Oscar-winner Juan José Campanella returns with a new must-see, THE WEASELS' TALE

Delightful, dirty, old-fashion fun is given a few up-to-date twists in a movie that has -- particularly in these Covid-riven times -- just about everything necessary to pack in audiences. (Even if they are packed only into their own living room, viewing -- we hope -- via a nice, big wide-screen TV.) THE WEASELS' TALE (El Cuento de las Comadrejas) arrives via Juan José Campanella, the Argentine writer/director who gave us the 2010 deserved winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes (the original, not that crappy American remake from 2015).

Senor Campanella (shown at right) and his co-writer Darren Kloomok have created a smart and relatively fast-moving (given the film's 128-minute running time) romp involving just about everything: comedy, wit, mystery, thrills, surprises, movies-about moviemaking, the evils of Capitalism run amok, and especially the setting up of the older generation against the younger -- which of course will bring in seniors by the thousands. 

That Campanella does decent justice by and to all of these genres and themes makes it easy to simply sit back and relish the fun. The Weasels' Tale may not be a great film, but it certainly is grand entertainment.

The filmmakers put us immediately into the home of some elderly, retired folk from the Argentine movie industry: one of those rare Oscar-winning Best Actresses in a foreign-language film (Graciela Borges, above and below); her has-been, barely-was actor husband (Luis Brandoni, below, right), along with the film director (Oscar Martínez, below, second from left) and screenwriter (Marcos Mundstock, center, right) both of whom were responsible for many of the actress' hit movies back in the day.

From the first lengthy scene we learn that this quartet has been living in a kind of love/hate relationship in which the three men bond against the grand dame, and everyone is relatively miserable-yet-content. "Look at how happy we are,"gloats the self-satisfied film director, and the other men agree. "There are no villains in this piece." Just then, of course, a car pulls into the driveway of their home and out step an attractive young man (Nicolás Francella, above, second from right, and below, left) and woman (Clara Lago, above, left) who've seemingly gotten lost in the countryside but immediately recognize the old actress and prove to be among her most ardent fans. Yes, we're off to the races.

How Campanella wittily and charmingly compares movies to life and Argentina's greedy present to her dictatorial past, together with how these six fine actors brings their very interesting, even complex characters to life, makes The Weasels' Tale a consistent delight. Events grow darker, betrayals abound, and were it not for the terrifically stable tone of humor the filmmakers sustain throughout, things might tumble off track.

They never do. The movie proves consistently amusing, even pertinent. (TrustMovies would not be surprised if this became the highest-grossing foreign-language film for the coming year.) And our heroine -- the real one -- even gets that death scene that's so far eluded her over a long career. 

From Outsider Pictures, the film begins its theatrical and virtual cinema premiere this coming Friday, December 11 at over two dozen theaters across the USA and Canada. Click here for more information and to view the theaters at which, or virtually, the movie will screen.

Tyler Cornack's BUTT BOY arrives for Easter Sunday. And, no, it's not a gay porno film.

It is, however, just about everything else you can imagine, should you decide you mash one genre into another into another into another until you've exhausted the field, yourself and perhaps your audience, as well. 

BUTT BOY, the new film directed and co-written (with Ryan Koch) by Tyler Cornack (who also co-stars) is an utterly weird combination of (all deadpan) comedy, workplace/business satire, fantasy, family movie, kidnap thriller, police procedural, and neo-noir featuring kinky-sexual-pleasure. There's no science-fiction, however (even if the publicity material suggests there is), because there's absolutely no science present here, just some bizarre fantasy.

Mr. Cornack, shown at right and in some of the stills below, has created something different, all right, and for a good portion of this 100-minute movie, his initial quiet, suggestive style -- perhaps due to a very low budget not allowing for many special effects, which he saves in any case for his finale -- keeps us guessing and often in thrall.

The story here takes us into the seemingly tired, boring workplace and marital life of a man named Chip (Cornack, below), who, during a routine visit to his urologist/proctologist. experiences something so life-changing that he discovers he is able, and so begins, to suck various items -- these grow larger and larger -- up his butt. When a local child goes missing, things come to a halt and suddenly it's nine years later, when Chip's s addiction re-surfaces.

Oddly enough, the movie Butt Boy most reminds me of is the very recent film, Swallow, in which a newly-married and wealthy housewife begins swallowing small-but-dangerous items until something needs to be done about this.  The style and theme of both films are quite different however, but the premise of a woman who inserts odd objects down her mouth and a man who does this up his butt seems bizarrely similar. (Even one or two of the swallowed/sucked-up objects are rather alike.) 

