Abigail (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

Starring:  Alisha Weir, Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Giancarlo Esposito, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Matthew Goode

Abigail begins promisingly, but then tips its hand too soon and devolves into a bloodbath with exploding bodies and blood and guts flying everywhere.   It's another tired movie about vampires with characters played by actors who try desperately to give them dimension and a reason to care about them.  They attempt with all of their might, but no dice.  It's the type of movie in which we relish when characters are knocked off one by one so we know it is that much closer to ending.  

The promise of Abigail begins when a pre-teen ballerina named Abigail (Weir) is kidnapped by six criminals who don't know each other's true identities (a la Reservoir Dogs) and taken to a remote mansion.  They are met there by a shadowy man named Lambert (Esposito), who tells them all to sit tight for 24 hours while the $50 million ransom is delivered.   They are all given fake names so they can converse with each other, but then the members start biting the dust.  The rest find they are locked in, and further find that Abigail is a vampire.   Why were these poor folks chosen to kidnap Abigail only to suffer a horrendous fate?  It turns out each has a connection to Abigail's ruthless father, who remains offscreen until the very end.  

The only member of the group who seemingly shows any kindness or mercy towards Abigail before she is revealed to be a monster is Joey (Barrera), a recovering addict with a son she lost custody of long ago and thinks the money will help her start over with him.   If, of course, she survives the night with Abigail and company.   Once the vampire angle is introduced midway through, then Abigail loses all hope of being anything interesting.  Vampires or those turned into vampires bite each other, blood splatters everywhere, and everyone is covered in blood, guts, and gore.  Who wants to witness this?  Surely not I, but there is a market for these movies which is why they continue to be made, even if they are boring and inert.  

 

Civil War (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Alex Garland

Starring:  Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson

Civil War is a movie that thinks it can only get a little bit pregnant.  The movie focuses on a future United States Civil War in which Texas and California both seceded from the Union, join forces, and take on the rest of the states, who in turn start battling with each other over those who support the Union and those who support the "Western Forces".  The idea that Texas and California would unite on anything brings about an unintentional laugh.  But, Civil War avoids discussing ideologies and why the states are feuding in the first place.   It's a movie about a war that wants to reflect on the current political climate while remaining neutral.  That is a noble idea which doesn't translate to a compelling narrative.  There is no one to root for, or against.  

The President of the United States of Civil War is a dictator who abolished the 22nd amendment and is serving for life.  He is known to have media members killed and has a limited vocabulary, so I'm assuming he's modeled after Donald Trump.  However, I am not one who believes he would have media members killed.  Civil War involves grizzled, cynical photojournalist Lee Smith (Dunst) who has seen the horrors of war up close and took pictures of it.  She and reporter Joel (Moura) went to trek from New York (which is nearly vacant) to Washington, DC in hopes of interviewing the president before the Western Forces take over.  Joel is a reporter, so we're told, but I'll be damned if I ever see him with a notebook or a microphone.  For all I knew, he was just the guy who drove Lee around.

Accompanying Lee are amateur photographer Jessie (Spaeny), who sees Lee as an influence and mentor, and Sammy (Henderson), who works for the New York Times.  Dunst looks like someone who hasn't had much sleep.  I wanted to find her a bed to crash on.  One thing this civil war accomplished was getting rid of traffic jams.  There is hardly anyone on the road.  The one time they encounter any burnt-out shells of vehicles are on one stretch of highway borrowed from War of the Worlds.  

Civil War meanders while trying to assume its own importance, but the only scene with any dramatic impact involves Jesse Plemons (Dunst's real-life husband) who is burying a group of bodies in a pit and asks each member of Lee's team where they're from.  The wrong answer (i.e. not in the United States) would likely get you killed.   But once Plemons' cameo is over, the movie goes right back to being dull.  When Lee and company arrive in Washington for the big showdown between Western Forces and the Union forces, we have roughly six soldiers per side battling in front of what is clearly a set.  The fate of the free world rests in the hands of two small groups of soldiers.  

