DEEP WATER: 2 STARS
鈥淒eep Water,鈥 the new movie from Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, now streaming on Prime Video, is an erotic thriller in name only.
Neither erotic nor thrilling, it lacks the smoldering energy of director Adrian Lyne鈥檚 previous work. Movies like 鈥9 ½ Weeks鈥 and 鈥淯nfaithful鈥 established him as a steamer of screens, but that was then.
This is now. A better title for 鈥淒eep Water鈥 may have been 鈥淐old Water.鈥
Affleck plays Vic, a retired software developer who made a fortune designing a chip that helps drones locate and destroy targets. He spends his days with his daughter while his wild wife Melinda (de Armas), having grown bored of their routine, entertains herself with a series of very public affairs. For the most part Vic bites his lip, but when one of Melinda鈥檚 flings winds up dead, face down in their pool, cuckold Vic becomes a suspect and their already tenuous situation comes closer to the breaking point.
Lyne, in his first film in 20 years, seems unable to tease out the tension from the love-hate story, sexual or otherwise. The repeated affair/disappearance cycle gets old fast, and Lyne does little to make us care about any of them: Vic, Melinda, or her unfortunate boyfriends.
I can say that Affleck has one of the best scowls in movies, but that鈥檚 not enough to hang an entire performance on. As a Sad Affleck meme come to life, for much of the movie it appears he鈥檚 given up -- Ben, not Vic. It鈥檚 as though he stopped caring after the first reel. Vic should display hidden reserves of resolve, but Affleck鈥檚 performance is as inert as the film.
De Armas, so wonderful in 鈥淜nives Out鈥 and 鈥淣o Time to Die,鈥 is reduced to an eye-batting subject for Lyne鈥檚 male gaze.
A tepid, psychosexual cuckold tale with a side of murder and loose ends galore, 鈥淒eep Water鈥 wastes its stars in a movie that does not rise to the challenge of exploring the story鈥檚 themes of morality, murder, and marriage.
THE OUTFIT: 4 STARS
Mark Rylance is tailor-made to play the lead role in 鈥淭he Outfit,鈥 a new gangster film set entirely inside a bespoke suit maker鈥檚 shop. I own up to the stupid joke in the first sentence of this review, but it is true. Rylance astounds as the 鈥渃utter鈥濃攖ailors are best at sewing on buttons and not much else he says鈥攁t the centre of the action in this twisty-turny chamber piece.
Set in the mid-1950s, the movie revolves around Leonard Burling (Rylance), a former Savile Row cutter who lovingly details the process of making a suit from scratch in the film鈥檚 opening voiceover. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 art,鈥 he says proudly, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a craft.鈥
Working the front desk is his assistant Mabel Sean (Zoey Deutch), a young woman who has her sights set on a horizon far beyond the tailor shop.
Discreet and meticulous, Burling makes beautiful clothes for his Chicago clients, including members of the Boyle Gang, the heavies who run the neighbourhood. 鈥淚f we only allowed angels in here,鈥 he says, 鈥渨e鈥檇 have no customers.鈥 His services to the gangsters extend beyond making them look good. His store also doubles as a drop spot for the Boyles, a safe place for Richie (Dylan O鈥橞rien), son of the Boyle Gang boss, and the ambitious mobster Francis (Johnny Flynn) to pass messages back and forth.
Burling stays out of the way, rarely makes eye contact with the tough guys and is unfailingly polite. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 judge,鈥 he tells Richie. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 want to be involved in whatever it is you do.鈥
Unfortunately, when it becomes clear there鈥檚 a rat in the Boyle Gang who may, or may not, be making surreptitious tapes of their criminal activities for the FBI, Burling is drawn into their nasty business.
What unfolds from this point is a whip-lash inducing game of twister as the characters' motivations tie the story in knots. Manipulation, deceit, double dealings, and death are the name of the game in this literate, adult thriller. Although 鈥淭he Outfit鈥 was written for screen by director Graham Moore, who took home an Oscar for writing 鈥淭he Imitation Game,鈥 it feels like a stage play. From the minimal sets鈥攖he whole thing takes place in two rooms鈥攖o the intimate performances and the intricate, wordy script, it is unabashedly and wonderfully theatrical.
