‘Outcome’ Takes Belated Slap at Cancel Culture

The “Now, It Can Be Told” files have a new chapter.

Hollywood looked the other way as Cancel Culture silenced comedians, shuttered R-rated comedies and told screenwriters what they could and couldn’t say on screen.

Somebody should write a book about that. Oh, wait…

Now, Jonah Hill has something to say on the subject, in a spiritual sequel to last year’s superior “Jay Kelly.” “Outcome,” an Apple TV+ original, follows a superstar actor struggling to stay ahead of a nasty news cycle.

Except we don’t know what that news cycle might be.

It’s clever on the surface, but Hill’s second narrative feature is nearly derailed by the film’s co-star – Hill himself.

Keanu Reeves is a curious choice to play Reef Hawk, a Tom Cruise-level superstar who has been in the public eye since he was a toe-tapping child star. Reeves’ upbeat, positive brand is legendary, while his character in the film is far from perfect.

He’s globally famous, rich beyond anyone’s dreams and surrounded by his old high school chums, Kyle and Xander (Cameron Diaz ​and Matt Bomer). And he’s as distant and self-centered as one might imagine, given his fame.

Reef successfully kicked a heroin habit and is ready to make more movies, until his “crisis lawyer” tells him an incriminating video is lurking out there, somewhere.

Hill plays Ira, a legal “fixer,” with a bald head, unruly beard and gleaming white caps. The “Superbad” alum is almost unrecognizable, and that may be a good thing. Hill’s performance is a nightmare, an over-the-top turn that strains to make us laugh but never succeeds.

Grating barely describes it.

It’s up to Ira to find out what the video in question contains and the best way to minimize the PR fallout. Along the way, we learn plenty about Reef’s problematic past, a narrative better realized with that recent George Clooney vehicle.

“Outcome” starts as a navel-gazing exercise in Hollywood greed, but before long the film’s true target emerges – Cancel Culture.

Reef did something to someone at some time, and it’s a mad dash to learn what might have been so problematic to his career.

An offensive film role? A social media message gone awry? A perfectly acceptable movie that’s now deemed problematic? 

Or something worse?

One scene finds Ira recruiting a dream team of spin cycle experts to brace for the social media storm. Yes, that’s Laverne Cox handling PR work from a woman’s perspective, and a barely there Roy Wood, Jr. tackling race-related issues.

That’s assuming Reef did something racially charged in the first place. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

That story thread should have been hilarious, but “Outcome” is too brazen in its approach. Plus, anytime Hill is on screen, the comedic potential droops.

Hill, with co-writer Ezra Woods, can be too on the nose even for Elon Musk, the man who coined the term “woke mind virus.”

If you didn’t get where Hill and Woods were going, a bumper sticker closeup does the heavy lifting: “Honk if you can separate the art from the artist.”

The film’s comedic value is shockingly low, but “Outcome” works better as a dramatic closeup of fame gone wild. Reeves seems in considerable pain as he reflects on a life of comfort, not collaboration.

Hill partially redeems himself with a short scene featuring Ira’s physically-challenged son. It’s a soulful moment that shows another side of his character, and the actor handles the sequence beautifully.

It reminds us of his more graceful directorial debut, “Mid-90s.”

“Outcome” has its moments, although considering the material it should have been a slam dunk for Hill given his resume and Hollywood cache. The latter helped him snag Martin Scorsese for a cameo turn, but it didn’t afford him the distance from the material to tease out larger laughs.

The “Superbad”-era Hill might have crushed this topic. Not the 2026 model, sadly.

Instead, “Outcome” is an interesting look at fame, regret and a cultural scourge that Hollywood refused to counter until it faded all on its own.

HiT or Miss: “Outcome” works far better as an X-ray of Hollywood fame than a comedy skewering Cancel Culture madness.

The post ‘Outcome’ Takes Belated Slap at Cancel Culture appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/XDbGW79

Gripping and Smart: ‘Faces of Death’ Revives Cult Horror Classic

It’s impossible to recreate the myth surrounding the “Faces of Death” franchise.

It’s also good that we won’t fall for it again.

Those movies suggested we were watching actual murders, like a theatrically approved snuff film. Turns out that wasn’t the case, barring some stock footage snippets.

The new “Faces of Death” takes a meta approach to the phenomenon. It’s a sly way to tackle the subject, even if some will argue it’s a naked ploy to exploit an IP.

