Freeze Frame: “The Lion King” (PG), “Supervized” (R), “Under the Silver Lake” (R)

Disney’s stampede to create so-called ‘live-action’ remakes of its animated classics continues with “The Lion King.” The super-realistic computer-generated imagery that replaces the classic hand-drawn animation is nothing short of spectacular. But for some reason, the cinematic magic of the 1994 version doesn’t make the transition quite as smoothly. Much of the film is a shot-for-shot recreation, but many of the scenes are more drawn out, adding unnecessarily to the film’s length. While there’s still much to like in “The Lion King,” it won’t go down as the pride of the remakes.

 

The so-called comedy “Supervized” will be a bona fide contender for the worst film of 2019. A sad embarrassment to all involved, “Supervized” stars Tom Berenger, Beau Bridges and Louis Gossett, Jr. as foul-mouthed former superheroes living out their difficult elder years in an Irish retirement community. Nefarious foes try to sap the former caped crusaders of what’s left of their superpowers. “Supervized” represents the nadir of these actors’ storied careers.

 

Andrew Garfield stars in the wacky neo-noir mystery, “Under the Silver Lake.” Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell has a lot on his mind with this ambitious mind bender about a man whose beautiful neighbor goes missing. As the paranoid man attempts to solve the puzzle of her disappearance, things in LA keep getting weirder and weirder. Hitchcock and David Lynch are just two of the many Hollywood influences in this ambiguous project that has too many ideas for its own good.

 

Also opening this week, “She’s Just a Shadow” is an unrated English language Japanese action thriller featuring gangsters, a madam and a serial killer. We’re also offered two music documentaries. One is “Echo in the Canyon” about the pop music that came out of California’s Laurel Canyon in the 1960s. The other is called “Pick it Up: Ska in the 90s.”


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