Today on "Words On Film", Dan Burke reviews "Borderlands", "Cuckoo", "Trap", and "Tyler Perry's Divorce in the Black". Mr. Burke also runs down the list of movies subject to being released into theaters for the week of August 11th - 16th, 2024.
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For this show, I have four movies to review for you, two that are brand new, and by brand new, I mean that they were released on or around August 9th, 2024. The other ones were released a little earlier this year, not too much earlier, just a couple of weeks, but I didn't get to reviewing them until now. And next week, there's going to be some more films that I didn't get to review for the last couple of weeks, because I didn't see them. So I'm going to review those for you on a later show, but I'm going to get to the newest and what will probably not be the highest-grossing films based on the fact that Deadpool and Wolverine is breaking a lot of box office records, especially for an R-rated movie, but it's going to be somewhat talked about at least for a week. So let's get to that film. The first movie I'm going to be reviewing for you is Borderlands. This is the latest from director Eli Roth, and it has an all-star cast that includes but is not limited to Kate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramirez, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the voice of Jack Black. So you have a stacked roster of immense talent in this film, but does the talent of talented or rather the roster of talented actors equate to a great film here? Well, a little bit of a spoiler alert for my review, no, but I'll get into why this movie falls short of greatness, and that's just putting it mildly. Borderlands is based on the best-selling video game that first hit stores in 2009. It's an action role-playing first-person shooter video game, so it's a lot here. I've never played the video game myself, but actually that is a bit of an advantage because I'm able to judge this movie based on its story, its characters, and whether or not all in all it is a good film, a great film, or it falls short based on that, and I don't have the video game to necessarily cloud my judgment. But then again, there are some video games that I have played, like Sonic the Hedgehog, for instance, that turned out to be actually surprisingly good films. Then again, there are other video games that I never played, like Uncharted, which I thought was an excellent film, despite the fact that I'd never played the video game. So I guess it's kind of a mixed bag. I tend to keep my expectations relatively open when I go into any movie of any kind, but most especially ones that are based on video games. Because more often than not, movies based on video games are generally not very good, but the exceptions that I noted, Sonic the Hedgehog and Uncharted, are exceptions to that rule. But this movie, Borderlands, is of course, as I mentioned, based on the best-selling video game. And this all-star action adventure follows a ragtag team of misfits on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power. Now what that power is, I will tell you in a little bit. It is essentially the key to a vault on a planet that's known as Pandora. And I don't know what the name of the planet in the video game was, but Pandora is already an unoriginal name for a planet based solely on the fact that that's the name of the planet in the movie Avatar and its sequels. And I say sequels plural because inevitably, Avatar will have an additional sequel beside the one that came out a few years ago. But the main character in this film is a bounty hunter by the name of Roland, who is, excuse me, that's one of the supporting characters we're introduced to him first, Roland is played by Kevin Hart, and he is a mercenary soldier who has apparently gone rogue, who kidnaps Tiny Tina, who is a teenager with the help of Krieg, a psycho, who is institutionalized in the same facility. And in the meantime, Lilith, who is the bounty hunter is played by Kate Blanchett, is contacted by a wealthy man by the name of Atlas, who convinces her to rescue Tiny Tina, who is his daughter, and why she is able to capture or rather bring Tina back to her father. Well, you'd think the obvious reasons, but there's something sinister going on underneath there. But largely, this movie had a story that I've seen before. As a matter of fact, this movie, despite its really impressive special effects, reminded me of a low-rent Star Wars. For example, there's the character Lilith, who's a jaded bounty hunter, who reminded me less of any character Kate Blanchett ever played, and more like Han Solo. And there's also another character named Krieg, who doesn't speak very much, who is a human being, but automatically reminded me of Chewbacca. Tiny Tina reminded me in the role of Princess Leia, but she was a lot more bombastic and also a lot more annoying than Princess Leia was in any sort of imagination. And also, some of the other characters are not particularly memorable either, despite being played by excellent actors. For example, there's the character Tannis, who's played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who not only is an ally to this ragtag team of misfits, but apparently, her and Lilith had a history that is not necessarily good, and they come to grips with that as the movie progresses. And you know eventually they are going to work together and work things out