What’s new this weekend? For starters, The Little Mermaid (2023). Including the year is important, because Disney’s latest live-action remake is a new version of the 1989 film which paved the way for the House of Mouse’s animation renaissance. Halle Bailey (not, as I thought, Halle Berry) stars as Ariel, mermaid princess of the undersea kingdom of Atlantica whose love for the human Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) causes her to defy her father King Triton (Javier Bardem) and make a deal with Ursula the Sea Witch (Melissa McCarthy) so she can walk on dry land. Given the sorry state of the Above World, it seems like a big mistake, especially since Ariel has her pick of all those nice fish-boys, but who am I to judge?
Gerard Butler’s latest shoot-’em-up Kandahar takes him to Afghanistan during the American occupation, where he plays a CIA operative who has his cover is blown. He and his translator (Navid Negahban) must evade the war and hit squads to reach their extraction point in, you guessed it, Kandahar. Expect gun violence and monologs about courage and duty delivered through gritted teeth.
Comedian Bert Kreischer, allegedly the real-life inspiration for National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, stars in The Machine as himself in this (presumably heavily) fictionalized version of his life from stories he told in the 2016 Showtime comedy special of the same name. He must escape after being kidnapped by people he pissed off twenty years ago while drunk. Mark Hamill is involved, as is YouTube star Jimmy Tatro. Expect gun violence and funny monologs delivered through gritted teeth. Since this is the Flyer, we’re running the Red Band trailer.
Memphis in May officially ends on Wednesday, May 31 with the Indie Memphis screening of Redha. Director Tunku Mona Riza is from Malaysia, the honoree country for this year’s festival; his film tells the story of Daniel (Harith Haziq), an 8-year-old with severe autism whose mother Alina (June Lojong) fights for his acceptance. In English, the title Redha means “Beautiful Pain.” The screening begins at 7:00 p.m. at Studio on the Square.
June 1 at Crosstown Theater is the 1993 neo-noir Suture, which was largely ignored on release but has gained a cult following due to it’s twisty plot and a crafty lead performance from Dennis Haysbert. Years before Face/Off, Scott McGehee and David Siegel were switching faces and taking names.
