AVON & WARWICK SHOWCASE

KINDS OF KINDNESS 
* * *
(As Weird As It Gets)

If you liked Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” you may like “Kinds of Kindness.”

Then again, you may not.

Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe are back for this very weird, often confusing look at strange people. All are dealing with control in their lives.

Three one-hour segments are emotionally and personally connected, with Plemons kicking things off as Robert Fletcher the employee of a controlling boss (Defoe), who literally tells him what to eat, when to have sex with his wife (Stone), and how to kill someone for him.

Fletcher draws the line at killing and is dismissed by his controlling boss, abandoned by his wife, and reduced to a broken man.

What happens to him is the conclusion of this first and best of the three stories.

In the second one, a cop rejoices when his wife, who is thought to have died, returns home. She is not herself. The husband goes into a funk, stops eating, and acts irrationally.

The ending is a bit weird and gory and leaves you breathless and scratching your head.

The third story is the weirdest, as a couple sets out to find someone who can bring back the dead and become a cult leader.

The characters are unlikable, as is the story.

Lanthimos is being heralded by some as a genius filmmaker.

We wonder if he is a bit warped, or just putting us on.

Five people walked out in the middle of the showing at the Avon.

If you want to see great acting, “Kinds of Kindness”  has it. But don’t say we didn’t warn you about the content.

Rated a big R. for sex and violence.

WARWICK SHOWCASE

A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE 
* * *
(Inconsistent sequel)

After two movies about alien creatures with superior hearing causing the few remaining inhabitants of Earth to be very, very quiet, there was no place to go for a sequel.

So the franchise decided to make a prequel and show how we got into this mess.

Our protagonist is Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a hospice cancer patient who takes a group trip to a puppet show in Times Square and sneaks out with her pet cat on a leash to find her favorite pizza place.

All hell breaks loose in the street, with major explosions and ugly alien creatures tracing down human beings.

Sam runs, cradling her cat and seeking shelter, while havoc plays out all around her.

A very scared man in a business suit and tie appears and follows her. They team up to narrowly escape destruction at every turn.

It is all very exciting, scary and poignant...and completely unbelievable.

Where are the bodies?

Where are all these people running to?

And how does this cat that needed to be led on a leash, manage to keep up with Sam as she runs, hides and fights off the aliens?

And how does this cat manage to stay alive under water? The aliens are allergic to water, but not the cat.

On Day 2, there is not a person in sight besides the couple, who have bonded. Even though Sam is terminal, she fights for her life right up to the bitter end.

The movie manages to hold your interest and make you care about the characters, especially the cat.

If you can suspend your belief, you may enjoy it.