because that's the way this movie goes. And the final character I should mention here is a robot by the name of Claptrap, who's voiced here by Jak Black, and usually when Jak Black is in a comedy, he's usually comic gold. Here, I kind of felt like he was just annoying, it was kind of like if R2D2 could actually talk as opposed to make beeps, and if he just would not shut up. So, Jak Black's character Claptrap here was unfortunately not very funny, and I'd hate to say that that's the fault of Jak Black, I mean, Jak Black is genuinely very funny, but I think it's probably more the part of the sound editor who didn't know what parts of Jak Black's presumed improvisation to cut out. So sadly, and it really pains me to say this, Jak Black in this movie came off a lot more like Ryan Reynolds at his worst, where he's trying to be funny, and just in this case doesn't know when to quit or to shut up. And I really feel bad saying that about Jak Black, because this is the very first movie where I kind of felt like that was his character. But I don't blame Jak Black for that necessarily, I just think that the sound editor here had a choice between using all of Jak Black's lines that he recorded, or using a few choice ones, and instead he chose all of them, and as a result, the character just became particularly annoying. And also, Kevin Hart in this movie, you would expect him to be funny, but he actually isn't, and it's not because Kevin Hart's not trying, it's just because he doesn't have anything particularly funny to say. As a matter of fact, it seemed promising in the very beginning that Kevin Hart would be funny, but he is introduced here wearing this giant helmet where he makes these really loud breathing sounds, and he actually takes the helmet off and he says, "Oh my gosh, it's so hard to breathe in this thing," or something to that effect. The only problem is, with that sort of scene, it's already been done in Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs" when we're first introduced to the character of Dark Helmet. So already, Borderlands is not only ripping off Star Wars, but it's also ripping off the parody "Spaceballs," and ripping off the latter parody is probably even far less excusable than ripping off Star Wars because lots of other movies have ripped off Star Wars, some better than others, including some of the prequels and sequels, but some have done it better than others. Unfortunately here, Borderlands, despite having a lot of great action in it and some pretty impressive special effects is very tired when it comes to its story, its character development is incredibly weak, and the comedy that's supposed to be in this film is really forgettable and largely nonexistent. And this is really too bad because every person in this film, just about, especially actors like Kate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jamie Lee Curtis, I've seen them do better in so many other films. Why they chose to be in this film, I don't know. I've even seen director Eli Roth direct much better movies, not necessarily torture porn, like the kinds of films like Hostel, which put him on the map, but I've seen him do a lot more mature films and do them much better. But Borderlands is a forgettable mess and it gets my rating of a flunk out. And I also have to say that movies that are based on video games haven't had the best start, especially since 31 years later were still talking about how terrible the first Super Mario Bros. movie was, and most certainly it was. But the movie seems to either hinge on the success of the video game, like last year's Five Nights at Freddy's did, and do fan service to the people who played the video games, but that's really not enough of an audience right there. But I think one of the biggest culprits here besides the makers of this movie taking for granted the fan base of the video game is probably studio interference because there's a lot that's packed into this movie, not just the impressive roster of acting talent, but when a lot of things are packed into the movie, unfortunately it creates a mess, and that's what Borderlands is a mess. Welcome back to Words on Film, the spoken word show dedicated to moving pictures. I am your host and movie critic Dan Burke. The next movie I'm going to be reviewing for you is Cuckoo, which is spelled C-U-C-K-O-O. I'm going to pronounce it Cuckoo, I'm kind of leaning towards pronouncing it Cuckoo, but Cuckoo sounds a lot more natural to me. And this is a movie that is directed by and written by Tillman Singer, who is doing his sophomore effort as a writer and a director with this film. Previously, he made his feature film directorial and screenwriting debut with the movie Luz, L-U-Z, which came out in 2018. Even though I was hosting this show in 2018, this is one of those films that flew under my radar, because I do see literally hundreds of films a year, but I don't see every film. I try to see as many films as I possibly can, not to mention trying to get to my golden number of films here at five, but I missed this one. So this is my introduction to Tillman Singer as a director and as a writer. And this is a movie about a 17 year old girl who is American, who moves with her family to a resort in Germany, where things are not what they seem. And that's a synopsis that is given to me here, so let me be a little bit more specific. The teenager in this movie is named Gretchen, and she is played by a very talented young