Swallow is a serious film, while Butt Boy is anything but, and so, for a while, the deadpan comedy -- as a suspicious detective (Tyler Rice, above) tracks our non-hero -- helps keep things afloat. How and why this detective has managed to put together his theory is neither intelligent nor believable (one single clue is all it takes?), but once past this point the movie opts for total fantasy and then, during the final third, the special effects kick in and the film becomes downright silly/crazy.

One must  give Butt Boy, along with Cornack, credit for doing something original, at least, even if his movie goes on for ten to twenty minutes too long. With this kind of thing, less is definitely more. And during the first half of the film, Cornack's elliptical, suggestive style works well with his deadpan humor; then the too-muchness takes over.

Those who prefer "too much" may embrace Butt Boy more easily than did TrustMovies. Either way, this is pretty much a one-off kind of film -- something you might have seen in days of yore from Troma Entertainment, but handled with more taste and subtlety (for awhile, at least.) And the film's final "they are risen!" moment makes it a shoo-in for coverage today, Easter Sunday.

From Epic Pictures and running 100 minutes, the movie makes its debut -- now that theaters seem a thing of the past -- via VOD, digital streaming and Blu-ray disc, beginning this Tuesday, April 14. Click here to learn how you can view.

Movie of the Year? Of the decade? David Robert Mitchell's UNDER THE SILVER LAKE

Thoroughly dividing critics and audiences alike (on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a score of 56% from the critics, 60% from the audience), UNDER THE SILVER LAKE has given TrustMovies his most all-out enjoyable cinema experience of the year so far. Now out on home video -- Bluray, DVD and digital -- this is a film I think you really must give a shot.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, shown at right, whose earlier efforts The Myth of the American Sleepover (one of the best and most graceful and surprising teen movies I've seen) and It Follows (a somewhat over-rated horror effort that proved at least original and had a very good first half), this one is Mitchell's best so far, and I wager that the 44-year-old filmmaker has a lot more to give us in his time ahead.

What makes Under the Silver Lake so special? A whole lot of things, starting with its Los Angeles/Silver Lake reservoir locale. I grew up around there and so know it well, and the movie made me feel simultaneously at home and as though, just like its hero, I'd fallen into a rabbit hole leading to wonderland.

Whether by choice or instinct, Mr. Mitchell consistently butts up the ordinary against the bizarre. Realistic details lead to anything but, while the fantastic ends up in something utterly mundane. (My favorite moment is the long, mysterious tunnel that leads our hero to a... nah: You gotta find out for yourself.) The effect is alternately alarming and delightful -- and consistently amusing. I had a smile on my face almost throughout.

Watching Under the Silver Lake is like discovering David Lynch on antidepressants and in a very good mood. Sure, this movie deals with everything from awful cults to a dog murderer on the loose, and still that smile refuses to leave your face. This also has to do with the wonderful young actor Mitchell has cast as his lead: Andrew Garfield (two photos up and below).

Since Boy A, back in 2007, I think I've seen every movie Garfield has made, and even when I thought the film mostly sucked (Silence), he never did. What a face this guy has. Those huge and immersive big-brown-eyes draw you in and hold you in thrall, and the actor is versatile enough to try all kinds of roles. His lean, lithe body, which we see just about all of in the course of the movie, is a big bonus, too. Mr. Garfield appears in, I believe, every scene of this movie, and -- to paraphrase one of his best films -- he never lets you go.

The actor plays Sam, a not particularly likeable, aging young man -- 33 and seeming to have not the least idea what to do with his, so far, pointless little life -- who spots a pretty blond named Sarah (Riley Keough, below) poolside in his apartment complex, and quickly gets to know -- and fuck -- her very briefly before, the next morning, she has disappeared, along with literally everything (almost) that was in her apartment the night before. Hmmmm... mystery.

The rest of the movie is devoted to Sam's relentless search for Sarah, which leads him into one bizarre situation after another. These grows loonier and tunier, finally culminating in a kind of wonderful closure during which Mitchell gives us his moral -- which could not be simpler nor more profound. This moral ends, if I am not mistaken, with the word "right?" and if I am also not mistaken, our hero hears this and actually considers it.
(We all should, by the way.)