And they have a point. Still, the new film delivers standard horror movie treats while saying plenty about our social media age.

None of it is good, and most of the commentary is spot on.

Young Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a social media platform where she labels inappropriate videos. Some clips are gruesome, while others are overtly sexual.

The tags she applies to each is fascinating. It’s purely subjective, but a few videos begin to haunt her.

Are they elaborate pranks meant to look like ritualistic killings? Or could they be the real deal?

Margot’s backstory makes her job even more difficult. She was the “star” of an infamous viral video where her sister died during a selfie-fueled stunt. The fact that anyone would hire her for her current gig is one of many head scratchers stuffed into the plot.

That’s genre movie making, for ya!

Margot’s emotional health starts to decline as she investigates those suspicious videos. Meanwhile, the story broadens to follow the man behind those seriously demented takes.

“Faces of Death” doesn’t resemble the ‘70s era franchise in any tactile fashion. It’s not a faux documentary filled with found footage or recreated slaughters. It’s a conventional horror yarn that uses that franchise as its warped inspiration.

We won’t share more to keep the surprises intact, but just know it’s reasonably clever and likely the best path forward.

None of the above makes “Faces of Death” compelling, at least at first. It takes a while before we become invested in Margot’s mission. It helps that “Stranger Things” alum Dacre Montgomery plays a fiend with a predilection for the vintage “Faces of Death” series.

He’s mesmerizing, and his performance anchors the story’s ick factor. Fans of musician Charli xcx may squeal over her appearance in the film, but it’s not a role of any consequence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Independent Film Company (IFC) (@independentfilmco)

Director/co-writer Daniel Goldhaber has plenty to say about our digital age, from the depths of Reddit depravity to our indifference to suffering. It can be heavy-handed at times, but it’s threaded expertly into the narrative.

Anyone looking to be shocked, or even mildly outraged, by a “Faces of Death” affair will come away disappointed. This isn’t “Terrifier” country.

The most curious part of the film is its struggle to land a release date. The production wrapped in 2023, and horror has been white-hot for some time. That, plus the IP factor and the professional approach on display make the delay a head scratcher.

Goldhaber delivers a few unsettling visuals, no doubt, but his biggest accomplishment is making us take a good, long look at western culture and our role in it.

Now, that’s scary.

HiT or Miss: “Faces of Death” may be a bit too meta for its own good, but the film builds to a compelling showdown that doesn’t require us buying the franchise’s myth-making tics.

The post Gripping and Smart: ‘Faces of Death’ Revives Cult Horror Classic appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/wiGs9Cc

‘The Drama’ Is the Date Movie from Hell

More mystery, less history.

The embattled lovers in “The Drama” should have heeded that old saw. Instead, they shared too much, threatening their nuptials and a whole lot more. 

This coal-black romance asks some challenging questions, but the answers aren’t as enlightening as necessary. It’s still rigorously told with strong performance and an alarming amount of cringe.

“The Drama” is more awkward than Larry David squirming out of a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” jam.

Charlie and Emma (Robert Pattinson, Zendaya) are putting the finishing touches on their wedding ceremony. A wine tasting here, a dance lesson there, and they’re almost ready for the biggest day of their lives.

Until said wine flows a bit too freely, and Emma confesses something dark about her past. How dark? No spoilers here, but it’s sizable enough to dominate the plot.

And then some.

Charlie is stunned by the revelation, but he’s hellbent on going through with the ceremony. Is that the best path forward, or will their circle of friends convince them to hit “pause” on their romance?

“The Drama’s” hook is undeniable, but it’s really about a couple processing each other’s past selves. We all make mistakes, but what if some are so significant that it casts a shadow on our future?

How do we judge the actions that made our partners who they are today? Can everything be forgiven? Should they be?

That sounds like an “eat your vegetables” yarn, but “The Drama” is consistently engaging and spry. We slowly get to know the characters as they stare down the crisis, and their exchanges with strangers and friends alike shed more light on their morality.

Clever use of false memories and imagery spikes the story in the early sequences. That feels unnecessary given the massive twist in play, but the visual cues still enhance the material.

Emma is the more straightforward partner, a woman who shook off an early trauma to become a formidable partner. Charlie, by comparison, is melting down in real time. Pattinson’s performance is solid but a tad showy, but that may reflect his East Coast sensibility.

He’s a beta male thrust into a crisis he never expected.

