I’m back after a hiatus in time for Chicago. I have a lot of films these next two weeks, so I have the reviews for the Chicago ones split up over the next two weeks. The first 2 are here, and I’m planning on the other 7 to be part of next week’s post. Even without all of the ones I saw this week, there are 6 reviews below for the time since this past Monday. On to the reviews!
This film was inspired by the 1972 Worcester Art Museum robbery in Massachusetts. In our story, we follow Josh O’Connor’s James as he “masterminds” a theft of 4 Arthur Dove paintings from an Art Museum. This “perfect” plan is anything but, and we watch how James’s life slowly comes undone. This was really an enjoyable, but slow watch. O’Connor is great in this, and while the pacing seems to be turning people off on this, it worked for me. Scenes are given ample time to breathe, and you are given time to let the situation sit with you just like it is with the characters. When I was plotting out my schedule for Chicago, this was one of the four or five that just didn’t work out time wise, so I was happy that this ended up being the Screen Unseen selection. This will be on Mubi when it reaches the streaming phase. This is certainly one to seek out.
There are so many variations of the ghost story. Earlier this year, there was Soderbergh’s Presence that tells the story from the perspective of the ghost. In Good Boy, we are following the point of view of Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Trolling Retriever, who in real life is Director Ben Leonberg’s dog. The story itself is a little thin. Indy’s owner Todd is very sick, and moves to his late grandfather’s house, which is believed to be haunted. While Todd is unaware of what is happening in the house, Indy is very much not. The movie plays on something that most dog owners have noticed. When your dog is starting at seemingly nothing or barks at what appears to be nothing, it probably really is something. Indy is reason to watch this very short 72 minute film. He is what the title of the film say. This one will be on Shudder at some point in the near future.
This film follows an Angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), whose failed attempt to show Arj (Aziz Ansari), a struggling man, that money doesn’t solve one’s problems. He attempts to prove this by body swapping Arj with his wealthy boss Jeff (Seth Rogan), but this only leads to further problems. This was an uneven film at times for me. As the directorial debut for Ansari, this is a well constructed film. My issue was the question of which story were we supposed to be following. The Gabriel story has a lot more fun to it, and Reeves is the best part of this film, but the Arj story seems to be the one we should be following more. It is the personal growth of Arj and Jeff that is the focus of the story, so that should be what we are following, but when Gabriel becomes human due to his failings with Arj, he becomes the one we want to see more of. This is a film to be that has two A strorylines, where it only needs one. That makes for an enjoyable film, but one that feels off a bit.
Not a lot to say about this one. This loose adaptation of the 1980 Roald Dahl children’s novel is fine. The animation is well done and gives the film a unique look. The voice cast works for the most part, but I did think Natalie Portman stood out too much as a side character. I’m not sure what age group of kids this is for on Netflix. It has the patent mean streak that classic Dahl novels have, but there is a lot of kids fantasy and musical numbers that lighten the affair. The Twits was never going to be an easy adaptation to make, and it is nice to not get another Chocolate Factory edition. It just isn’t that interesting of a novel to begin with when you have to stretch it out to 90 minutes. I’m not sure what could have been done to make this better, so I guess job well done. Now, where is my new adaptation of James and the Giant Peach?
Now we enter the Chicago time period of the year for me. This was a late addition to the lineup of this year’s festival, and after I heard how it went over in Venice (where it premiered) and Toronto, I was quick to grab a ticket for it when they went on sale. This new film by Gus Van Sant depicts the 1977 kidnapping by Tony Kirtsis (Bill Skarsgard) of his bank mortgage Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), in which he requested hostage money and an apology. Also part of this story is Fred Temple (Coleman Domingo) a radio DJ and the “Voice of Indianapolis”. Finally Al Pachino swoops in a few times as Hall’s father, and the big boss at the mortgage company, and the original target for Tony. Skarsgard is so good in this. He plays Tony with a calculated plan that comes off to others at madness, but you know it is anything but. With this being a true story, you go in knowing where this is all heading. What GVS pulls off very well is keeping things moving as a brisk pace, while giving appropriate time to all of the side players of the story. We have Cary Elwes always hanging around as Detective Grable, or we are spending time with the media covering the evolving situation. What keeps this where it is me is there is just enough holding it back. Pachino doesn’t really add anything in the few scenes he shows up in, and I think this could have been told in a tight 90 minutes. While this isn’t one of Gus Van Sant’s best films, it is surely in the top half. This is scheduled for a wide release January 16, 2026.
Of the 6 festival films I have planned for this year, only one had me excited to see it. That isn’t to say that I’m not looking forward to the other 5, but to highlight how I feel about the Knives Out series. I am a big fan of Rian Johnson’s murder mysteries, and while yes, Glass Onion wasn’t as good as Knives Out, it still is a very solid film on rewatch. What makes these films so fun to watch is the ensemble that Johnson throws at Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc. That is true with this third entry too. Our main character is Rev Jud Duplenticy (josh O’Connor) who is sent to a small parrish overseen by Msgr Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). The church regulars consist of Wick’s right hand Martha (Glenn Close), town doctor Nat (Jeremy Renner), author Lee (Andrew Scott), lawyer Vera (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy (Daryl McCormick), disabled cellist Simone (Caliee Spaeny), and groundskeeper Samson (Thomas Hayden Church). Also around is Polic Chief Geraldine (Mila Kunis).
Part of what makes these films so fun to watch for me is that they are impossible to predict the ending until you find yourself at the conclusion and the proceedings are revealed. Johnson does this by lying to the audience. We are not told everything and we get pieces of the scheme just when Johnson wants us to know it. We will see hints of scenes at one point, then circle back to that same scene later, but this time we get to stay and see what happened. I obviously am not going to give any plot away as that would ruin the fun that this film is. I will say there is no gimmick this time. No knowing the “murderer” in the first act, and no secret twins. This is straight up murder mystery, and might be thought of better by those that just want a simple story. What I like about this series is that all three entries feel so different from each other. The only similarity is someone has died and Blanc is there to solve the case. Johnson has said that he would like to make more of these films. Based on the reaction to the film in the theater I was in Saturday night, I am not the only one that would be happy about that too. This will be on Netflix on Dec 12, but it will make a limited release on Nov 26 if you are lucky enough to find one of the select theaters it will be playing at.
After a couple of weak weeks, this next weekend probably won’t be much better. We are still a couple weeks away from the big money makers.
- Regretting You
- Black Phone 2
- Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
- Tron: Ares
- Good Fortune
Still in Chicago, and there are some bangers this week. I did manage to add Bugonia to the schedule Thursday before I go back to Michigan. It has entered it’s limited release period, and there is a theater here in Chicago that has it.
Mitten Film Nerd 
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