Mitchell's denouement is as lovely and rich as what has come before, featuring sex, a parrot, and in the very last shot a quietly unobtrusive reference to another shot we've seen several times previous and which now suddenly resonates quite differently -- because it has happened to someone we care about. Mitchell doesn't spell any of this out, however. But it's there nonetheless (unless I am way off base in my conclusions, but I would prefer to think not).

For me this writer/director has made a marvelous kind of scavenger/Easter-egg hunt in which we -- and Sam-- really do find the prize. Other critics have suggested that there is no "there" there, but I think they are dead wrong. Were they asleep? But how could they be at a movie that is this much fun?

Along the way, there are so damned many visual and audio treats -- sets that zing, music that sings, fashions that will make you oooh, aaah and giggle -- that you'll probably want to see the whole thing again, just to be able to finally take it all in. (Janet Gaynor fans will plotz.)

For the many movie references alone -- from Pitfall and Land of the Pharaohs to Something's Got to Give -- film buffs will enjoy things, but if you're not inclined toward this sort of game-playing, don't worry. You can easily appreciate the movie for its delightful plot and satisfying resolution. Alone, for the gorgeous, frightening, knockout scene in which Sam and the character played by Callie Hernandez (above, left) actually go into/under Silver Lake, this movie is worth all of its two hours and 20 minutes.

Released by A24 and playing in theaters for a limited time this past April, Under the Silver Lake is now available in Blu-ray, DVD and digital streaming. You have no excuse for not giving it a try. (That's the funny, mysterious Grace van Patten with balloon, above.)

Restored and re-discovered: James Whale's black-and-white wonder THE OLD DARK HOUSE

Plenty of us avid moviegoers are familiar enough with the name James Whale. This guy, after all, directed the original Frankenstein (and The Bride of..., too) plus The Invisible Man, as well as the original filmed versions of Journey's End, Waterloo Bridge and Showboat. Many of us know him, too, from Ian McKellen's lovely portrayal of the filmmaker in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters. What most of us don't know much about, however, is his 1932 movie THE OLD DARK HOUSE, a 72-minute, non-stop delight -- funny, scary, and full of surprises -- that was long thought to have gone the "disappeared" route of so many old and unfairly forgotten films.

Now, thanks to Cohen Media Group (as well as, or so we learn from one of the marvelous bonus features on the new Blu-ray and DVD, to the now-deceased filmmaker Curtis Harrington), a wonderful 4K restoration of the film opened in theaters earlier this month (after playing both the Venice and New York film festivals) and arrives on home video this coming Tuesday, October 24, on Blu-ray, DVD and digital format.

Director Whale (shown at right) with 23 credits on his resume, was gifted in a number of genres, but the amazement of The Old Dark House comes, as much as anything, via the masterly manner in which he mashes so many of these -- mystery, thriller, horror, comedy, romance, satire and even a look at class, economics, religion and morality of the day -- together so goddamned gracefully. It's a wonder.

The film is based on a novel by J.B. Priestley, and the cast assembled here is a wonder, as well. Where else might you possibly see Boris Karloff (below, left), Melvyn Douglas (above), Charles Laughton and Raymond Massey together in the same film? (Mr. Laughton is as likable and surprising here as you may ever have seen him.)

On the distaff side are three wonder women: Gloria Stuart (above, right, and yes, she who made that great comeback in a certain Mr. Cameron's over-rated Titanic) plays a gorgeous dish who fills out a negligee like few others; the beautiful, pert and utterly winning Lilian Bond (below, right), who bring such immediacy and delight to her been-around-the-block ingenue role that you'll not easily forget her; and Eva Moore, who manages the nutty-old-bat role as though we'd never seen such a thing before. (There's one scene between Moore and Stuart that is so jaw-dropping even now, that one wonders what audiences must have thought about it 85 years ago when the film first opened.)

The less said about the plot the better, for it is filled with such bizarre turns-of-events that you'll simply hang on for the ride. And yet, for all its sense of terror and dread, the movie is finally so surprisingly endearing that you may find yourself remembering it less as a fright film than as a sweet, sad, fractured movie about family -- both the blood kind and the sort that's created suddenly out of need and determination.

Whatever: don't let this one pass you by. Its home video release is scheduled for this coming week, and the bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD are wonderful indeed, especially the interview with Mr. Karloff's daughter, Sara. Though the film runs just 72 minutes, the disc's extras are enough -- in quantity and quality -- to make this much more than merely an evening's entertainment.

