Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, 2024.

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui.
Featuring Christopher Reeve, Dana Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Matthew Reeve, Will Reeve, Gae Sexton, Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Whoopi Goldberg, John Kerry, Brooke Ellison, Steven Kirshblum, Richard Donner, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Bill Clinton, Johnny Carson, Jane Seymour, Barack Obama, and Alexandra Reeve Givens.

SYNOPSIS:

Reeve’s rise to becoming a film star, follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After which, he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability rights.

Even though it is close to 50 years since the release of Superman: The Movie, it is still hard to separate Christopher Reeve from his iconic role as the Man of Steel. He embodied everything great about the character, exemplifying Superman’s compassion, kindness and heroism onscreen while playing a perfect dual performance as the dorky Clark Kent. However, Reeve became a real life superman after his tragic horse accident which left him paralyzed, beginning a journey as an advocate for disabled people and working tirelessly to improve their standard of living. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story explores his life before and after the accident, how it shaped him and cemented his legacy on and off the screen.

The documentary’s non-linear style jumps between points at the start of Reeve’s career and his life after the accident, but this helps explore several aspects of his life and character. From his training at Juilliard to his explosive popularity in the aftermath of Superman‘s release, you get a true sense of Reeve’s work ethic, outlook on life and his positivity. The jumps between timeframes serves to heighten both the tragedy of his accident and his strength of spirit to persevere and help others like him.

The doc also sees many friends and family give their perspective on Reeve, from his children Matthew, Alexandra and Will and archival footage of his wife Dana – complete with years of family videos – along with his former partner Gae Exton, close friends Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels, Whoopi Goldberg and many people he worked with or helped through The Christopher Reeve Foundation (later renamed after Christopher and Dana) with archival footage of Superman director Richard Donner and Reeve’s very close friend Robin Williams, himself deceased after a battle with depression. All these voices offer a very personal look into his life and struggle and how inspiring he could be.

While Superman is Reeve’s most well known role, the film does go into his roles from the stage and other films or TV, even going into his post-Superman IV career where he was not getting quite as many offers as he previously was. Even still, though, his career was full of diverse roles where he never allowed himself to be typecast. His directing work is also given focus, especially because his shift to directing came after his accident which, according to the people who knew him, only heightened his determination to live life to the fullest.

As for his paralysis, the film does not shy away from the difficulties he and his family faced including his massive depression in the months after his accident. It is a testament to Reeve’s spirit and determination of how much he accomplished in his life after the accident, not just through his continued film work but the creation of his foundation and campaigning for better quality of life for disabled peoples and research into their conditions. To the film’s credit, it does explore some of the controversy Reeve stirred with the latter as he strove for a ‘cure’ to paralysis and made it a mission to walk again, though that didn’t take away from everything else he and Dana set out to achieve.

On that note, while the doc is called The Christopher Reeve Story it would be incomplete without his massive medical and personal support group, both of which Dana Reeve played a huge part in. The film examines her just as much as it does Christopher from her commitment to stay with him all throughout his ordeal to championing alongside him and after his death. Their connection is in many ways the heart of the film and given proper focus, adding another tragic twist as Dana, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away just two years after Reeve died.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story very much explores how Reeve came to be the embodiment of Superman’s perseverance and strength in and out of his wheelchair. You don’t have to be a Superman fan to find this an incredibly moving documentary that tugs at the heartstrings while giving depth to his life, character, struggles, family and friendships and showing anyone can follow his example.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

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“Speak No Evil” is the new horror movie from studio Blumhouse which brought “Get Out” and “Paranormal Activity.” The movie stars Mackenzie Davis — who acted in “Blade Runner 2049” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” — and Scoot McNairy as an American wife and husband living in London. Whilst traveling to Italy with their daughter, they befriend an extroverted British couple, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their nonverbal son. After the American couple gets home, they receive a letter from their newfound friends inviting them to their home in the countryside.

When they arrive at the countryside, Paddy’s sinister intentions are slowly revealed. What I just described may sound like a snuff film, but “Speak No Evil” is far from that. “Speak No Evil” is an interesting, deliberately paced horror thriller. For much of the movie, Paddy’s sinister intentions are only implied, as what we explicitly see is a man trying to show his friends a good time.