actor by the name of Hunter Shafer. And actually, Hunter Shafer's performance in this film is one of the film's main strengths. As a matter of fact, Hunter Shafer here reminded me of a young Jody Foster. And if Jody Foster is in a movie later where she needs somebody to play her daughter, I think Hunter Shafer is going to be the actress to do that. But it's not just the way that Hunter Shafer looks, that kind of tomboy look for which Jody Foster was known outside of movies like Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone, kind of more like Jody Foster and the Bad News Bears and Freaky Friday and those kinds of movies. But anyway, Gretchen is grieving after the death of her mother and she moves with her father, Louise, her stepmother, Beth, and a deaf-mute half-sister Alma to a resort town in the Bavarian Alps in Germany, as I said previously. And the family is there to help build a new hotel that is overseen by the enigmatic Air Konig, who's played in this movie by Dan Stevens. I'm tempted to do so and tell you what movies in which he acted very well, but he certainly is a very dynamic and charismatic actor. And the scenes between him and Hunter Shafer, good and bad, are done really well. So Air Konig offers Gretchen a job at the front desk of the hotel to help her adjust to not only the death of her mother, but also her new life in general, because it's not easy moving to a new place, especially when you are an American and you're moving to a place where the main language is not your own. Granted, Germans are generally good at speaking English, but still that doesn't help a lot of things. But after the arrival of Gretchen's family, strange things begin to happen. First of all, Alma suffers seizures, and they are triggered by a mysterious reverberating shriek. And when that happens, not only does Alma suffer convulsions, but something happens with the time continuum in this film. And as it turns out, the young girl Alma, who is indeed a cutie, is not the only one who suffers from these convulsions. In fact, there is another character in this film who comes out at night and scares the local townspeople who is also suffering from these convulsions. But unlike Alma, she is anything but cute. And there are a number of scenes where Gretchen does things that are very ill-advised and comes into contact with this creature who suffers the same kind of convulsions as Gretchen's younger half-sister. And what makes Gretchen kind of a foolish teenager in these instances are when Erkonig actually calls her at the front desk and tells her, "Stay right there, lock the doors. I'm going to come pick you up." Now, not only does Gretchen not stay there and make the foolish decision to ride her bike home at night, she also doesn't lock up. But the part where she is riding her bike and this strange creature comes in contact with her is very chilling and not to mention very suspenseful and probably one of the best parts of the film. The movie does kind of lose its focus when the mysterious creature who comes out at night becomes an investigation with the police, particularly from a washed up detective by the name of Henry who's played by Jan Bluthart. And it's not the investigation where the movie falls apart. It's more the revelation of the investigation, why this humanoid creature exists, why the creature acts the way she does, why these certain things happen, why she kills people. The revelation behind that is not only kind of dubious based on the narrative, but also something that I've seen before in other films, the science fiction behind the creature that is in this film. And of course, this movie is categorized as a horror mystery thriller, but there are some science fiction elements to it. I did actually like the climax of the film, but the revelation of why these strange things are happening and also how Gretchen is able to dodge being hurt the way she is or being killed kind of is where the movie fell apart the most. But I think this movie was very strong in its atmosphere, not to mention its acting. Now when I was reviewing the movie The Watcher starring Dakota Fanning a few weeks ago, I did comment that the atmosphere of the film was the movie's selling point. And I also said the acting was good, particularly with Dakota Fanning, who even though she's had no problems getting acting roles, I still think there's something about her that's particularly underrated. The rest assured, the acting in the movie Cuckoo is much better than in The Watcher, particularly because Tillman Singer has a lot more experience as a director than the director of The Watcher. And I'll get into the politics maybe a little bit later, but why is the movie called Cuckoo? That seems like a very silly name. Well, there's an explanation as to why these creatures are like Cuckoo birds in that they rely on something called brood parasitism. And I'm not going to reveal what that is because frankly, I don't have a lot of time. But that is actually one of the revelations that takes place in the third act of the film that I liked. But largely, I think the other revelation behind who's behind these creatures and why was where the movie kind of lost it for me, but I still liked Cuckoo and I give Cuckoo my rating of a checkout based on the fact that this is Tillman Singer's second film. And judging from the fact that he knows how to create suspense very well, not to mention to create some dynamic characters, I think there is a