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Dave Levora and Darren Pitra tell Mike Schulz how glad they were that Schulz brought his 9-year-old “younger friend” to see Five Nights at Freddy’s. Levora and Pitra’s reasoning is that, much like the Taylor Swift Eras concert film, Freddy’s didn’t seem like a movie made for middle-aged men like them. Directed by Emma Tammi and starring Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard, Freddy’s is a horror film for kids — nothing that’s going to invade the dreams of our intrepid trio. Security guard Mike Schmidt (Hutcherson) stays overnight at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and finds that the animatronic mascots don’t like humans on their turf, and conspire to get rid of him. Perhaps if Eli Roth were given such material, we’d get a film that would traumatize a whole new generation of filmgoers. But Tammi knew exactly which audience she was trying to entertain, and that more than likely accounts for why her film made $154.1 million on a $20 million budget, so she deserves props for a job well-executed. Schulz was way more enthusiastic about Anatomie d’une chute, aka Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet and starring Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaieb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, and Sophie Fillières. Anatomy, Schulz proclaims, is his new favorite film of the year, beating out Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which, he’ll have you know, holds up very well on repeat-viewing) and John Wick: Chapter 4. But those are action films, and Schulz prefers films with “humans doing human stuff,” like arguing over films, getting sozzled on chardonnay, paying a mortgage, and occasionally going to court for murder. Anatomy, which premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or, is half a thriller, half a French courtroom drama. Sandra Voyter, played by Sandra Hüller, in “the performance of the year,” is an empathetic character, but as the first half continues, she becomes less and less trustworthy for an alert and skeptical audience. Would that Freelance, an action comedy directed by Pierre Morel and starring John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, and Christian Slater, had more to offer — then he might have skipped the pro-faith After Death, written and directed by Stephen Gray and Chris Radtke and concerning real-life near-death experiences. According to Gray and Radtke’s, uhhh, stats, 23% of those who survived a near-death experience didn’t report a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but something that sounds much closer to Hell. . . which is why the filmmakers chose to concentrate on the 77% that have happier outcomes. Nevertheless, Schulz found the stories unfolding in unpredictable ways, which he thought made for a decent viewing experience. As for the previews, Schulz will be seeing something we haven’t seen in a very long time and had given up for dead: A Meg Ryan rom-com. Aside from co-starring in What Happens Later with David Duchovny, she also directed the film and co-wrote it with Steven Dietz and Kirk Lynn. Levora hopes that the film makes “a gazillion dollars,” based on the Eighties and Nineties nostalgia evoked by Ryan’s very presence. Considering she made it for $3 million, and she and Duchovny are the only two actors in the film (Levora: “Like My Dinner with Andre in an airport!”), she may wind up doing very well, indeed, this side of a gazillion. There’s also The Marsh King’s Daughter, an intriguing-sounding psychological thriller directed by Neil Burger and starring Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, Caren Pistorius, Brooklynn Prince, and Gil Birmingham; and Priscilla, Sofia Coppola’s latest tone-poem, this one about Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) and her life with The King, Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). Levora is preoccupied with how Elordi will fare in the latest Dune remake installment, whereas one might worry how a film in which the Presley estate denied her permission to use his music will do — although, reportedly, Priscilla thinks it’s a fine work. Can we rely on Priscilla Presley’s judgment about Coppola’s most recent ether-soaked revery? We shall see, won’t we?. . .
“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” and “After Death”