Civil War means to be impactful and thought-provoking, but the only thoughts I experienced were how absurd it was.  You never get the feeling there is a bigger war going on outside, but to me Civil War seems like a movie wanting to make a large point on a smaller budget, but doesn't succeed.  

Magnolia (1999) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall, Melinda Dillon, William H. Macy, Jeremy Blackman, Michael Bowen

Magnolia is Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to the masterful Boogie Nights (1997).  The structure of Magnolia is similar in how it juggles a menagerie of characters, but while Boogie Nights focused on the 1970's porn industry, Magnolia tells interlocking stories of wounded people who come across each other by fate, chance, and a deus ex machina which will likely never be employed in a movie again.  When I first viewed Magnolia, I was puzzled by frogs falling from the sky like rain.   Upon second viewing, I realized this event was a necessity from the heavens to provide clarity, understanding, and healing.  Something had to give and it couldn't have occurred at a more proper time.

The people involved in the crossing stories are:  Jim (Reilly), a lonely cop who wants to do some good on every shift, Jimmy Gator (Hall), a dying game-show host whose producer Earl Partridge (Robards) is on his deathbed from cancer, Earl's estranged son Jack (Cruise), who goes by the name Frank T.J. Mackey and is a self-help guru whose program "Seduce and Destroy" aids men in their quest to dominate women, Linda (Moore), Earl's second wife who feels guilty about the way she has treated him now that he is near death, and Claudia (Walters), daughter of Jimmy Gator who despises him for reasons made clear later.  There is also Donnie (Macy), a contestant who many years ago won a boatload of money on Gator's show, only to have it stolen from him by his parents.  He has fallen on hard times and wants to rob his former boss' safe to pay for braces which he hopes will make him more attractive to the man he is in love with. 

With the exception of Jim and Phil Parma (Hoffman), Earl's nurse who carries out his deathbed request to see his son one last time, most of the characters in Magnolia are troubled and wounded, while Jim and Phil try to right wrongs and perhaps bring healing to those wounds.  They need help doing so, and they receive it in the most extraordinary and insane way possible.  

Magnolia is difficult to define except as an anthology of interlocking stories and characters in which these people are fated to be a part of each other's lives, whether they want to or not.  But there is a driving dramatic force which propels Magnolia into something unique and special.  This is among the best performances of Tom Cruise's career, playing someone so angry he invents a persona to mask his hurt.  His father left when his mother was dying from cancer, causing him to endure the pain and burden of watching her die by himself.   His final contact with Earl is equal parts resentment, pure hatred, anger, followed by regret and then love and acceptance.  It's quite a scene.   The rest of his scenes show him giving a lecture to equally hurt men who are trying to one-up women in the battle of the sexes.  Cruise was nominated for Best Supporting Oscar, which I believe he should have won, and it shows how multi-faceted he is as an actor.  This is something that could be said for the movie itself, and that gives us an emotional, riveting experience.  

Monkey Man (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Dev Patel

Starring:  Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Sikander Kher, Sobhita Dulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Pitobsh Tripathi

Monkey Man, the directorial debut of acclaimed actor Dev Patel, is John Wick using fists of fury instead of guns.   It's a revenge picture in which a poor man named Kid (Patel) infiltrates the upper echelon of the New Delhi underworld to avenge his mother's death at the hands of corrupt police and politicians.  At the end of all of the fisticuffs, you wonder how Kid's hands aren't swollen or broken along with other body parts.  

I also wonder why movies are filming so many scenes in poorly lit areas or in the dark.  Trying to follow the fight sequences are a fool's errand as daylight emerges as a welcome relief.   The fights are no less action-packed than any other movie's, but eventually they come off as overchoreographed and simply absurd.  Patel, a superior actor who also wrote the movie, alludes to Bruce Lee and other action heroes of his childhood when staging the action.  However, these allusions aren't as fun as the real thing.

