In what feels like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, we’ve already run through the first month of 2022. Despite how quickly we seem to have left January behind, the start of the year did feature a huge amount of releases worth taking a look at (and some less so). For those that didn’t see a full review on arrival last month, here’s the wrap on everything else that kept us glued to our screens in January.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
It would be easy to compare Ghostbusters: Afterlife to recent franchise revivals like Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Halloween and expect a nostalgia filled cash-grab of a trip down memory lane and to a certain extent it is. But more than that this is a revival from the person perhaps best qualified to revisit the Ghostbusters: Jason Reitman – son of original director Ivan Reitman – who tackles his father’s franchise with immense care and a penchant for the same whimsical tone that made the original film so much fun. When Callie (Carrie Coon), daughter of Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler, moves into her recently deceased father’s dilapidated farmhouse with children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), they discover their grandfather’s ghost-busting history and are forced to pick up where he left off to protect the small town from a ghostly outbreak of gigantic proportions.
Carrie Coon is typically excellent in her supporting role and Paul Rudd shines as the quirky, slightly unhinged substitute teacher with an obsession with the Ghostbusters but the true strength in Reitman’s sequel lies with its younger characters. Mckenna Grace is the perfect lead, a socially awkward but brilliant young girl who forces herself into an uncomfortable but banter-rich friendship with fellow student Podcast (Logan Kim) as they stumble through the basics of ghost-busting. Not since IT have younger actors in a blockbuster been so compelling and not annoying; sure they make mistakes along the way and it’s endlessly fun to watch them do so but they aren’t the stereotypically stupid kids you usually see on-screen – capable of maintaining investing and adult conversations that allow Reitman to tell a story for all-ages that doesn’t feel like it panders to children. The set-up runs a bit long and the climactic showdown could have benefitted from some refreshingly smaller stakes and fewer cameos but if Afterlife proves one thing, it’s that the franchise is far from dead.
The Tender Bar
Clooney’s latest directorial effort is a good-hearted, if rather schmaltzy affair centred around the story of JR Maguire (Daniel Ranieri and Ron Livingston at times but mostly Tye Sheridan), a young boy forced to return home to his grandparents house with mother Dorothy (Lily Rabe) where he develops a close bond with his bar-owner uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck). Clooney directs without much flair or invention, opting for the overdone trope of cutting between timelines to show his audience the colourful characters JR is surrounded by without ever investing us in JR himself, who remains an un-engaging, blank slate of a protagonist throughout and never seems to develop any interesting personality traits of his own despite the unconventional occurrences happening around him.
All the other usual culprits of the coming-of-age film are here too – overused voice-over from a future JR, awkward sexual encounters and youthful drunk experiences – but it never makes the audience feel anything because we don’t care about JR in the first place. Where Clooney does succeed, however, is in his hiring of Affleck and Rabe, both of whom give excellently endearing and engaging performances of troubled, layered individuals who aren’t where they expected they would be in life and who desperately want to prevent the same from happening to JR in their own conflicting ways.
Spencer
Pablo Larraín has a thing for historically important women. He showed his hand once with the harrowing depiction of grief and responsibility in Jackie and now he does it again with Spencer, a psychologically draining look into one hellish Christmas weekend for Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) as she battles for her individuality against the rigid rules of the Royal Family. Don’t let the stunning cinematography fool you though, Larraín’s film plays as more of a horror than a standard biopic; the luxury and strict practices of the Royal family slowly suffocating Diana as she desperately struggles to maintain her independence and prevent her children from being absorbed by it all.
Dinners carry a sinister, uncomfortable air; the resplendent decorations and sumptuous food overshadowed by contemptuous glares and stolen glances from the people that keep Diana at an arms length, her refusal to confirm creating an outcast rather than a chance for the family to embrace a different future. Stewart is rock solid in what many believe to be an awards-worthy performance, but the upper-class British accent can’t help but ring false after so much exposure to her usual gravelly tone. Nevertheless her performance perfectly captures the stress of a woman slowly falling apart at the seams and the overwhelming odds facing her in her attempt to change centuries-old traditions.
Archive 81 – Season 1
Based on the popular podcast of the same name this slow burn of a horror follows Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), a video archivist drawn into a web of demons and ancient cults when he is offered the chance to restore the video tapes of Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi), a college student believed to have perished in a mysterious blaze in the 1990’s. An impeccable opening episode carefully sets up the framing device of Dan watching these tapes, as we come to understand his troubled past and the sinister conspiracy he has unknowingly become a part of. From here we follow Melody’s slightly less investing storyline as she interacts with the various tenants of her new apartment building; slowly coming to understand the strange link between the two, separated by a generation.
As things become more heated Archive 81 begins to stall, losing momentum by the sixth episode and crawling to a finale that while justified, is unsatisfying in how it presents a premise for the inevitable second season that is eerily similar to another huge Netflix property. That that other show managed to introduce the same concept in two hours compared to this shows eight is all the more disappointing, and while there is certainly room for the show to expand in new and interesting ways, for now it appears to be coalescing into the usual Netflix formula for the horror/sci-fi show. Special mention however, has to go to the indie directing team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who continue to improve as they make yet another leap towards more mainstream content, crafting two of not only the best episodes of the season but of television in general in some time.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
As one of the most ambitious projects rolling out this summer, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has quickly become one of the fastest selling games in the franchise’s history. Where previous entries stuck close to the successful formula that Pokémon was built on back in the 90’s, Arceus boldly and frequently steps outside the lines to mostly fantastic results. Instead of the standard linear adventure from one battle and random encounter to the next, you’re now set loose into sprawling landscapes full of unique monsters, characters and mysteries to solve around every corner.
A solid – if brief – storyline underpins the adventures you’re encouraged to create on your own, and it tends to take a more mature and nuanced approach than the usual ‘beat the bad guys’ plot from most of the previous entries. Is it the best looking thing you’ll see on a console this year? Most certainly not. It also doesn’t have the runtime of a usual Pokémon RPG, able to be knocked over in less than 20 hours if you’re really pushing forward. However most will forgive these slight flaws in return for the completely overhauled mechanics and sense of total freedom that Legends: Arceus offers, as well as what its runaway success means for Pokémon’s future.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Jessica Chastain transforms for the role of Tammy Faye Bakker; the always heavily made-up and perpetually cheery televangelist who, along with husband Jim (Andrew Garfield), became embroiled in a scandal that almost destroyed the pair’s devoted congregation. The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a fairly straightforward biopic in structure; a religious Wolf of Wall Street highlighting the opulence amassed by the Bakkers and their inevitable downfall. But it’s hard not to get swept up in the film’s infectious energy and become desperate to learn exactly what is going on behind the scenes of this all too perfect relationship; the film spinning us an image of these shysters in the same way the Bakkers did to their congregation, albeit with more of an insight into the darker side.
Nothing truly shocking is ultimately revealed but it’s enough to keep you entertained in tandem with Chastain and Garfield’s performances. They are simply riveting as the Bakker’s, with an innocent enough meet-cute evolving into a marriage plagued by power dynamics and emotional and spiritual manipulation. The tone never drops it’s overtly cheery facade but there is always a palpable sense of tension as you wait for the other shoe to drop. Chastain should easily find her way into the Best Actress race come awards season with a performance this layered underneath all the flamboyance.