Double duty at fest, plus a web-slinger, dinosaurs and stoners – Play It Again, Tim

I pulled double duty as critic and professor at the recent 35th annual Woods Hole Film Festival.

In addition to covering its offerings for the Cape Cod Wave, I oversaw the first Summer Film Festival Intensive, a collaboration of Cape Cod Community College and the WHFF.



The intensive:  Thirteen hand-picked students from 4Cs and elsewhere spent four full days (about noon to 9 p.m.) at the fest, having classroom discussions with filmmakers and festival officials, attending panel discussions and watching many independent films (narratives, documentaries, shorts). They kept journals on their impressions and were active participants in Q-and-A sessions. They individually sought out filmmakers to chat with after screenings, on the street, and elsewhere. For final projects, two separate groups made festival-related short films (both hilarious) and two students wrote individual papers on their experiences (one to run in the 4Cs student newspaper, The MainSheet, in September).

It was a great opportunity for the students, and they made the most of it. They bonded as a group (they’ve already had one reunion) while sharing their love and enthusiasm for film. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and, I hope, theirs.

(By the way, to be transparent: I was paid for my role in the intensive by the college, where I work as an adjunct professor of film and journalism and which offered this experience as a three-credit course. I can’t be paid by the Woods Hole Film Festival; it would be a conflict of interest since I also cover it as a critic.)

The festival: I’ve already reviewed many of this year’s fest films in an advance story that you can read here (but please come back): https://capecodwave.com/woods-hole-fest-los-lobos-student-defectors-and-the-heavens-gate-cult-play-it-again-tim/.

I recommend any of the films mentioned in that column, especially the documentaries “Los Lobos: Native Sons” and “School for Defectors.” Both must-sees.

Of course, every film festival offers a variety of events, and you can’t attend them all. Based on what I saw, here are my festival highlights:

— Los Lobos, Part 2. I caught the Los Lobos documentary a second time, this time with the five members of the five-time-Grammy-winning band and the film’s two directors in attendance. I love Los Lobos and their music, so seeing them take part in a Q-and-A after the screening was a thrill. And the movie is just as good, if not better, on a second viewing. I told one of the directors, Doug Blush, that it’s my favorite film so far this year (and I wasn’t even lying!). The film won the Best of the Fest and the Best Documentary Feature Audience Award. **** (out of four)



— “Mallory’s Ghost” (87 minutes). Writer-director Arabella Oz stars as Mallory, who’s haunted by her playwright boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, in a smart comedy whose quick-witted dialogue is reminiscent of that in Woody Allen’s best films. Brightened by Oz’s charming presence, the film also goes deep as it examines Mallory’s insecurities and identity issues, and how most if not all people come into a relationship with a certain amount of luggage. Oz was in attendance, and, as with Blush, it was fun to talk with her (in this case, before and after the screening). The film won the Best Comedy Feature Audience Award. ***1/2

— “Beast of the Seine.” In a village near Paris, children keep getting thrown into the river Seine and a dog keeps saving them. A local hero is born. But who is the mysterious figure tossing the kids into the water? Of the 16 festival shorts I saw, Jon Portman’s clever 13-minute animated short was the best. It won the Best Animated Short Juried Award and Best Animated Short Audience Award. ***1/2

— Griffin Stanton-Ameisen in “Ultra Juice.” Stanton-Ameisen is hilarious as guy who befriends his vape in this 4-minute short from Carl Conway Maguire. The New York-based actor was at the screening, and I made my way through a crowded lobby to tell him how amazing I thought he was. To my surprise, there with him was my friend actor-director-writer Han Van Sciver. It turns out they’re longtime pals who appear together in a horror short, “The Fell,” shot on the Cape and now in post-production. I ended up seeing the collaborators again two nights later at Cotuit Center for the Arts during a preview of “The Fell.” Small world. ***1/2 (for “Ultra Juice”)

— Panel: “Making Science/Climate-Focused Films in Challenging Times.” Hosted by science journalist Miles O’Brien, this panel discussion with dedicated documentary filmmakers was inspiring (for their heroic efforts) and unsettling (given the life-threatening dangers, militant ignorance, corporate greed and other obstacles they face to get the truth out there).

— Panel: “The Business of Acting and Filmmaking in Massachusetts.” Angela Peri of Boston Casting and others provided valuable practical advice on how to get into, and possibly succeed, in film acting and filmmaking in the Boston area. For anyone interested in getting into the business, this was essential. And even for more casual attendees, it was highly entertaining.

Spidey on his own

Peter Parker gets a little alone time in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (PG-13, 145 minutes, in theaters).

(SPOILERS AHEAD for those who haven’t seen the previous film, “Spider Man: No Way Home.”)



Peter’s Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, seen in flashbacks) is dead. His girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best pal, Ned (Jacob Batalon), have had their memories wiped clean of Peter for their protection and are no longer part of his life.