Juan Carlos Medina's THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM proves a nifty, stylish, smart Victorian thriller

What a surprising but clever choice it was to put Spanish director Juan Carlos Medina at the helm of the new British mystery thriller, THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM. The film's producers most certainly caught Medina's first movie, a bizarre combination of mystery, history and other-worldliness entitled Painless, which TrustMovies was most impressed by some years back at the late-and-much-lamented FSLC series, Spanish Cinema Now. The filmmaker's second feature turns out to be every bit as good as his first, thanks not only to him (Señor Medina is shown below) but to the film's screenwriter, Jane Goldman (who adapted her screenplay from the Peter Ackroyd novel (Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem), and to the surprising and especially well-chosen cast.

The other thing that makes this movie so special is its splendid visual panache/production design (courtesy of Simon Dennis (cinematography), Pilar Foy (set decor), Grant Montgomery (production design). The film is set in Victorian London, with much of the goings-on taking place in a popular British Music Hall, so between the dark foreboding of the back streets (currently plagued by a killer penned by the press as the Limehouse Golem: one of its victims is Jewish), the busy interiors of the homes on display, and the garish but hugely entertaining music hall scenes, there is hardly a moment in which you'll be able to take your eyes off the screen.

And then there is that remarkable cast, led by the unmissable Bill Nighy (above), here in a role the likes of which we've seldom seen him: as a Scotland Yard inspector who has been given this nasty case to get it out of the hair of his up-and-coming superior, and also, it is hinted, due to his character's improper sexual proclivity. Nighy is, as ever, tactful, unshowy and absolutely on-the-mark. He makes the character's search for justice our own, helping to anchor the movie.

As the owner of the troupe, as well as its leading (often cross-dressing) man at the Music Hall, the heretofore pretty-boy Douglas Booth (above and below, right) treads new ground. This actor may very well be capable of a lot more that he's been given the opportunity to show us, if his grand performance -- over-the-top (as it should be) when he's on stage, charming and bright when he's not -- is any indication. He begins this vastly entertaining movie with a bang, and helps carry it through to its surprising conclusion.

The third amazing actor here is a young woman -- Olivia Cooke (above, left, and below) -- whom many of us will know best from her performance as the sweet and caring girl with a tube up her nose in the cable TV series Bates Motel. Ms Cooke is a revelation here, as the wife of a not-so-nice would-be playwright husband, who has just died as our film begins.

We soon learn of her character's younger days, and watch in wonder and delight as this young girl becomes a talented and popular music hall star, and then finally see her go on trial for murder, as she becomes the Nighy character's obsession, and simultaneously takes the idea of Victorian feminism into quite new and different territory.

The Limehouse Golem is mainly a murder mystery, with the identity of the golem the piece of the puzzle for which Nighy and we keep searching. We see various characters try to fit into the role of murderer, but no one quite manages it, though the various attempts give the director the chance to show his chops in the suspense/blood/gore departments. (The movie could easily be much gorier than it is, and Medina's to be commended for his distancing techniques, in which atmosphere most often trumps slasher effects.)

In a fine supporting cast that includes Spain's Maria Valverde (as the near-constant "other woman") and Australia's Sam Reid (as Cooke's no-account hubby), a stand-out would have to be Daniel Mays (above) as the slightly slow but kindly cop who acts as Nighy's assistant. And, yes, that's the versatile Eddie Marsan, below, who appears as the Music Hall's troupe's manager.

A rich stew of period detail, acting chops, atmosphere, tall story and thoughtful provocation, the movie almost resists classification. It's just plain eye-popping. And Ms Cooke is simply sensational. "Here we are again!" has seldom resonated with such a combination of joy, horror and irony as in the film's strange, powerful and moving finale.

From RLJ Entertainment & Hanway Films and running 109 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, September 8, in limited theatrical release and simultaneously on VOD and digital HD. This is the sort of film that really ought to be seen on the big screen, so if you live in or near these ten cities across the USA, try to catch the film there: in New York at the Village East Cinema, in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall, in Cleveland at the AMC Solon 16, in  Dallas at the AMC Hickory Creek 16, in Houston at the AMC Yorktown 15, in Miami at the AMC Pompano Beach 18, in Minneapolis at the AMC Apple Valley 15, in Phoenix at the AMC Arizona Center 24, in Tampa at the AMC Sundial 19, and in Chicago at the AMC Woodridge 18.