brighter future for him in later film. I think this movie is a good start and you have to start somewhere, but it's still not perfect. But I give Dan Stevens and Hunter Shafer probably the most kudos for being the best actors in this film, not to mention Mila Liu, who plays the Deaf Mute character Alma, also served as a good anchor for this film. And the drama here, not to mention some of the horror elements, were the film's selling points. I think the movie's strengths. To week this lot lay a bit in the story, but not so much that I wouldn't recommend this film marginally. [Music] Coming back to words on film, the spoken word show dedicated to moving pictures, I am your host of movie critic Dan Burke. The next movie I'm going to be reviewing for you is Trap. This is the latest film from M Night Shyamalan, and it is M Night Shyamalan's first movie that he's directed since Knock at the Cabin, which came out last year, and I think was a pretty good film. It certainly was an improvement over old, which came out in 2021 and what I considered one of the worst films of 2021. So M Night Shyamalan has proven himself to be hit or miss in terms of being a director and being a storyteller, but what can't be denied is his sense of originality. Now Trap is a film that came out in theaters nationwide, at least in the United States, on August 2nd. So I'm a teensy bit late to review this film, but not too late, because there are other films that I've reviewed months in advance. But last weekend I didn't have time to review this film, now I've seen it and I most certainly have time to review it. And honestly, even though Trap is not a perfect film in terms of its logistics, it does succeed in telling a good story and also having many of the actors in the film, particularly the star of the film, Josh Hartnett, act incredibly well. And Josh Hartnett is one of those actors who used to be everywhere 20 years ago when he was in films like The Virgin Suicides, Pearl Harbor, 40 Days and 40 Nights. But he actually took a hiatus from acting a little while ago. As a matter of fact, Christopher Nolan offered him the role of Batman in the movie Batman Begins and Josh Hartnett turned it down, leaving Christian Bale to take over the role of Batman. But to Josh Hartnett's credit, he doesn't seem to look back. After all, he made the decision to take a break from Hollywood, and this is Josh Hartnett's first starring role in a film since 40 Days and 40 Nights, which came out 22 years ago, if you can believe it, Man Time Flies. So Josh Hartnett is not the younger heartthrob he used to be, but he's in this film playing a good dad, and some might even argue a good looking dad, who takes his daughter Riley to the concert of a huge pop star who's fictitious in this film, but who's along the likes of Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande in terms of their popularity amongst teenage girls. The pop superstar in this film is actually Lady Raven, and she's played by Celica Shyamalan. So director M. Night Shyamalan used nepotism to hire his daughter for this film, but honestly, I think Celica Shyamalan, who is actually making her feature film debut in this film, acts incredibly well. She immediately reminded me, both on stage and off, of these noteworthy pop superstars like Ariana Grande or Duolipa, like she has the moves, but she also has the image and the attitude, and she absolutely had me sold as a pop star, but even later on in the film, she actually acted incredibly well when she is taken in by the plot of this film, which I actually did not reveal right now. So the reason the film is called Trap is because the audience in the film who is attending this concert by the pop diva Lady Raven, unbeknownst to many of them, are actually in a trap that are set up by the FBI, and the FBI presumed, or maybe even knew, that a killer who's stalking the streets of Philadelphia by the name of "The Butcher" is going to be at this concert. How the FBI figured this out, I don't know. I can't exactly speak to the realism of how the FBI does what they do or why they do what they do, but I do actually think the FBI's tactics in this film might make for a companion piece to this movie, and it would be as intriguing, if not more, if M. Night Shyamalan is able to get his facts and his plausibility correct here. But what's interesting here is one of the main characters is The Butcher, and it's not one of those kind of whodunit films, within 10 or 15 minutes you figure out who the killer is going to be. Now I have a policy here on my show Words on Film where there's no spoilers no matter what, but if I do have my arm proverbially twisted and I feel like I have no choice but to give you a spoiler, I usually tell you what it is and give you a heads up. In this case, even though you kind of know who the killer is within 10 or 15 minutes of this film, seeing it and going in with a clean slate still kind of takes you by surprise, even in the first 10 or 15 minutes. And you also seem to follow the killer as the killer is trying to get out of this amphitheater that shows this concert with this big pop star when the FBI is vetting each and every person who is in the amphitheater. And what's interesting here is that the FBI agent who is in charge of this operation is named Dr. Josephine Grant. She's probably a doctor because she has a doctorate in psychology in addition to being an agent and she is played by and talk about actors we haven't seen