MOVIES: Catching up with Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, and two more

Theater owners are glowing for a change. American Thanksgiving  brought them record crowds last weekend, powered by a trio of big hits Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II. In the US that boosted the overall box office to an "astounding $680 million" said the news site The Wrap. It's expected the gloom that's been lingering from COVID will continue lifting throughout this year. And, of course, those three big titles will be going strong for some time. 

Consequently, there are no big new ones this week, smaller ones though, and for me a chance to catch up with Maria. It opened last week but I didn't get access in time. It leads today.

Before I get there, let me alert you to a fine documentary about a Cree Elder from Winnipeg who is helping revive Indigenous cosmology. Wilfred Buck survived racism, addiction and more and now teaches what the ancestors believed about the stars and about life on earth. He's charismatic.  I reviewed the film when it played a festival back in May; it's won awards since then and is now streaming on CRAVE. His name is the title. Do check it out. 

CRAVE has also just added all three Back to the Future movies. But that's another digression, from these.   

Maria: 3 ½ stars

The Gutter: 3

Werewolves: 2 ½

MARIA: Pablo Larraín’s third study of eminent women and their challenges with fame and the media takes on Maria Callas. She’s not as widely familiar these days as the first two, Jackie Onassis and Princess Diana, but she’s a great subject. Her life had high drama, tempestuous relationships, a diva reputation befitting her towering status as an opera singer and a sad, needy relationship with one of the richest men of her time. The film brings all that out with a good script and Angelina Jolie’s very good acting performance. Also her perfect lip synching to the recorded singing voice of Callas. The only real objection I can find is that she’s too beautiful. Callas was quite ordinary looking, fretted about her weight, went on a crash diet to slim up and may have damaged her voice doing that. That’s all rumour, though, and the film doesn’t look into that.

It does start with her death by heart attack in 1977 and then tells her story in flashback. Partly that’s through an extended interview she gave. It  may or may not be an hallucination but does take us to her performing memories (Carmen, Tosca, the mad scene, and others), singing exercises which she did secretly to try and bring her voice back, even a lunch with JFK.  And to her meeting the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who boasted he was the “richest man in the room.” She was attracted but wary: “To be a possession is not my ambition.” She also wanted freedom from her fame and fans. “We can go anywhere we want in this world but we can never get away.” She wanted control over her own life and described herself as “rebellious by nature.” It’s a well-drawn portrait. (Still in a few theaters, streaming on MUBI starting Wednesday) 3 ½ out of 5       

THE GUTTER: Moving down considerably, but not quite as far as that title suggests, here’s a silly but sprightly comedy about bowling. It’s low-class most of the way, but it throws up jokes right and left, many of which are very funny. It’s by and about Blacks in the U.S. and does have Susan Sarandon in the cast, among mostly lesser-known actors. Except for Paul Reiser as a TV bowling commentator with a no holds barred patter. Actually the whole film has a tone of impudence. A line you hear early (“I like you. You’re stupid”) offers a clear idea of what you’re going to get. Nothing nuanced, that’s for sure. As one character says “it’s bowling. As American as Chinese food.” 

Walt (Shameik Moore) gets a job in a Black-neighborhood bowling alley that is in danger of closing. A health inspector has ordered a costly upgrade. The owner can’t afford it. A fellow employee (D'Arcy Carden) who goes by the name of Skunk sees that Walt is a crack bowler. A strike every time. That could save the alley, if she can take Walt on a tour of bowling tournaments and win prize money to pay for the renovations. She’s got an ulterior motive. Walt could break the all-time record set by and still held by bowler Linda Curson (Sarandon) who Skunk hates. Well, when Curson gets wind of this she comes out of retirement and the story points inevitably to a big bowl-off with Walt. The jokes keep coming, like the tee shirt “My Vaccine is Guns”. Most are black oriented. Walt’s stage name is a variation on the N word. The director brothers, Yassir and Isaiah Lester, seem to have a background in Black standup comedy and it shows. (VOD/digital release) 3 out of 5 

WEREWOLVES: Here’s an updated version of a horror movie staple. It’s not like Lon Chaney Jr. or Oliver Reed in their renditions sprouting facial hair and sharp teeth before our eyes. Think more like An American Werewolf in London with icky drooling. And in here, going beyond that with lots of slobbering and biting like dogs, which they resemble far too much. 

It takes away some of your belief and has you distracted with thoughts about why did they make them look that way. It undercuts the creepy fear that you should be feeling along with the humans on screen. 

The story is incredible too. A super moon causes a genetic reaction in human beings that turns them into werewolves for one night. A year ago, over a billion people were killed by it. Now that moon phenomenon is back, although a government agency is working on finding a solution, possibly a spray that serves as a “moonscreen.” Three people have volunteered to be guinea pigs for a test, but not much happens, except fits and yelling. The action star of this time, Frank Grillo, is a scientist helping with the project (headed by a doctor played by Lou Diamond Phillips, huh?) but is also worried about his relatives, his sister-in-law and her daughter. 

He’s trying to fight his way back to them while they have to deal with power outages, sightings of werewolves roaming outside, noises in the ceiling above them and creatures trying to break in. Steven C. Miller’s direction gives us lots of tension and dread, inside and out in the streets. But not enough believability. Some people take it as a comedy. It isn’t. (Theaters) 2 ½  out of 5