‘The Paragon’
Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.
The last time a dryly zany comedy from New Zealand involving fantastical shenanigans made me laugh this much, it was the original “What We Do in the Shadows.” Michael Duignan’s new film may not quite reach that level, but it is still very funny.
A former tennis pro who peaked at No. 347 in the world, Dutch (Benedict Wall) ends up with a limp after a hit and run. In his search for the Toyota Corolla that maimed him, he meets the mysterious Lyra (Florence Noble), who looks like she was kicked out of the Bene Gesserit from “Dune.” She informs Dutch of the existence of multiple dimensions (including “the avocado dimension”) and claims to have “psionic powers” that include telekinesis. “Could you use it to change the channels on a TV?,” he asks. “That’s what a remote control does,” Lyra responds. About 50 minutes into the film, Dutch does locate the Corolla’s driver, which is when “The Paragon” takes an even odder turn — because it is actually serious-minded — involving the consequences of roads taken, or not. If an accident hurting someone can have a beneficial effect on someone else, what is the net result? “The Paragon” is inventive and sneakily well written, but the real reason it works is because it has heart.
‘The Silent Planet’
Setting a film in a desolate, empty world might have inspired some directors to go big with the vistas. Instead, Jeffrey St. Jules’s feature has a claustrophobically tight focus (though he does squeeze in good location shots of Newfoundland). Theodore (Elias Koteas) has been on his own for a long time, sentenced to working alone on a planet-size penal colony. During the day he mines ore that’s then sent to Earth; at night he watches sitcoms in his small habitat.
And then one day another convict, Niyya (Briana Middleton), arrives — Theodore has taken out the monitor in his chest so he’s thought to be dead, or almost there. They engage in a tense cohabitation, which has the benefit of revealing to the viewers why they were exiled in the first place. Niyya says she was framed for terrorism. As for Theodore … well, it’s a little tricky because he can’t really tell the difference between facts and the stories he tells himself anymore. Whether something is fake or fiction, “it doesn’t really matter here,” Niyya says. But it does, very much so, because she and Theodore might share a crucial connection. “The Silent Planet” unspools like a slow, pensive, ultimately dangerous game of cat and mouse — it’s just hard to tell who is playing which role.
‘Hostile Dimensions’
Stream it on Fandango at Home or the Roku Channel.
Ash (Joma West) and Sam (Annabel Logan) are young filmmakers trying to rebound from what appears to have been a bad experience on a movie. So when they get their hands on found footage that appears to capture the disappearance of a woman named Emily (Josie Rogers) after she goes through a free-standing door, the pair smell potential. Especially after they manage to lug said door back home.
Watching Ash and Sam bumble their way through Graham Hughes’s “Hostile Dimensions” is like watching Bill and Ted simultaneously try to make a movie and locate a missing person. They consult a physicist (Paddy Kondracki), who comes up with such highly technical statements as “This could just be creepypasta rubbish but …” The best part of the movie is the multiple planes of existence that are revealed behind the various so-called wolf doors, including an empty amusement center called “Pandamonium.” After “Death of a Vlogger” (which featured much of the same cast), Hughes is starting to make a bit of a name for himself, if only in the microbudget dimension.
‘Elevation’
The phenomenon of powerful creatures defeated, or at least slowed down, by seemingly innocuous things — common bacteria in “The War of the Worlds,” water in “Signs” — is not new in science fiction. The so-called Reapers that appear out of the blue to kill everybody on Earth in George Nolfi’s movie seem indestructible, but at least one thing prevents them from rampaging everywhere: For mysterious reasons, they don’t venture above 8,000 feet. This works out well for a mountainous state like Colorado, where small communities survive out of reach of the strange killing machines. Unfortunately, Will (Anthony Mackie) must leave his encampment and travel to a lower elevation to retrieve oxygen filters for his ailing young son. He’s accompanied by Nina (Morena Baccarin), a scientist trying to return to her old lab to test her theories about their opponents. As a skier, I’m definitely going to dig any scene in which people use a chair lift to escape their pursuers, but “Elevation” should please fans of B movies in general — it has the kind of old-fashioned efficiency that’s actually hard to pull off. The film ends with a glaring opening for a sequel, and I for one am ready for it.
‘With You in the Future’
Carlos (Michel Brown) and Elena (Sandra Echeverría) are on the brink of an acrimonious divorce when Cupid (Mauricio Barrientos) intervenes and sends them back to the 1990s, around the time of a fateful date at a Maná concert. The older couple goes to town trying to prevent its younger selves (played by Fernando Cattori and Mariané Cartas) from falling for each other, thus sparing them future distress. Would Carlos have been better off with the wealthy Cristina (Aminta Ireta)? Could Elena, who was in a band, have made it big if she hadn’t gotten married? But, of course, the pair also realize that they did have something good going on at first, and abruptly change course: Young Carlos and young Elena must get together!
Roberto Girault’s film, from Mexico, shares a major theme with the recent “My Old Ass”: Is something worth pursuing if, before heartbreak sets in, it brings genuine happiness? “With You in the Future” has fun with some of the consequences the older couple’s actions set in motion, including the fact that changing the course of events leads to changing yourself. And do you really want to do that?