The Disappearance of "Dumpuary"

Four films that go against the trend of Hollywood's slowest month.

“Dumpuary” is an affectionate term for the Hollywood releases following the Golden Globes, leading up to the Oscars on March 15th. Studios who aren’t sure when or how to release a film often will slide them into this time period. Issues could range from reshoots, to negative audience test scores, to cursed production sets, or just not knowing whom to market to. There are many notable exceptions like 1991’s Oscar winning The Silence of the Lambs or Marvel films Deadpool and Black Panther which hit big at the box office.

We here at Y’all Weekly find the “Dumpuary” stigma offensive and are pushing back! February is a fantastic time for date movies, specifically Valentine’s weekend where you can currently catch Wuthering Heights or the kinky Pillion. Many of the Oscar nominated Best International Features also have their US release dates during this period. Many of these powerful foreign features end up being some of the most impactful stories of the year (The Voice of Hind Rajab & Sirât).

It also provides a perfect time period for horror films to take off like Scream 7 and Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The past two weeks have been a blessing in disguise to go catch some laughs, tears, and some straight up cozy trash crime stories at the local cinema. Here’s a quick review of four films that are worth a look and push back on the old Hollywood “Dumpuary” trend. Three of the four are currently playing at the Independent Picture House.

The Voice of Hind Rajab

I caught this at the Independent Picture House and experienced a real heartbreaker. The docudrama follows real life recorded calls from a six year old Palestinian girl named Hind to the Red Crescent Society. She tries to survive inside her family’s vehicle that has been destroyed by IDF (Israeli Army) tanks in January of 2024. Inside the Red Crescent we see reenactments of the exchanges from logistical and emotional viewpoints. The team tries desperately to coordinate a rescue mission inside war torn streets of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

An absolutely devastating film that continuingly angers and frustrates you the more it pushes on. For writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania, receiving a tiny slice of the daily atrocities happening in Gaza is the point. To hear and feel what an innocent traumatized child has to endure as she fights to survive is the point. This film won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is competing for Best International Feature at the Oscar’s on March 15th.

Matt at the Movies Score: 8.5/10 (A gut punch that should be seen by everyone)

Wuthering Heights

There have been more than THIRTY-FIVE television and movie adaptations of the classic 1847 Emily Brontë novel. Writer/director Emerald Fennell decided now was her time to take a crack at it. What story elements she decided to make part of her interpretation or keep on the cutting room floor was interesting. We are missing major characters, a storyline dealing almost exclusively with class issues curtailing racial/ethnic themes, and our main characters engage in a torrid love affair. All three are massive changes that deviate from the original content. All three are interesting choices by Fennell to create a new version of this classic tale with modern panache. All three left me wanting a little more walking out of the theater.

Emerald Fennell is as divisive a director as you can find in Hollywood today. She won a screenplay Oscar for her debut film Promising Young Woman and followed it up with Saltburn which I adored. She is overly stylish to a fault, using sexuality and clever needle drops to cover often gauche storylines that fall apart in the third act. Yet her best trait to me is that she absolutely “goes for it” with no line in the sand drawn for taste or appropriateness.

She had two of the most electric sex symbols working in the business with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi at her fingertips playing Catherine and Heathcliff. She chose to hint at the naughty, kinky, and overt sexualization bringing us to the edge then punted on the forty yard line. This re-telling was meant for the absurd “Emerald Fennell” makeover and fell just short of something that could have been spectacular.

Matt at the Movies Score: 7/10 (Could have been a contender!)

Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie

Canadian writer/comedians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol brought a web series turned TV show to the big screen with a mockumentary about time traveling failed musicians… and it was really quite funny. Johnson directed the film following up on his excellent 2023 entry Blackberry. This movie reached new heights that often left me scratching my head saying, “How did they pull that off?”.

The plot is quite simple. Two friends spend years trying to find a way to headline a show at a small club called the Rivoli, scheming plans including skydiving off the CN Tower to a Toronto Blue Jays game with zero success. That leads them to a final option, time traveling to 2008 to run it all back again. This is where the story really takes off.

The cross cutting of multiple timelines overlapping each of their documentaries with younger and older versions of themselves was pretty incredible. The city of Toronto serves as their playground as the two men run amuck on the streets featuring many real life interactions with everyday people. How they were able to carry out the filming and stunts while not being detained by local law enforcement was impressive yet confounding.

While every joke and reference didn’t quite “hit” for me, I kept wondering what they were going to pull off next. In these trying times we can use all the laughs we can get. I tip my hat to these two for the distraction.

Matt at the Movies Score: 8/10 (Worth it just to see what these crazy kids get up to)

Crime 101

Are we watching the spiritual reimagining of Michael Mann’s 1995 crime classic Heat? No we are not. What we are seeing is that lower tier of heist film that features top actors (Hemsworth/Ruffalo/Berry/Keoghan) filling in the traditional roles that make for an entertaining two hour romp set off U.S. Route 101 in Los Angeles.

If Crime 101 was a hearty soup you see all the traditional elements baked in. The L.A. vibe from Heat as a nice base broth gets things going. Mix in the sleek sexy filming of Tony Scott adding to the body. Some sautéing aromatics of Hell or High Water and The Town to mix it up the flavor profiles. Finish with some seasoning and acid from Drive with a pinch of Inside Man creates a wonderful plot soup for this film. All the elements are there and you will be happy for the fun ride this stacked cast brings you on.

Matt at the Movies Score: 8/10 (thriller adult crime dramas are back)

Quite a February indeed. Three of these films are currently playing at the Independent Picture House. Go see them while you can on the big screen. We’ll be back in a couple weeks to bring you our annual Oscar exchange with our awards contributor Dana “The Movie Muse” Gillis. Thanks for reading Matt at the Movies over at Y’all Weekly.