in a while, Hayley Mills. Yeah, the same Hayley Mills who was in Disney films like Pollyanna and the Parent Trap is in this film and it's kind of unusual for an actress who a lot of people presumed was retired to take on this role, but I got to tell you, Hayley Mills is also excellent in this film. It could have been played by a more seasoned actress and an older actress like, say, Diane Keaton or Kathy Bates, but Hayley Mills is really good casting to both M. Night Shyamalan and also the casting department's credit in this film. As a matter of fact, I felt like everyone in this film was perfectly acted, perfectly casted and acted very well in this film, especially Josh Hartnett who anchors this film in the lead incredibly well. I would go as far as to say that this is Josh Hartnett's best performance because he comes off very realistically as a good dad who's kind enough not only to take his daughter Riley who's played by Ariel Donahue to this huge concert and get them amazing seats to it no less, but he also looks out for his daughter in other ways, some of which are noteworthy and others of which are a bit dubious if you go by some parenting guides that you might read. Also, his wife Rachel, Josh Hartnett's wife in this film, is played by Alison Pill, who's one of those actors who is not recognizable by name, but you've definitely seen her in a number of movies and TV shows and she also acts really well in probably a more subdued performance than previously. Now, one of the reasons that this film does not exactly come off as great is because there are some contrived scenes in this film that probably wouldn't come off very realistically or wouldn't be executed very realistically alongside proper trained FBI agents. And also, it seems like for the FBI to set up a concert that pertains to teenage girls as a trap would mean that the FBI would have knowledge that this serial killer would have a teenage daughter, right? And what would they use as evidence to deduce that kind of conclusion? Now, the movie is correct in using the protagonist's point of view in this film, the protagonist being Josh Hartnett's character as the driving force behind this film, but there's also another scene where the killer gets out of the situation and evades the FBI, but the people who come and counter with the person who ultimately is the butcher don't really act logically. I think they act in a way that would be typical of a hero in a film, but not necessarily a very realistic way. But there's still a lot more that I enjoyed about the movie trap than parts that made me want to take my popcorn box and throw it directly at the screen or scream at the screen for its inaccuracies. And the ending of the movie left more for me to be desired, but trap still gets my rating of a check out because I do think that M Night Shyamalan actually directed all the actors in this film very well. And I can't say the same about M Night Shyamalan's other films that he's directed recently, like old for example, where the acting wasn't particularly great, not to mention the dialogue was very dubious and head-scratching in the sense that no reasonable person would say this kind of thing in this kind of scenario. And I think M Night Shyamalan is better than making a campy film, especially since he is a two-time Oscar nominee and he probably should know better. But this is an improvement for M Night Shyamalan in terms of his acting and his character development for the characters that we see on screen. And I should say more writing a character development than acting. He chose, he and the casting department chose great actors for this film, especially Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, and yeah, even Celica Shyamalan who obviously got this part because of nepotism, but she showed that she earned the part from her excellent acting ability in this film. So, trap is a movie that I liked a lot more than I would have thought was dubious, but I do think that if M Night Shyamalan were so compelled to make a companion piece where Hayley Mills and maybe another FBI agent were the protagonists and the plan for creating this trap was part of the story, I think you might have an excellent film on your hands very similar to the movie Pearl was to the movie X. It's just a thought, but it would be highly recommended for M Night Shyamalan to take that narrative leap. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome back to Words on Film, the spoken word showed dedicated to moving pictures. I am your host and movie critic Dan Burke. The next one we are going to be reviewing for you is Tyler Perry's Divorce in the Black. And that is the official name of the film. It's not Divorce in the Black, it's Tyler Perry's Divorce in the Black. And sure enough, it is a movie that Tyler Perry wrote, produced, and directed. And normally I would say that Tyler Perry is noteworthy for having taken on all those jobs. And one thing you cannot deny about Tyler Perry is his drive and his work ethic. But judging from the quality of his films, I can't speak to his many TV shows, but the films that he's directed, I would say he is driven to a fault because he seems to churn out a lot of these films and TV shows and largely the films and TV shows are not very good. And I can't say the same for his TV shows because I haven't seen many of them. It is very impressive that he has created and actually directed a lot of TV shows recently like The