There’s an elitism baked into “The Drama,” a sense that these characters can afford to over-examine flaws that others might process and move on. That alone offers a fascinating X-ray of upper middle class privilege, to steal the Left’s verbiage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by A24 (@a24)

The third act features a parade of hard-to-watch exchanges, and a few prove too precious to be believed. The film already teeters on the edge of melodrama, but these moments threaten to sink matters fast.

They don’t, ultimately, but they pave the way for a too conventional coda.

“The Drama” offer a bracing look at marriage, commitment and honesty, a tale that works best when the lovers  are interacting with their closest chums. Best friend Rachel (Alana Haim) proves the most incendiary figure, judging Emma’s revelation more harshly than anyone, including Charlie.

Her provocative take feels a tad histrionic, something writer/director Kristoffer Borgli (“Dream Scenario“) uses to his narrative advantage. We’ll swallow plenty in “The Drama,” but when the heartstrings are plucked too hard, the film’s impressive facade falters.

We’re still committed to “The Drama,” reservations and all.

HiT or Miss: “The Drama” hangs on a stark revelation, spinning into a devious tale of love, commitment and neon red warning signs.

The post ‘The Drama’ Is the Date Movie from Hell appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/FOgSGjI

‘Pretty Lethal’ Blends Badass Ballet with Brain-Dead Action

Don’t mess with ballet dancers.

They suffer for their art, endure grueling regimens and punish their bodies to create works of art.

It’s a lesson “Pretty Lethal” takes to heart. The film follows five dancers forced to fight for their lives in a Budapest hotel. The central gimmick is a hoot, but the shopworn screenplay isn’t sure what to do with it. 

And wasting the great Uma Thurman in a barely-there character is a cinematic sin.

Five scrappy ballet dancers can’t wait for the gig of their young lives – a trip to Budapest to perform at a prestigious hall. Their bus breaks down en route, but they stumble into a stranger who is more than happy to help them get to the show on time.

Or so he claims.

The women end up in an expansive Budapest hotel, where they meet a litany of unsavory characters and the inscrutable owner. That’s Devora (Thurman), a former dancer who oversees this curious joint. It’s clear she can’t be trusted despite her reassuring tone.

And then the first of many people dies, and it turns out the dancers’ ballet skills might come in handy. Yes, we’re in “John Wick” territory, with elegantly choreographed action from an unlikely source.

Young, frightened women who realize if they don’t have their backs, no one will.

For a while, the film’s flimsy plot and stale dialogue don’t matter. The action is robust, and director Vicky Jewson flashes an impressive visual sense, both in the clarity of the action and the dystopian hotel where the mayhem takes place.

Plus, the film wastes little time setting the story in motion, and the simplistic character beats don’t drag the film down.

Standout Maddie Ziegler is the group’s unofficial leader, a blue-collar dancer with a chip on her shoulder. Her frenemy (Lana Condor) is the spoiled brat of the bunch, and “A Quiet Place” alum Millicent Simmonds gets a brief romantic subplot before the tutus hit the fan.

A better film would give Thurman a lip-smacking character to play. Instead, she gets lost in a larger plot about a crime kingpin and his ne’er-do-well son (Tamás Szabó Sipos).

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Prime Movies (@primemovies)

That storyline goes nowhere until the third act, but by then any sense of logic has long since left the building.

That’s a shame, because the female cast has good chemistry and wins our sympathies in short order. A few battle sequences are sublime without resorting to woke character tropes.

No, these slender gals aren’t duking it out with men twice their size. But if you get near them, and they insert a knife into the end of their ballet slippers, well, anything goes.

That sense of chaos spikes the film’s second act, but the screenplay decides to boost the odds against the dancers’ survival. That just makes what follows hard to believe even by B-movie terms.

Yes, the dancers in “Pretty Lethal” aren’t ready to lie down and take their punishment. Nor are they turned into Black Widow-style warriors. Still, the film’s central gimmick isn’t sustainable without a meatier script or a few clever turns of phrase.

Both, alas, are in short supply.

HiT or Miss: “Pretty Lethal” is perfect streaming fodder, the kind of action vehicle you can half-watch without missing much at all.

The post ‘Pretty Lethal’ Blends Badass Ballet with Brain-Dead Action appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/CHL4Y9y

‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Delivers Bare Minimum Delights

Video games may pose an existential threat to film’s cultural dominance.

But if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

The second Super Mario Bros. movie understands the shifting movie-going tastes. Down with mid-sized dramas. Up with IP-based mayhem dripping with Easter Eggs and candy-colored glee.

