Movie Review

Seedy horror film MaXXXine sees a porn star trying to go straight

Mia Goth in MaXXXine

Mia Goth in MaXXXine.

Photo courtesy of A24

The horror movies X and Pearl were surprise indie hits in 2022, with Pearl – a prequel to X – being a literal surprise as its production was conceived of and approved during the waning days of the shooting of the first film. Director Ti West and star/producer Mia Goth have now teamed up for a third film in the series, the suggestively named MaXXXine.

Goth reprises her role as Maxine, an adult film actress who, after surviving the events in X, has made her way to Hollywood circa 1985 in hopes of finding roles in mainstream films. An audition for a horror film directed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) seems to lead to a great opportunity, but a serial killer on the loose named The Night Stalker starts to interfere with her life.

Not only do Maxine and others around her have to fear for their lives, but she also gets hounded by private detective John Labat (Kevin Bacon) and police detectives Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale). Determined and more than capable of taking care of herself, Maxine tries her best to push forward with her big break while avoiding the distractions and deaths piling up around her.

West had specific goals with the first two films in the series, as X was an homage to classic slasher movies, and Pearl as much a Technicolor melodrama as a horror film. MaXXXine seems to be almost a loving tribute to the seediness of 1980s Los Angeles and the film industry. The way in which West shoots the movie makes it feel like there’s a layer of grime over the camera, with the whole story feeling dirty, and not in the X-rated way.

However, for a film that seems to want to entice with sex and depravity, it actually contains relatively little of either. West does go for shock value in a few scenes, but overall the movie has a curious lack of momentum. When deaths do come, they seem to happen haphazardly, both at the hands of the serial killer and otherwise. West always had a storytelling purpose for the killings in the first two films, but he lost the thread in that respect for this film.

The story of the film entails Maxine going Hollywood, and there’s the feeling that West may have overstepped by including a bunch of well-known actors this time around. Individually, Bacon, Debicki, Monaghan, Cannavale, and Giancarlo Esposito as Maxine’s agent give fun and interesting performances, but the cumulative effect is distracting. It doesn’t help that most of their arcs, save for that of Debicki, are underwhelming.

Goth, though, delivers another compelling performance even when the story seems to meander. Her distinctive look and personality serve the character well, making her a person who’s equal parts appealing, conniving, and scary. She’s the clear star of the show, and everyone and everything revolves around her, although special notice should be made of Moses Sumney as her friend Leon, who gets a few scene-stealing moments.

MaXXXine needed to have a much more consistent story to be considered as good as the first two films in the series. The presence of Goth, who knows exactly how she wants to play her character, automatically elevates the film, which is a necessity since little else keeps it that interesting.

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MaXXXine opens in theaters on July 5.

Movie Review

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 really knows its audience: fans of the game

Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie in 2020 was one of the few video game adaptations that managed to appeal to both fans of the Sega game and those who just want to watch a fun movie. As the series moved into a second and now third film, though, it’s become increasingly reliant on giving the video game fans what they want, with not as much attention paid toward simply telling a good story.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) continues to live with human friends Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), as well as Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), who stuck around after the events of the second film. Dispensing with any kind of narrative coherence, the trio is called away by an undefined military force to help with the escape of Shadow (Keanu Reeves), another alien hedgehog who has been locked away off the coast of Japan for many years.

Suffice it to say that the trio does not initially fare well against the powerful Shadow, forcing Sonic to do the unthinkable: Ask his nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey), for help. What Sonic doesn’t anticipate is that Shadow has a history that left him with a grudge against most of human society, and he’s intent on using his powers — with a little help from his former mentor, Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey) — to exact his plans for revenge.

Made by the same team of director Jeff Fowler and writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the film is a combination of manic action, jokey sequences, and a dash of heart. The addition of Shadow ups the mayhem considerably, and the filmmakers rarely slow things down (although, oddly, the super-speed of Sonic and company feels lessened this time around).

The initial casting of Carrey gave the comic actor permission to indulge in whatever wackiness he could imagine, and giving him two roles in this film means double the nonsense. Ivo and Gerald (who’s Ivo’s grandfather, for the record) face off in a number of silly scenes, none more absurd than a dance sequence aboard a space station threatening to explode Earth (yeah, this movie is a lot).

Does the plot make a lick of sense? Absolutely not, but the filmmakers seem to acknowledge that fact, throwing anything and everything at the screen to try to entertain kids and/or fans of the video game series. It should come as no surprise that the end credits tease yet more characters from the video games joining the franchise, making it abundantly clear who is expected to get the most enjoyment out of the series going forward.

In addition to Carrey, the voice actors continue to make the characters fun. Schwartz and O’Shaughnessey provide the cartoon-style acting, while Elba and now Reeves give a nice counterbalance with their deep and serious voices. Marsden and Sumpter aren’t given much to do this time around, and Krysten Ritter shows up as Director Rockwell, a character who’s mostly there to move what little plot there is further along.

A four-quadrant movie is one that appeals to all ages and genders; Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a one or maybe two-quadrant movie at most. But it’s more fun than the other family-friendly offering this Christmas season, and fans of the video game will likely love the depiction of their favorite characters on screen, so it’s doing something right.

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now playing in theaters.

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