{"id":19737,"date":"2023-02-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19737"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:11:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:11:33","slug":"vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/vodepths-what-to-see-and-avoid-on-demand-this-week-59\/","title":{"rendered":"VODepths: What to See (and Avoid) On Demand This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this week\u2019s minor VOD releases, family conflicts unfold in Syria, Appalachia, and the Pacific Northwest, but the most rewarding drama comes from a bunch of people named James Bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devil\u2019s Peak<\/a><\/em> (Select theaters February 17; VOD February 24):<\/strong> In 2016, Australian filmmaker Ben Young made his feature debut with the brutal, disquieting thriller Hounds of Love<\/em>, and he\u2019s struggled to find a worthy follow-up project. The biggest problem with Young\u2019s latest effort is the flat, charisma-free lead performance from Hopper Penn, son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright, which drags the entire movie down. Penn plays the scion of a rural North Carolina crime family, trying to break free from his sadistic drug-kingpin father (Billy Bob Thornton, sporting a dyed-black goatee that looks like it belongs on Steven Seagal). The setting and the plot are thinly sketched, and the suspense and thrills are minimal. The supporting cast includes Wright, Jackie Earle Haley, and Hounds of Love<\/em>\u2019s Emma Booth, but they all come off nearly as lost as Penn. By the time the story culminates in a poorly motivated shootout, it\u2019s hard to care about who makes it out alive. Grade: C<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Other Fellow<\/a><\/em> (VOD and select theaters February 17):<\/strong> A documentary about various real-life people named James Bond sounds like a cute gimmick, but director Matthew Bauer finds some surprisingly insightful angles in his exploration of nominative identity. There are the requisite jokes about martinis and womanizing, but Bauer also delves into how names can shape lives, from a Black James Bond charged with murder whose name influences the media coverage of his case, to an abused woman who uses the ubiquity of the name as a way to hide her young son from her abuser. Bauer also tells the story of the unwitting ornithologist whose name was appropriated by Bond creator Ian Fleming, connecting the modern James Bonds back to the original. The structure can be a little haphazard, but the individual stories are fascinating enough to hold the viewer\u2019s interest on their own. Taken together, they present a tapestry of experience that 007 himself could never hope to capture. Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lamya\u2019s Poem<\/em> (VOD February 21):<\/strong> Writer-director Alexander Kronemer\u2019s well-intentioned but forgettable animated fable is the kind of movie that is destined to be shown in classrooms on slow days. The title character (Millie Davis) is a 12-year-old girl living in Aleppo as the Syrian civil war tears her hometown apart. Before she and her mother flee the city, she receives a book of Rumi poems that provide her with comfort and hope. Kronemer parallels Lamya\u2019s story with the story of young Rumi (Mena Massoud) fleeing the 13th<\/sup>-century Mongol invasion, and he connects the two characters in a mystical dreamworld that\u2019s never clearly defined. With its blandly educational tone and unremarkable animation, Lamya\u2019s Poem<\/em> is never as rousing or inspirational as it\u2019s meant to be, and the relationship between Lamya and Rumi is muted and underwhelming. As a tool to provide rudimentary information about current events to young viewers, Lamya\u2019s Poem<\/em> is passable, but it lacks the sense of wonder needed to make a lasting impression. Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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