On that scale, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” does what it needs to do, period. Nothing more by any stretch of the imagination.

It’s sweet, inoffensive, occasionally funny and always adorable.

The film opens with an attack on the palatial estate of Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson). It’s a brisk action sequence with surprising depth as she tries to shield her adopted kids, the Lumas, from both harm and the realization that Momma is in trouble.

The sequence sets the story in motion, but it reveals how charming the film can be when it lets the action breathe. Don’t get used to it.

Poor Rosalina is captured by the feisty son of Bowser (Jack Black), the first film’s villain. Now, it’s up to plucky plumbers Mario and Luigi (Chris Pratt, Charlie Day) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to save Rosalina.

It all sounds simple, but this “Movie” boasts a frenetic pace that feels like a collection of mini-movies for microscopic attention spans. The crush of new and returning characters is another distracting element, including the Han Solo-esque Fox McCloud (Glen Powell) and the cuter-than-cute Yoshi (Donald Glover). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (@supermariomovie)

The awwww factor here is strong, as is the moral certitude of our titular plumbers. Except it’s barely their movie in the first place. This is an ensemble piece, with the two princesses flexing their Girl Boss-itude.

It’s never long before the charming Lumas slip into the frame. These star-like creatures aren’t impressive on the surface, but they have a singular quality that’s undeniable.

They’re not Minions.

Black’s Bowser begrudgingly joins forces with Mario and Luigi early on, but given the actor’s intensity, that bond wobbles earlier than expected.

Newcomers to either video game lore or the Super Mario Bros. saga will be lost, and attempts to dissect some story elements will come up empty.

No matter. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is colorful and cute, a spry blast of IP wonder that will delight young audiences and make older crowds wish they had a controller in their hand. The film lovingly recreates classic Nintendo needle drops and game play moments.

Yes, a movie based on a video game must constantly remind us of the source material. As if the lines around the block didn’t tell us everything we already needed to know.

HiT or Miss: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will satisfy the franchise’s fan base, but they may not remember exactly why.

The post ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Delivers Bare Minimum Delights appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/Gv2P9u3

Bury ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ in Time Capsule

Time travel films can be exhausting.

The logical threads are often tough to untangle, and the gimmick gives screenwriters too many cheat codes. It’s why 1985’s “Back to the Future” remains a marvelous slice of time travel perfection.

“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” can’t come close to that standard. It’s the opposite, a frantic attempt at dark humor laced with endless action sequences.

A very game cast takes a smart approach to the material, but the further the story goes along, the less engaging it becomes. The film should make like a tree and get out of here.

Thuggish Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro) is celebrating his return from prison, and his crime boss pappy Sosa (Keith David) wants to know who framed him in the first place.

The trail leads to Mike (James Marsden), but his friend and associate Nick (Vince Vaughn) has a plan to save him from doom. Even though Nick set this dangerous game in motion by naming Mike the rat.

Our Nick stumbles upon a time machine that allows him to go back in time to prevent Mike from getting whacked and erase his mistake. Or, at least that’s the idea. Endless complications erupt, from having two Nicks bumping into one another to Mike trying to keep his affair with Nick’s wife, Alice (Elsa González), a secret.

Confused? You should be, but writer/director BenDavid Grabinski keeps things cohesive enough to follow what’s happening from scene to scene.

It’s just not worth the effort.

Let’s put aside the ugly morality behind the film. These are all criminal characters made to seem warm and fuzzy, another ethical loophole in Hollywood’s woke agenda.

(You can’t make DudeBro comedies about entitled white frat boys, but you can humanize contract killers).

Grabinski’s script is littered with pop culture references, and it takes a deft hand to weave them seamlessly into a story like this. That hand, alas, is missing.

It’s fine that the script gives quirks to key characters, minor notes that often bespeak a film’s depth. That said, each idiosyncratic tic shouts its existence.

The film’s endless needle drops can’t save the story, either, and they, too, announce themselves in crude fashion. Look, Ma, this ’90s ditty is gonna make everything in “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” better. Trust us!

Not even close.

“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” features a few fun cameos by old pros, but their presence can’t fix the story’s sizable flaws. That goes double for the Mike-Alice love connection. That should steer the story in an even darker, more impactful direction. Instead, it’s treated with a shrug.

Sorry, mobsters aren’t this evolved in their emotional lives. 

