{"id":19206,"date":"2022-11-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19206"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:11:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:11:46","slug":"vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-54\/","title":{"rendered":"VODepths: What to See (and Avoid) On Demand This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week\u2019s low-profile VOD releases travel from the Amazon rainforest to the Quebec criminal underworld to the Minnesota pop-punk scene, along with a real-time ride through the streets of L.A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and DVD November 29):<\/strong> A hodgepodge of animated movies from The Lion King<\/em> to FernGully: The Last Rainforest<\/em> to Moana<\/em>, this Peruvian-Dutch production is as muddled as its influences and origins. The title character (voiced by Lola Raie) is a spunky Disneyfied tween heroine who\u2019s part of an indigenous Amazon tribe. Her village is under a curse for which some blame Ainbo and her late mother, although the reasoning is as vague as the movie\u2019s scattershot version of tribal mythology. Seeking to break the curse, Ainbo goes on a quest aided by a pair of annoying talking-animal spirit guides who are obvious Timon and Pumbaa knock-offs. The vague eco-conscious anti-imperialist message gets lost in the confusing plot, and both the animation and the characters are plastic and stiff. Ainbo is a plucky go-getter whose eagerness outstrips her effectiveness, just like the movie. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dash <\/em><\/strong>(VOD November 29):<\/strong> Writer\/director\/cinematographer Sean Perry is so committed to this movie\u2019s single-take gimmick that he never even moves the camera. The entire movie is one continuous shot from a camera mounted on the dashboard of the obnoxious main character\u2019s car, with such a static visual style that most of it might as well be a stage play. Milly (Alexander Molina) drives around L.A. over the course of one harrowing night, but since the camera never leaves the car, the surroundings are largely irrelevant. The title refers to the Lyft\/Uber analog that Milly works for, picking up various unruly passengers as he manages confrontations with the women in his life. He\u2019s not as compelling as Tom Hardy in Locke <\/em>or the main character of this year\u2019s similar Nightride<\/em><\/a>, and his increasingly dangerous predicaments are almost all the result of his own terrible decisions. Spending 100-plus minutes with this guy is insufferable enough without losing the chance to look away even for a moment. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summertime Dropouts<\/em><\/strong> (VOD and DVD November 29):<\/strong> Obscure Minnesota pop-punk band Summertime Dropouts engage in some hardcore wish fulfillment in this bland teen comedy about a Minnesota pop-punk band called Summertime Dropouts. The movie\u2019s version of the band is a trio of recent high school grads whose greatest dream is to join the Warped Tour, which gets extensive product placement in this 2018-shot production. The three dudes have convenient counterparts\/love interests in an all-female pop-punk trio, but the story is largely conflict-free, leading up to a perfunctory cameo from Canadian pop-punk hitmakers Simple Plan. The music and the plot are dated even for 2018, with no insights about the challenges of the music industry or the sacrifices required for artistic ambition. Summertime Dropouts\u2019 songs, repurposed as the characters\u2019 originals and used as music video-style filler, serve as a reminder of why the actual band never achieved the success they conjure up for their avatars. Grade: C-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Confessions of a Hitman<\/em> (VOD and Film Movement Plus December 2):<\/strong> A decades-spanning true-crime drama narrated by a longtime mob enforcer who turns state\u2019s evidence, director\/star Luc Picard\u2019s film isn\u2019t quite the French-Canadian Goodfellas<\/em>, although it\u2019s often gripping. Gerald Gallant (Picard), who was convicted of 28 murders over the course of 25 years, is no Henry Hill, either: He\u2019s frumpy and awkward, speaking with a stutter and traumatized by his mother\u2019s emotional abuse during his childhood. He\u2019s not the kind of guy who always wanted to be a gangster, but he\u2019s good at his job. Picard plays Gerald as a sort of tragic figure without excusing his crimes, and nothing about this schlub\u2019s life ever seems glamorous or exciting. The movie ends up slightly drab as well, but Gerald\u2019s mundane existence makes for surprisingly rich drama, especially in his affair with a woman who\u2019s a little too eager to support his chosen profession. It\u2019s no Scorsesean epic, but it\u2019s more creatively rewarding than most true-crime material. Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Remains<\/em> (VOD and select theaters December 2):<\/strong> This dour faith-based drama is dedicated to the memory of co-star Anne Heche, and her offbeat supporting performance is all that enlivens the plodding story of guilt and redemption. Cress Williams stars as Marshall, a pastor determined to forgive the man who killed his wife in a botched burglary. When Troy (Kellan Lutz) is released on parole after five years, Marshall gives him a job doing menial work around the church. That doesn\u2019t sit well with the pastor\u2019s teenage son Samuel (Marcus Gladney Jr.), who resents his father\u2019s efforts to save Troy\u2019s soul. Meanwhile, Heche\u2019s mulleted sheriff is investigating a mysterious death in a sporadic subplot that mostly amounts to pointless misdirection. What Remains<\/em> is grittier than the typical Christian movie, and Williams and Lutz do their best to bring emotional honesty to their poorly written characters. But it\u2019s still glum and self-righteous, with little to offer beyond a homily. Grade: C<\/strong> \"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our mini-reviews of \u201cConfessions of a Hitman,\u201d \u201cAinbo: Spirit of the Amazon,\u201d \u201cSummertime Dropouts,\u201d and more straight-to-VOD selections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":19208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1426,340],"tags":[1436,1427],"class_list":["post-19206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vodepths","category-movie-reviews","tag-reviews","tag-vodepths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21819,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19206\/revisions\/21819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}