Clockwork from bottom left: Blonde (Photo: Netflix), Moonage Daydream (Photo: Neon), Bros (Photo: Nicole Rivelli/Universal Pictures), and Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. (Photo: Steve Swisher/Pinky Promise LLC)Graphic: Libby McGuire
If there’s a theme to September’s slate of feature films, it’s familiarity. From X precursor Pearl and a Pinocchio adaptation to long-awaited sequels Clerks III and Hocus Pocus 2, this month’s list may give some credence to those who argue today’s cinema is lacking in original ideas. But they’d be ignoring Billy Eichner’s Bros, the first gay rom-com from a major studio, as well as Olivia Wilde and Katie Silberman’s thriller Don’t Worry Darling and Tom George and Mark Chappell’s murder mystery See How They Run, fun Hollywood fare relying on familiar faces in unfamiliar stories.
And if you’re wanting to see a star like you’ve never seen them before, don’t miss Allison Janney as a “female Dirty Harry,” Viola Davis in action-star mode, and Brett Morgen’s immersive Moonage Daydream, a David Bowie documentary that deserves to be experienced on the biggest possible screen. Read on for The A.V. Club’s recommendations for September moviegoing.
Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul.
HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL. - Official Trailer - In Theaters and On Peacock September 2nd
Theaters everywhere and Peacock (September 2)Is there anything more ripe for a satirical takedown than megachurches? There’s an inherent, distinctly American hypocrisy in profit-driven institutions run by people of God flaunting those profits—a hypocrisy that lends itself nicely to dramatic tension. Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall take such tension to cringe-worthy, hilarious, yet all-too-believable extremes in the mockumentary , screenwriter Adamma Ebo’s feature directorial debut. In Brown and Hall, who play a disgraced pastor and his first lady trying to rebound from public scandal, Ebo has a delightful pair of punching bags, a means to positively pillory commodified religion that would all be harmless fun were it not for the actual scandals of megachurch pastors like Ted Haggard. And while these are two actors with no qualms about debasing themselves in the name of comedy, they’re also adept at digging into their characters’ deep-buried shame, unearthing the human capacity for denial. Brown is all bravado, demonstrating how one’s faith can sour into false confidence despite all evidence of failure. Hall turns her sunny smile into a mask, one that slips in crucial, blink-and-you’ll-miss-the-vulnerability moments. Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Daniel Kaluuya are among the producers of this timely tale of false prophets. [Jack Smart]