Oval, Zatima, Sisters, All The Queen's Men and Bruh. And those are just TV shows that he has released over the last five years. Five TV shows over the last five years, but, and this is a big but, I do think that he should retire from filmmaking because I appreciate the fact that he has a passion for storytelling. But the truth of the matter is, he has created an empire and a studio and he could just rest on his laurels and maybe even influence another generation of presumably black filmmakers or filmmakers of color, but he's got to know where his strengths are and his strengths are in his work ethic and in his business savvy to which I give him full credit. But as a storyteller, man, he just doesn't do it for me and divorced in the black is one of those films that is no exception to the rule of Tyler Perry's dubious skills as a writer as a director and as a storyteller and this is a film that comes off like a thriller like Sleeping with the Enemy, but in its heart it is a cliched romantic drama and the movie centers around a bank worker by the name of Ava who's played by Megan Goode whose husband Dallas leaves her heart broken as he abandons their marriage and Dallas in this movie is played hamfistedly by Corey Hardrick. And I'm sure Corey Hardrick is a good actor, but in this film I think Tyler Perry does not give him very much to work with as a character. Pretty much Tyler Perry wrote this character as somebody who openly drinks is prone to drinking and driving unless somebody forces the keys out of his hands and also causes a ruckus wherever he goes. He's not only a bad husband, he's also a bad person and I feel like Tyler Perry made this film for the church crowd and by that I mean you see black churches in films or at least I see them because I've never actually been to a black church, but the kind of setup for a black church is the preacher says a sentence that's supposed to be the literal gospel truth and you hear a lot of people in the church, particularly women stand up and say, "Amen, hallelujah." And I feel like the reason that Tyler Perry makes these characters so hamfistedly if that is an adverb is for the black women in his audience or the black people in their audience who are churchgoers to stand up and go hallelujah, amen, I'll drink to that, well whatever signs of affirmation. But the thing is, since Tyler Perry released this film on Amazon Prime, it's not supposed to be geared towards that kind of audience. It's supposed to be geared towards a wide audience, right? W-I-D-E. I mean, if that came off as saying white audience, I didn't mean that at all. W-I-D-E wide audience. So he has to anticipate that not everyone is going to react that way. But in addition to that, there are other ways you can get that kind of reaction from an audience besides making characters just flat out evil, like the character of Dallas is in this film. In fact, the character of Dallas is so evil, it's a wonder why the character Ava, Megan Goode's character, doesn't leave him in the first minute of the film, let alone in the first 15 minutes of the film. In fact, she's heartbroken that he is divorcing her. And I'm thinking, I began thinking to myself, you have to leave him, you know? And I'm trying not to say all the words that were coming in my head about the fact that this relationship is not Ava's fault. But also, you also learn in the very first five minutes of this film that Dallas comes from a dysfunctional family where his mother and his brothers do some really crazy things. Like, for example, at there, at his brother and his mother's son's funeral, they get so angry at what the preacher is saying about the fact that there is a lot of violence in their neck of the woods and the son was prone to violence that she actually has her son's open the casket and take the dead body out of the casket as they're leaving the church. That's not just sick. That's also morbid, but they do it because they want to bury their son in their land that they own. Well, you learn in that scene that Ava actually paid for the funeral and they don't thank her for it. In fact, they demonize her, which makes me kind of wonder. And there's also another scene where they show footage of the wedding between Ava and Dallas and her soon to be mother in law, the same woman who insisted that her dead son's body get taken out of the casket and buried in her backyard actually knocks the bouquet of flowers out of Ava's hand as she is taking her vows with Dallas, which leads me to wonder why was she in this marriage to begin with? Because when you marry someone, you're not only marrying that person, you're also marrying into that family. So am I saying that people don't act like this in real life? No, not necessarily. But what I am saying is that the laws of common sense don't make sense in this film. And I think this is a way of Tyler Perry talking down to his black church going audience where he wants to set these characters up in very bad situations where given their background, their work ethic, their motivation, they wouldn't find themselves in this situation to begin with. And if they did, they would react a lot sooner than previously. And also, Ava does a lot of crying in this film not because of her bad marriage, but because her bad marriage is ending and she doesn't want to get divorced because she is the daughter of a preacher man. And she grew up in a very religious household where I'm sure divorce was not an option. But even