What’s left? A story that’s cobbled together from generic blockbusters and Tarantino tics without the heart or humor to make them pop. If the film’s sequel tease holds, we’ll build a time machine to stop this misfire from happening in the first place.

HiT or Miss: “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” gives a game cast little to do save chase each other through some allegedly wacky paces.

The film debuts March 27 on Hulu/Hulu on Disney+

The post Bury ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ in Time Capsule appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/TohkjBR

’15 Days’ Will Makes You Furious at Teachers Unions

“15 Days” opens with a political grenade thrown by Jane Fonda.

“COVID-19 is God’s gift to the Left,” the Oscar winner says with a girlish giggle.

That she said something like that aloud is shocking, but she wasn’t alone.

The documentary, subtitled “The Real Story of America’s Pandemic School Closures,”  has more chilling sound bites, along with an army of parents who share their outrage over the lockdowns.

Most parties admit said lockdowns were a mistake in retrospect. The media eventually ‘fessed up on the subject, too, noting the educational delays sparked by the decision. It’s still vital to relive this awful chapter in U.S. history, something “15 Days” does to fine effect.

It isn’t as splashy as a typical Hollywood documentary, but the film has the facts, and outrage, on its side.

The story begins in March of 2020, a time when the first of many schools shuttered to “stop the spread.” The government told us to take a knee for two weeks, and life would return to normal.

Americans dutifully obeyed. And that’s when the madness began.

The film touches on media bias, noting how Legacy Media outlets promoted fear over facts for months on end. Meanwhile, a small group of scientists, educators and parents began questioning the efficacy of the lockdowns.

The “science” didn’t add up to them. Countering the COVID-19 narrative fueled more than just cultural blowback. You were a racist, for starters. Or simply part of the MAGA movement.

Some faced death threats for suggesting alternative points of view. And that was before Social Media, Inc. started to censor views that questioned mainstream narratives, like the Great Barrington Declaration.

That’s a story for another documentary, but “15 Days” shares enough of it to paint the bigger picture.

Obey or else.

For some parents, their red-pill makeovers began during the George Floyd riots. Wait, they collectively asked, we can’t go to church or send our kids to school, but BLM protesters could march, side by side, with the government’s approval?

Parent after parent watched as the U.S. Government gave the “all clear” sign to race-based protests while their children struggled to learn something, anything at home.

Suddenly, the science didn’t add up, and you didn’t need a master’s degree in biology to see it.

“15 Days” wears its modest budget with pride. Director Natalya Murakhver does double duty as our on-camera  guide, patiently walking through the era’s most enraging elements. She’s not flashy or charismatic, but her stoic delivery cuts to the bone.

There’s plenty to be furious about vis a vis pandemic overreach, but the film keeps the focus on children. We see some share their stories, how they missed out on athletic glory or simply wished they could learn with their friends.

The documentary doesn’t overplay this hand, but their small voices prove essential.

The long and lingering shadow of the pandemic reveals a dark truth about American education: Kids have not healed from the scars of lockdowns. NWEA, a research organization, recently issued a report based on the test scores of more than 5 million… https://t.co/VL6W1CpzFS pic.twitter.com/zvF0qLwr4m

— The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) February 26, 2026

Fonda may be a convenient punching bag, rhetorically speaking, but the film’s true villain is Randi Weingarten. The long-running President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) helped keep kids out of school indefinitely during the COVID-19 crisis, bouncing from one softball media interview to the next.

Weingarten was the ultimate culture warrior, hoping to use the pandemic to steer even more cash to teachers unions and push her radical, far-Left agenda.

Social Justice. Environmental Justice. BLM. But what about the kids?

They got left behind, and the lack of accountability is enraging. Still.

Many teachers happily did Weingarten’s bidding. One featured in the film spoke out against in-person classes but shared her vacation snaps on social media. Others happily displayed their BLM flags in classroom Zoom sessions.

Get the picture?

“15 Days” doesn’t lean into a Left-Right narrative. Some clips of President Donald Trump in the early days of the pandemic are wince-inducing, especially as he’s flanked by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. Still, it’s clear which party mishandled the lockdowns and weaponized them for their benefit.

Better check your blood pressure medicine before watching “15 Days.” But watch it we must.

HiT or Miss: “15 Days” shows the ghoulish choices Teachers Unions made to keep kids out of school during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The post ’15 Days’ Will Makes You Furious at Teachers Unions appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/jcA4yeg