Thus, at first, he’s left to fight crime as his alter ego, Spider-Man, without personal distractions, which is a big plus for “Brand New Day.” The beginning is focused less on human drama and more on superhero business, as Spider-man takes on former adversaries as well as an unknown (at first), powerful, mind-hopping villain (Sadie Sink). Entertaining appearances by Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Yelena Belova/The Black Widow (Florence Pugh) and Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) —all well integrated into the plot — add to the appeal.

Later, as Peter’s struggle with a life without MJ comes to a head, the film does take a serious turn, as it considers the role of memory in relationships. But it never becomes ponderous or melodramatic, as director Destin Daniel Cretton (“Just Mercy”) keeps things moving to the point that you don’t notice the film’s length. At one point the film shifts gears to focus on the dramatic back story of the primary villain, but the circumstances are so compelling (especially for those who know the character by name) that it seems less an add-on than an enhancement.

In short, everything pretty much works. Holland lacks the big-screen presence of, say, Timothee Chalamet and he plays Peter without the “Aw, shucks” goofiness of former-Spidey Tobey Maguire. Instead, Holland plays the character more as an Everyguy, a typical twentysomething who, like his peers, is just trying to figure out life. Zendaya brings plenty of charm as MJ, and Benthal provides amusing comic relief as the shoot-first, ask-questions-later Punisher.

There are times when superhero movies seem to have run their course. But “Brand New Day” suggests they still have more to offer, after all. ***1/2 (out of four)

Call pest control

Maybe you’ve had a neighbor’s dog keeping you awake all night.

Maybe you’ve been laid off from your job.

But having a dinosaur gnaw on your head? Now that’s a bummer.

Characters suffer from all three problems in “The End of Oak Street” (PG-13, 99 minutes, in theaters), a comedic, gory survival thriller starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor.



Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”), “Oak Street” is set in a middle-class Detroit suburb in 1982.

Denise and Greg Platt (Hathaway and McGregor) live there with their daughter, Audrey (Maisy Stella); their son, Brian (Christian Convery); and their dog, Starbuck, the mutt who barks in the neighbor’s yard. Greg’s lost his job and is now secretly delivering pizzas. Denise pours out her marital frustrations in a novel she’s writing.

Meanwhile, strange things occur in the neighborhood. A prehistoric plant appears in one neighbor’s yard. Another neighbor discovers a gigantic pile of feces in his yard. He blames Brian, but, really, it would take the boy a month to conjure up a load this impressive. Does it have anything to do with the large flash of light that occurs during a local storm?

Enter the dinosaurs — a variety of them. Denise and family find themselves dodging these prehistoric critters while watching many of their neighbors get eaten alive.

Rather than suppling a lot of scientific chatter to justify this turn of events (other than vague talk of wormholes), Mitchell cuts to the chase with this film, showing what would happen if dinosaurs appeared in 20th-century America. Sure, there’s a message here about how danger and tragedy can bring a family closer. Mostly, though, “Oak Street” is a no-frills entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously. ***

Missed it by THAT much

Sometimes a movie just seems off. You see what it’s trying to pull off, and it comes close, but not close enough to work.

That’s the case with “The Wrong Girls” (R, 100 minutes, in theaters), a stoner buddy comedy starring Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat as roomies and best pals Frankie (Stewart) and Molly (Shawkat).

Written and directed by Stewart’s wife, Dylan Meyer, it’s the kind of weed-oriented movie you’d expect to star Seth Rogan — and, sure enough, Rogan does provide the voice of a cat who speaks telepathically to the two pals when they’re in an altered state.

Only, try as it might, “The Wrong Girls” fails to offer the laughs generated by Rogen and James Franco in “The Pineapple Express.” Similarly, “The Wrong Girls” is vaguely reminiscent of the female-buddy-comedy “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” but lacks that film’s silly charm.

In a case of mistaken identity involving a doppelgänger, Frankie winds up with a stash of potent experimental psychedelics that some unsavory types want back.

The chase is on. Complicating matters: Frankie and Molly, having taken ridiculous doses of the drug, are out of their skulls — though, in their favor, they’re able to communicate telepathically with each other (and their two cats — the other one voiced by Kumail Nanjiani).

(The druggy-talking-to-a-cat scenario was a lot funnier when it took place in Doug Liman’s underrated “Go.”)

Stewart, as the brighter of the two friends (Frankie dropped out of Stanford), continues with this role to take admirable chances as an actress, and she does a good job of playing a pothead with hints of hidden depth.

But she doesn’t have much to work with here. Everything seems forced; the effort is too obvious..

The film just doesn’t work. It only makes you think of other, better films. **

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** Click here for  Tim Miller’s previous movie columns for Cape Cod Wave **

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Tim Miller is co-president of the Boston Society of Film Critics and a Tomatometer-approved critic. He teaches film and journalism at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable. You can contact Tim at [email protected]. Or you can ignore him completely.