Even in the movie’s earlier sections when anything sinister is implicit, the movie is scary as hell thanks to a wonderful performance by James McAvoy, who has acted in “X‐Men: First Class” and “Split,” among others. He can strike fear into your heart just with a stare or a snide remark. McAvoy makes clear that Paddy is not a person you’d want to be around even when the protagonists seem to enjoy him. So much of the terror comes just from McAvoy’s intense eye contact or lingering stares. It’s an amazing facial performance that sticks with you.

“Speak No Evil” also uses some fascinating film techniques. For example, the majority of the movie has no score; very little music is heard at all throughout the film’s first two acts. It’s not until act three that the score kicks in, just as the scares start in earnest.

The movie also takes a long time to make explicit that anything at all is amiss with Paddy and Ciara. It’s a slow-burn of a horror movie that takes its time to teach you how its characters think and feel before it scares the daylights out of you. When Paddy’s foul intentions are finally made explicit, the movie kicks into high-gear with an explosive, crazy third act sure to terrify you. “Speak No Evil” is playing in theaters now, just in time for Halloween season.

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Kate is a student at the University of Arizona. She loves improv comedy and comic books.

The Beast Within, 2024.

Directed by Alexander J. Farrell.
Starring Kit Harington, Ashleigh Cummings, James Cosmo, Caoilinn Springall, Adam Basil, Ian Giles, and Martina McClements.

SYNOPSIS:

After a series of strange events leads her to question her family’s isolated life on a fortified compound deep in the English wilds, 10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of the forest.

Where is a film supposed to go when the central metaphor is painfully obvious from the early stages? The Beast Within director Alexander J. Farrell doesn’t really seem to know, trying to obfuscate this into a story of mystery and dread. It’s admirable that he is allowing it to unfold from the unassuming and innocent perspective of a 10-year-old daughter, but in doing so, he keeps the viewer one step ahead of her practically until the climax. This also wouldn’t be too much of an issue if the characters had some depth to them, which the film takes as giving the child an illness conveniently requiring oxygen during moments of terror and, expectedly, typically losing that source of air during the danger.

Beginning with the all too common phrase “there are two wolves inside” proverb, it is made apparent that the literal beast Kit Harington’s Noah mutates into once a month is perhaps not the only beast to worry about. If you had a hunch that this family drama is not so secretly about domestic abuse, you would be right. And even though Kit Harington is putting in the work trying to convey a multilayered father who can snap and turn into a figurative beast at any moment, putting his wife Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings) and child Willow (Caoilinn Springall) in danger from his path of outward physical anger, the film still amounts to nothing more than a metaphor that needed more time and another rewrite (Farrell also wrote the screenplay alongside Greer Ellison) to cook up something compelling around that dynamic.

There isn’t anything special to note about the beast’s design, which also happens to be generic and buried in darkness to cover up what had to of been a low special effects budget. However, a creative aesthetic and unnerving unfamiliar designs can always overcome that budgetary constraint. Here, it is nothing more than the most familiar of werewolf tales.

Imogen takes Noah deep into the woods once a month to shackle him up, ensuring that he doesn’t fatally wound anyone he loves during one of his regular transformations. Curious about what is actually happening, why her father disappears once a month, and why her mom has bruises and marks all over her body (the viewer’s first clue that not all of this is probably related to the literal monster), Willow sneaks away from grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo) to follow her parents and see what happens. Fortunately, Imogen catches on and can protect Willow following the mutation.

As for Waylon, he mostly exists to explain away exposition regarding this generational curse. The rest of The Beast Within consists of Willow slowly learning the dark truth about her father, and once again, that’s not strictly limited to the supernatural element. For such a perilous folkloric concept, there also isn’t much dread or suspense, and the surrounding forest isn’t exactly striking to look at or appropriately ominous (it’s filtered through a weak display of smoke or fog, giving the impression of a sinister environment but not feeling it.)

There is one captivating scene observing father and daughter in the woods, with the former cutting some wood, casually engaging with her about her interest in helping, taking on big responsibilities, and generally coming across as a gentle and wonderful guardian. In that same scene are flashes of the cruelty within The Beast Within. It’s the closest the film comes to functioning as compelling, otherwise hampered by the tiny scope of its blatantly obvious metaphor bludgeoned into the viewer five minutes in.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

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