when her own parents are saying, you have to leave this man, it doesn't really register with her. So Tyler Perry's divorce in the black is a very messy film. And it's also another one of those films where there is that cliched romance in there where there's another hometown boy, the one who got away. I should say hometown man, but he was a boy when she and him had a relationship. But he's the one who's also divorced. He's a nicer man. And you know how the story goes. This is a tale as old as time. And I can't commend Tyler Perry for his work ethic when the movies that he puts out are just really cliched and hamfisted like the ones here. It's not even so bad. It's campy and therefore funny. It's just bad. And the reason that I'm reviewing this film weeks after it came out is because Tyler Perry had a controversial podcast interview with a Kiki Palmer who as as this as this podcast interview was going on. I was listening to it. I was thinking, Kiki, you have done better films than those made by Tyler Perry. Don't you have better films to make instead of interviewing a bad filmmaker? But what Tyler Perry said during this interview with which Kiki Palmer wholeheartedly apparently agreed was something to the effect of that Tyler Perry and these are Tyler Perry's words did not want to be swayed by Uppity Negroes who did not like his films. Well, I'm not a Negro, obviously. I mean, I guess you can sort of tell from the sound of my voice in this podcast, but I'm not Uppity either. I just know a bad film when I see it. And Tyler Perry's divorce in the black is a bad film. And there's no excuse for calling it out like that. If anything, I think Tyler Perry's biggest weakness as a filmmaker as an artist is that he doesn't take criticism very well. Not only that, he also doesn't collaborate with other writers. And if he did, he might have made a stronger film. And for this reason I give Tyler Perry's divorce in the black, my rating of a flunk out. This is not a reflection on the crew who created this film. It's not a creation on the actors in the film. They're doing their best. The problem is that Tyler Perry doesn't direct well and he also doesn't write characters very well. And any characters he writes who are a semblance of good characters have probably already been written by writers like James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks and Terry McMillan. And that's just a few of the other more successful, or should I say, more noteworthy storytellers from whom Tyler Perry has carbon copied his stories. Maybe he wrote this film himself. He undoubtedly had inspiration, but there's a difference between inspiration and plagiarism. And there's also a difference between inspiration and also writing bad characters in really dubious and contrived situations. And that is Tyler Perry's divorce in the black in a nutshell. Welcome back to words on film, the spoken word show dedicated to moving pictures. I am your host and movie critic Dan Burke. And now that I've reviewed all the movies that I have to review for you for this show, it's not time for me to get into my segment, my final segment of the show, which is what's coming up next. This is a spoken word preview of movies that are subject to being released in theaters for the week of August 12 through August 16th, 2024. Now, I also dedicate some time, if I can, to movies that are subject to being released on streaming as well. But full disclosure, this show, I don't have time to do that. So it's just going to be movies that are subject to being released in theaters. And on August 11th, which is a Sunday, there is an animated film that's coming out in theaters or subject to being released in theaters. It seems like one of those films that it looks like a fathom events movie judging from the fact that it's being released on a Sunday. But it's an animated film that's called Syroko and the Kingdom of the Winds. And if you're thinking this is an anime film, you are right, especially since Syroko sounds like a Japanese name. But the movie is about these anthropomorphic cats who are also sisters, whose names are Juliet and Carmen, who discover a passage to the universe of their favorite book, The Kingdom of the Winds, where they will be transformed and trapped. Now, I can only see stills of this film. It undoubtedly looks like it's very well animated, or at least very well drawn. I can't exactly say how well animated it is because I haven't seen the film in motion. But it looks like a very interesting film, not to mention a very eye-catching and intriguing film. And it's a movie that I will probably not see based on the fact that it's coming out on a Sunday. But if I do, I'll let you know what I think on a future show. Another film that is subject to being released in theaters on August 16th, which is a Friday, is a film that's called Alien Romulus. And if you're thinking that this is a sequel to Alien, you are correct. Or at least maybe it's a prequel. I don't exactly know. But it is a sequel to the film Alien Covenant. Yes, Alien Covenant. And this movie is about a group of young space colonizers who, while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. This basically sounds like the first Alien movie in terms of plot. And this time Ridley Scott does not direct it. He produces it, but the directing credit in this movie is given to Fade Alvarez. And the stars of the movie include Isabella Merced, Kaylee Spaney, Archie Rayno, and David Johnson