dashing and smart and witty. And I'm afraid that Daisy Edgar-Jones doesn't quite meet him where he's at. But in terms of a popcorn movie, this has a lot of those great ingredients.”
Grierson: “This one really leans heavily into the characters are dealing with trauma, and the tornadoes are a representation of trauma. And I don't want to dismiss anyone's trauma, but we're there to see twisters. … And … in terms of talking about climate change, the movie just gives it a bit of lip service. And so there's not even a sense that … there are more tornadoes in Tornado Alley, and they're spreading and becoming more dangerous. … It's more about: Check out how amazing these effects are versus the effects back in 1996.”
Oddity
This murder mystery is about an occult shop owner determined to avenge her slain sister.
Grierson: “I think it's creepy. And I think that there are some fun elements in the movie. But the filmmaker — he's an Irish writer/director named Damian McCarthy — he combines a lot of different sub genres. … There’s the asylum thing, there's the murder mystery, there's a haunted house. … But I didn't find it as consistently compelling as I felt that it should.”
Castillo: “It kept me guessing. I didn't know which way it was gonna go, what new thing was gonna pop up. … I was still jumping in my seat when the jumpscares came out, or when something new was revealed. And I was genuinely shocked. That's always a fun, thrill ride feeling. And Oddity lives up to its name. It's very strange.”
Crossing
A retired teacher tries to find her missing trans niece in Istanbul. She’s guilty about not having accepted her LGBTQ+ family member.
Castillo: “In her extensive search for her niece, it takes Lia from her native country in Georgia over the border … into Turkey as she searches for Tekla. She also teams up with different people who help her. … So one of the people is a young man in her town named Achi. He comes along and tries to translate for her. … And I love the dynamic between Lia and Achi because they have this beautiful rapport that pushes and pulls, and you get to see the generational differences of what's going on in their country, while they're also trying to search for this niece. … I would love to find out more about Tekla herself. But I think Lia's story is so amazing and so beautiful, it earns a watch in and of itself.”
Grierson: “The writer/director, his name is Levan Akin. And Akin is somebody who really likes to do a lot of research into the worlds that he chronicles in his movies. … He is from Sweden, but his family hails from both Turkey and Georgia, so he spent a lot of time in both countries. … We really get to spend a lot of time in the trans community in Istanbul. A lot of the actors in this movie are … non-professionals. He just cast people that he met, who just felt so witty, so alive, so real, that he just had to have them in the film.”
Skywalkers: A Love Story
This Netflix documentary focuses on a Russian couple whose idea of a fun date night is dangling off the side of skyscrapers.
Grierson: “The best stuff in the movie is the footage of them doing these illegal climbs. And I was at home watching this by myself, I never do this, I kept saying, ‘No, no, no.’ And then other things I can't say on the radio. … You cannot believe that they survived. It is so, so frightening. And that stuff is really, really impressively shot. … If you watch it at home, though, you can pause it every 10 minutes, take a deep breath, maybe walk around a little bit... This movie is anxiety-inducing.”
Castillo: “These are two social media professionals who are very careful about what they post. They are choosing their selects — photos, what is a good one, what is a bad one — while they're on top of the building in case they need to do reshoots. I think there's a certain level of self-consciousness, or a conscious level of choosing how they present themselves, and what image goes forward on them. … That level of a clean presentation is blocking what else could be under there. … Here, the spectacle is the point.”