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GOOD BOY
Good Boy sets its horror stakes early, opening with a home video montage introducing the bond formed between a puppy and its owner. Director Ben Leonberg enlists his own dog, Indy, in the title role of a haunted house story told from a pet’s perspective. Those quick to cry “nepo baby” should know that Indy’s star turn comes on its own merit. Indy, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, moves to a rural house last inhabited by the grandfather of his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen). Todd’s sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) checks on him daily for his chronic lung disease, and her belief that their grandfather’s death was partly due to a supernatural presence. Indy immediately senses what later manifests as a dark shadowy figure. As its power grows, Indy sees visions of Todd’s grandfather (Larry Fessenden) suffering the same fate, and as happens with most horror movies, the best character’s warnings go unheeded. Leonberg put all his trust in Indy to carry Good Boy for over an hour, and the pup’s facial expressions speak volumes the entire time. By now you know he survives, but you still don’t know what Indy fully goes through. Want to support this one? Go. Sit. Stay. Speak. PG-13. RUDY VALDEZ. Academy, Laurelhurst, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
TRON: ARES
Disney commissioned Nine Inch Nails’ least sexy soundtrack for Tron: Ares, a Jared Leto vanity project. The producer’s oiled slickback is the titular character, overseer of the Grid under Dillinger Systems CEO Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), grandson of the original film’s villain. Julian is American, but his mom, Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson) is openly British. Eve Kim (Greta Lee) girlbosses to the top of ENCOM. They seek the Permanence Code, which will make anything they 3D print from the Grid real for longer than 29 minutes—Disney imagines a world where nobody abuses this for porn. Dillinger sics Ares on Kim when she finds it, but Ares achieves sentience from rain and fireflies. He wants to escape his brutal reality and be a real 53-year-old boy, and needs her help. Enthusiasm for Tron: Ares dampened when its star was accused of sexual misconduct in June, but this movie fails even absent Leto, who takes up most of the movie. Tron: Ares accidentally proves artificial intelligence critics’ point that unethical technology is dangerous. Gorgeous graphics, though! Ares works with friends if you agree to turn your brains off, but it pales in comparison to Legacy. PG-13. ANDREW JANKOWSKI. Bagdad, Empirical, Studio One, McMenamins St. Johns Theater & Pub, Wunderland, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
Kiss of the Spider Woman is not one of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s more memorable musicals, and though the new film adaptation is directed by Bill Condon—who adapted the duo’s Chicago into the screenplay that landed six Oscars—it doesn’t do much to transcend the superior 1985 film version of Manuel Puig’s novel. Honey-voiced newcomer Tonatiuh plays a gay window dresser sharing a grimy cell with Diego Luna’s scowling Marxist revolutionary during Argentina’s Dirty War. The former drowns out reality (and the sound of prisoners being beaten and electrocuted) by narrating one of his favorite movies out loud, a Hollywood fantasy “in Technicolor that almost hurts your eyes.” But what we see looks less like an MGM dazzler and more like a Meghan Trainor music video. Movies in which one character wears another down tend to be exhausting, and by the end of this one, Tonatiuh has not only convinced this weary old guerrilla to sit still for his “movie” performances but manages to get him in bed as well. Luna represents a theoretical musical-averse audience, gradually learning to put his reservations aside and embrace all the shameless sentimentality and artifice, but even fans of the form might come out of this adaptation looking as ready for a drink as he does. Jennifer Lopez appears. R. DANIEL BROMFIELD. Living Room, Studio One, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
ANEMONE
The entertainment industry is no stranger to nepotism, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one bolder than Ronan Day-Lewis bringing his father—one of our greatest living actors—out of retirement (again) to star in his directorial debut. It’d be more impressive if the movie itself were better, but Anemone’s ambitions exceed its grasp, resulting in an uneven melodrama whose whole doesn’t exceed the sum of its parts. Ronan’s pa Daniel stars as Ray Stoker, a former British Armed Forces soldier living a self-imposed exile following his service during The Troubles. His hermitage is interrupted by the arrival of his brother Jem (Sean Bean), who has come to bring Ray back so he can help guide his troubled, estranged son (Samuel Bottomley). This is a simple enough premise, rife with juicy material on Irish generational trauma, but the script from the Day-Lewis men takes over an hour to establish these basic story details, stretching it out like a mystery with an unsatisfying conclusion. The movie comes alive when DDL gives blistering monologues about his dark backstory, reminding us why he’s one of the best to ever do it, but that’s not enough to make up for long stretches dedicated to Jem joining Ray on his everyday routine. The younger Day-Lewis and cinematographer Ben Fordesman do a wonderful job showcasing the natural beauty of Manchester standing in for the Emerald Isle. He has promise as a filmmaker, but Anemone won’t be why he makes a name for himself. R. MORGAN SHAUNETTE. Cinema 21, Living Room, Studio One, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
