The multiverse takes a different angle in Everything Everywhere All at Once from A24. Michelle Yeoh top lines the film and portrays Evelyn Quan Wang, an exhausted Chinese American woman who cannot seem to finish her taxes. Her marriage to Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is on the rocks, and she is having trouble accepting her daughter Joy’s (Stephanie Hsu) same-sex relationship.
While at a tax appointment with IRS agent Deidre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), something mysterious happens to Waymond and an interdimensional rupture unravels reality. This forces Evelyn into an unlikely hero who must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the world’s fate is uncertain.
That is all you need to know about Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I would advise viewers to go into the film blind. Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as “Daniels”) write and direct the film, combining numerous film genres. Science fiction, martial arts action, and family all come together to deliver one of the most unique and original films of 2022.
Everyone in the film gets a moment to shine, and in viewing the movie with my son, I had a smile on my face the entire time. The movie moves at a fast pace, yet it never feels like it is trying to accomplish too much. The Daniels are confident in the audience’s ability to handle the film’s frantic approach, so they never back down from any of its outlandish notions.
Sure to become a cult classic and referenced for years to come, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a must-see.
Final Grade: A
Director Potsy Ponciroli shifts gears for his third feature in “Motor City,” produced by IFC Films. Chad St. John penned the film’s screenplay, which was actually on the 2009 Black List and spent several years in development hell before finally getting underway.
San Francisco in film is often depicted through sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge or romanticized, foggy hills. However, “Splash City” from Lionsgate brings the focus down to street level. Co-directed by Alex Ferrufino and Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (better known as rapper and entrepreneur Berner), this R-rated crime drama moves away from postcard aesthetics to present a sharp, urgent portrayal of survival on the streets.
Writer-director Lee Cronin made an impressive feature film debut in 2019 with “The Hole in the Ground” and followed it up with a fresh and gruesome installment in the “Evil Dead” franchise, “Evil Dead Rise”. However, due to adult responsibilities, I missed his third film in theaters. The mixed reviews and rumors of a troubled production have me concerned.