amongst other actors. And there are very many actors in this film. There are only about seven, or at least those are the ones that are being credited here on the website where I'm getting this information. But Isabella Merced is the star of this film. And it looks like a film that maybe has some promise. But given the fact that certain sequels that have come out this year, like the sequel to Ghostbusters have kind of made me jaded about late sequels to classic franchise films from the 70s and 80s. I don't have high hopes for this film, but I will see it and I'll let you know what I think on a future show. I just may not necessarily be enthusiastic about it. But another film that is subject to be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, August 16th is a movie that's called Dee Dee. And Dee Dee is a movie that takes place in 2008 during the last month of summer before high school begins, where an impressionable 13 year old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can't teach him, how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. I don't know why his family can't teach him how to love his mom, but I guess that's the subject or the synopsis of this film that this site is given to me. So the movie stars Isaac Wang as the titular Dee Dee, he plays a character by the name of Chris Wang. I guess his last name is coincidental. And if they really wanted him to play himself, they would have named his character Isaac. But his mother is played by Joan Chen. He has a sister who's played by Shirley Chen. And those are amongst the names that I would presume are verifiable in this film. And it looks like an excellent movie or an excellent coming of age film, but I can't say whether or not it's excellent. But it does have a lot on its side. And Joan Chen has been acting for quite some time. She's never been nominated for an Oscar, but she's been in films over the last couple of years, some better than others like Judge Dred on Deadly Ground, which was considered one of the worst films of 1994. She was in a better film in 2007 called Lust Caution. And she's had otherwise a very impressive resume outside of these mindless action films that I just mentioned. But Dee Dee is a movie that I will see and I'll let you know what I think on a future show. Another movie that is subject to being released in theaters on August 16th is a movie that's called Skin Care. And this film is a thriller that is about fame, esthetician, hope Goldman's skin care business facing sabotage when rival Angel Vergara opens a boutique across the street, aided by friend Jordan, hope seeks to uncover who's trying to ruin her reputation. Now I don't exactly know why a boutique that opens up on the other side of the street would necessarily mean a reputation ruining. It would mean monopolistic competition, but I don't exactly know why someone would presume that that would be ruining a reputation. But in any event, the movie has a pretty impressive roster of talent and including Nathan Philean, Lewis Pullman, Elizabeth Banks, Ella Blinsky, and others. This movie looks promising. I don't know whether or not it's going to be good, but it's a movie that I will see and I'll let you know what I think on a future show. Another movie that is subject to be released in theaters on August 16th is a movie that's called Caligula, the uncut, the ultimate cut. This is being released on the 45th anniversary of the original Caligula, which was directed by Tinto Brass, written by Gore Vidal and starred Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, and Teresa Anne Savoy, amongst other people. And despite the strong roster of talent in this film, the movie was crap. For several decades, it was considered the most expensive pornographic film ever made and it wasn't just the pornography that didn't work in this film. It was just about everything else. The writing, the editing, the hamfisted drama, and also the shock value that felt less like storytelling and more like flagrant exploitation. Now, the version that I saw was, I guess, not the ultimate cut of the film, but to be honest with you, I had such a bad experience watching the original Caligula, which I rented on Netflix years ago that I'm really not looking forward to seeing this ultimate cut, which is nearly three hours long. But if I do see it and my heart is actually sinking into my stomach, as I say this, because honestly, I really don't want to see it. But if I do, I'll let you know what I think on a future show, but to be honest with you, I don't feel like sitting through three hours of a film that even Roger Ebert walked out of when he reviewed the film back in 1979. But if I must, I'll let you know what I think on a future show. I just won't be particularly enthusiastic about it. And truth be told, I'll put this very low on a list of must see films for my next show. That just about does it for this episode of Words on Film. Words on Film is the spoken word showed dedicated to moving pictures and I am your host of movie critic Dan Burke reminding you that the views and opinions expressed on words on film about movies or other topics are solely those of your host of movie critic Dan Burke. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of any employees or volunteers who are working at WBCA or the station as a whole. Until I watch a whole bunch of brand new movies, this is Dan Burke saying I'll see you at the movies. Bye. for now. a lot of people. [ Silence ]