An understated performance from Rylance sets the tone for the ensemble cast. His enigmatic character is a sounding board for everyone from the gangsters who cause all the trouble to Mabel, the neighbourhood woman who just wants to see the world. The characters fit together like puzzle pieces to really bring this story alive.
鈥淭he Outfit鈥 is a small film that is unafraid to rely on the characters and the words; not elaborate set pieces to make an impact. Writer, director Moore has made a film that, unlike how Burling feels about his life鈥檚 work, emphasizes both craft and art.
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN: 2 ½ STARS
Is the third time the charm for 鈥淐heaper by the Dozen,鈥 the story of a "big family, full of big dreamers"?
Based on the 2003 Steve Martin film, which was based on the 1950 Myrna Loy movie, which was based on the autobiographical book of the same name, the new version, now on Disney+, stars Gabrielle Union and Zach Braff as Zoe and Paul Baker, parents of a large, adorable Brady Bunch style blended family of 10 kids and two dogs, Joe Bitin鈥 and Bark Obama. 鈥淎s hectic as our life can get,鈥 says Paul, 鈥渋t always seems just right.鈥
In addition to raising the kids, Paul and Zoe run an all-day breakfast restaurant, but are running slightly behind on the rent. Their hopes for the future are pinned on Paul鈥檚 new invention: Paul鈥檚 Hot, Sweet and Savory Sauce. If they can make a go of it, and realize his dream of being bigger (and richer) than Chef Boyardee, they can finally get square with the landlord, put together school tuition, and get a bigger house so the kids won鈥檛 have to share rooms anymore.
But they soon discover that a big family is one thing, but in business, bigger isn鈥檛 always better.
鈥淐heaper by the Dozen鈥 is formulaic and sweet enough to give you a toothache, but has just enough edge in its storytelling to give it, well, an edge over the earlier, even more saccharine versions.
It鈥檚 a good-natured story about the importance of family that tap dances around issues of racism, privilege鈥"A few times in your life you felt like you didn鈥檛 belong,鈥 Zoe says to Paul. 鈥淚 feel like that all the time.鈥濃攁nd teenage rebellion. Ultimately, however, whatever problems they have will be solved by a love and a goofy-yet-heartfelt speech from Paul. It is the kind of movie about a 鈥減erfectly imperfect family鈥 that you know will end with a pop song and smiles.
Braff, Union and the army of precocious kids are likeable, if a little bland. Your tolerance of 鈥淐heaper by the Dozen鈥 will be directly linked to your appreciation of movies that can only be described as wholesome.
MASTER: 3 ½ STARS
Horror and social commentary are longtime bedmates. 鈥淚nvasion of the Body Snatchers,鈥 for example, is an allegory for 1950s fear of communism. 鈥淔rankenstein鈥 warns of technology gone amok. More recently, 鈥淕et Out鈥 was a powerful condemnation of racism. 鈥淢aster,鈥 a new Regina Hall film now on Prime Video, confronts white supremacy in a story about legacy and the sins of the past.
鈥淢aster,鈥 set at an upscale Massachusetts school built on land that was once the site of a Salem-era gallows, is the story of three African-American women. Liv Beckman (Amber Gray) is a literature professor battling against expectations and prejudices as she nears tenure. Gail Bishop (Regina Hall), is a tenured professor and the recently appointed student 鈥淢aster.鈥 鈥淚 am more than a professor,鈥 she tells her students, 鈥淚 am a confidante, an ally, a friend.鈥
Zoe Renee plays first-year student Jasmine Moore. When she arrives, she immediately becomes the talk of the campus as the new resident of room 302 in a co-ed dormitory called Belleville House. The other students whisper about supernatural activity and death in, what they ominously call, 鈥渢he room.鈥
Each woman is forced to deal with a reckoning, whether it is the very real threat of insidious racism or the nightmarish reverberations of the Salem Witch Trials -- or both.