The movie follows a familiar superhero pattern of the hero getting thrashed, retreating to a remote place to heal and reload, a training montage, and then he returns to finish the job.  The villains aren't given much depth for us to want to see their destruction.   Kid himself is more of a symbol than a hero.  We are expected to care through osmosis, but that doesn't happen either.   Monkey Man is a passion project of Patel's which took years to finally come to the big screen.   For that, we applaud him, but the finished product is hardly distinguishable from countless other revenge movies. 

Dr. Dolittle (1998) * * *

 

Directed by:  Betty Thomas

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Oliver Platt, Richard Portnow, Peter Boyle, Kristen Wilson, Kyla Pratt, Raven Symone, Paul Giamatti, Ossie Davis, voices of Chris Rock, Norm Macdonald, Jenna Elfman, Gilbert Gottfried, Albert Brooks

Dr. John Dolittle (Murphy) is a well-off San Francisco doctor with a thriving practice about to be sold for millions, a loving family, and a gift (which he thinks is a curse) of being able to hear and talk to animals.  He was able to do so as a child, but found a way to repress this until one day, he hears a dog named Lucky (Macdonald) give him hell for nearly running him over.  

Dolittle adopts Lucky, but soon after, all different types of wildlife descend on his home looking for treatment for various maladies.   Dolittle reluctantly and covertly aids the animals, but finds it to be very rewarding.  This doesn't prevent him from being briefly institutionalized under the "care" of Dr. Blaine (Giamatti), an envious medical school rival who makes it his mission to keep Dolittle at the institution.  The animals themselves are voiced by familiar actors who are mostly delivering amusing wisecracks and insults.  

Murphy himself used this role as a springboard to varying success as a family-film leading man.  In Dr. Dolittle, he finds the right mix of sympathy and humor in his predicament.   It takes him time to process the idea that he can communicate with animals.   Yes, they conveniently all speak English, except for one who speaks Spanish.   But Dr. Dolittle exhibits a sweetness with its protagonist and its cute animals who all only want a little help from someone who understands them.   

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Adam Wingard

Starring:  Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle

I couldn't pass a test on what happens in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.  There is a plot, one which numerous cast members helpfully took time out to explain, but my memory remains foggy.  I know Godzilla rules the surface, while Kong finds his dominance in the lower world (someplace between the surface and the Earth's core) under siege by another race of massive, giant Kongs.  There is a little gorilla, who I will call Donkey Kong Junior, who turns on his own tribe and aids Kong in his quest to defend the worlds against these other giant gorillas. 

Godzilla is brought in not as an enemy, although he and Kong fight once, but as an ally.  I can't recall with any certainty why this is, but it's all simply a backdrop for CGI run amok and battle scenes as incomprehensible as the plot.  There isn't much to root for or against.  The actors are here primarily to witness or explicate the happenings as they unfold, but are mostly pushed to the sidelines.  The visuals are the stars, and those are a mess.  We have difficulty following the action and we find we don't much care anyway. 

I watched some of Kong: Skull Island again recently, which is the best of the recent Godzilla and Kong movies.  Yes, it had lots of CGI and action, but there was a central human tug to the story and Kong himself was fleshed out.  In this latest film, both Godzilla and Kong are there to fight and destroy whole cities and worlds with not much else going on to compel the viewer to keep watching.  It's a free-for-all.  The more the plot is explained, the more confused we become. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Gil Kenan

Starring:  Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton, Emily Ann Lind, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Annie Potts

Ghostbusters is out of gas.  No amount of cameos or callbacks to the initial films will revive it.  Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire strains mightily, but even with the remaining original Ghostbusters (Aykroyd, Murray, and Hudson) lending a hand, it dies on the vine.  This version of the Ghostbusters aren't as funny or interesting as the previous incarnations while the plots are recycling the latest evil spirit that wants to destroy the world. 