There are moments of stylish, elevated horror in 鈥淢aster鈥檚鈥 handling of the historical haunting aspects of the story, but it is in writer-director Mariama Diallo鈥檚 presentation of the allegorical dread of racism, microaggressions, and exclusion experienced by the three lead characters that is truly terrifying.
The addition of real-life horror to the supernatural aspects of the tale deepens the movie鈥檚 effect, upping the atmosphere of unease and dread. The school鈥檚 current day institutional racism juxtaposed against the historical story of a bullied student who killed herself in Jasmine鈥檚 room decades ago because she thought a witch was stalking her, illuminates the privilege and bigotry in both timeframes.
鈥淢aster鈥 is clunky at times, particularly near the end, but strong performances and deftly interwoven social commentary elevates the horror, exposing the ways that real life, injustice, and privilege are often more disturbing than the ghostly realm.
X: 3 ½ STARS
Nearly 50 years after the original 鈥淭he Texas Chainsaw Massacre鈥 made power tools a staple in grisly horror films, an attempted Netflix reboot upped the gore, but missed the mark completely. The scariest thing about that movie is its 鈥渞otten鈥 Tomatometer Score of 34 per cent.
There isn鈥檛 a chainsaw in sight in 鈥淴,鈥 a new horror film, now playing in theatres, but it breathes the same, fetid air as Tobe Hooper鈥檚 1974 horror classic.
Set in 1979, the film stars Mia Goth as Maxine, an adult entertainer who believes she is destined for a bigger and better life outside of the strip club run by her boyfriend Wayne (Martin Henderson doing a spot-on Matthew McConaughey impression). 鈥淚 will not accept a life I do not deserve,鈥 she says.
Her first step to fame and fortune is 鈥淭he Farmer鈥檚 Daughter,鈥 a low budget pornography film Wayne hopes could blow up and be as popular as 鈥淒ebbie Does Dallas.鈥 As the film鈥檚 executive producer, Wayne hires RJ (Owen Campbell), a film student with delusions of arthouse grandeur, his quiet sound technician girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), and porn stars Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson Hole (Scott Mescudi).
They pile into a van headed for a remote farm in rural Texas where they will live and shoot their film. 鈥淚t鈥檚 perfect,鈥 gushes RJ as they arrive at the farm a.k.a. Wayne鈥檚 "studio backlot." 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to have lots of production value.鈥
But that鈥檚 not all it has. There is a creepy, old couple who live in the main house. Wayne neglected to tell farmer Howard (Stephen Ure) why they rented the property. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e doing, and I intend to keep it that way.鈥
Despite Wayne鈥檚 promise of discretion, Howard and wife Pearl soon find out what鈥檚 happening in the sheets, under their roof.
Cue the hillbilly horror.
On the surface 鈥淴鈥 is another riff on the 鈥淐hainsaw鈥 hapless-city-slickers versus evil-country-folk vibe, but it鈥檚 not all blood and guts (though the plasma flows). Howard and Pearl fight against their decaying bodies, resentful of the good-looking folks for flaunting their youth and skin on their property. They may be God-fearing folks, but that doesn鈥檛 stop them from acting on their base desires. Writer, director and editor Ti West weaves in the primal fears of aging and sexual repression, plus a dollop of religious fervor, that all add depth to the horror.
The rural setting, the eerie quiet and darkness of the location, takes on a sinister feel as West peppers his sequences with the odd, jump scare or anxiety-inducing overhead shot.
By the time we get to the really gross stuff, West has already established 鈥淴鈥檚鈥 slow burn atmosphere, adding layer upon layer of tension and subtext as amuse-bouches for the bursts of violence that come in the third act. West stages some truly unpleasant kill sequences, perfect for slasher fans, but may cause others to shudder or cover their eyes.
鈥淴鈥 is a throwback to the horror stylings of Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven, but with a sensibility that simultaneously feels like a tribute and an update.