I've often contended that villains who want to conquer or destroy the planet will find themselves very bored once they achieve their goal.  They should thank the Ghostbusters for thwarting them, so they will always have a dream to chase.   The malevolent force in this movie is contained in a metal sphere and when unleashed it will freeze everyone in New York.  Will it be today, New York? Tomorrow, the world?  We don't know, nor do we much care.   

Rudd, Coon, Grace, and Wolfhard are appealing actors not given much to do.   Phoebe, the youngest child and the closest to her grandfather Egon Spengler in terms of intelligence, develops a friendship with a ghost (Lind) which crosses over into attraction.   While it is a momentary thrill to see Aykroyd, Hudson, Murray, and Potts return to their original roles, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire feels overcrowded, especially squeezing in the Ghostbusters' enemy from the first film turned mayor Walter Peck (Atherton), who 40 years later is still a douchebag.  Tack on new characters in the form of a conduit (Nanjiani) and a parapsychology professor who understands the history of the sphere (Oswalt) and we're looking for a traffic cop to keep everything straight. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire even features the green slimer ghost from the first film, who is now a fan favorite, but the movie itself is a series of allusions and references to the first two films with a threadbare plot to hang them on.  The all-female Ghostbusters (2016) is left out.  I recall enjoying that one when it was released (I was definitely in the minority), although I haven't seen it since.   I figure you may as well invite Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and company to the next Ghostbusters sequel.  Why not?  

Goldfinger (1964) * * *

 

Directed by:  Guy Hamilton

Starring:  Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Frobe, Harold Sakata

Sean Connery brought the perfect mix of humanity and playfulness to the role of James Bond.   The actors who succeeded him in the role brought their own strengths, but Connery will always be remembered as the quintessential Bond.  Goldfinger gives us the Aston Martin, the gadgets, the exotic locations, the fights, Bond escapes, and a villain who wants to rob Fort Knox and tilt the world economy on its ear.  What good would that do Auric Goldfinger (Frobe)?  He'll have a ton of gold bars in his home, if nothing else. 

The villain's scheme is helpfully explained to his associates with help of models of Fort Knox and the surrounding area.   I'm reminded of Dr. Brown in Back to the Future who apologizes that his models aren't up to scale.  As is customary in Bond films, there is one who doesn't agree with or go along with the scheme and soon meets an untimely death.  Word to the wise:  Know who you're dealing with before you say no.  Goldfinger is ruthless and hates to lose even the most common of games, but for reasons only he would know, he brings Bond along first as a guest then as a prisoner to watch him carry out his plans.  This gives Bond time to plot an escape, of course, when Goldfinger could have been rid of his nemesis days ago.  

Goldfinger brings us perhaps the most famous henchman in Oddjob, a tuxedo-wearing Asian man with ridiculous strength and a hat which could slice through a statue.  He's a tough nut to crack, and remains the most memorable baddie this side of Jaws and a formidable foe for Bond.  Goldfinger is the third Bond film with many more to come.  Goldfinger harkens back to the era when Bond was new and fresh.  In the ensuing years, the series grew stale, with occasional lapses of its former glory peaking through.   After years of reboots and recasting, Bond is now at rest and should stay that way.  

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) * *

 

Directed by:  Michael Pressman

Starring:  William Devane, Jackie Earle Haley, Jimmy Baio, Clifton James, Chris Barnes, Brett Marx, Alfred Lutter, Erin Blunt, Lane Smith

The Bad News Bears was an examination of the birth of the Little League Parent with a big game at the end.  The group of misfit little leaguers were constructed as a social experiment where players of different races were thrown together thanks to a liberal town councilman.  They all had one thing in common:  They were terrible baseball players who got better thanks to their drunken coach.  One year after the success of the Bad News Bears comes The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, which is the same players minus the cynical undercurrent.  No parents even chaperone the team to the game being held at the Houston Astrodome, which gives the Bears an excuse to steal a van and have team captain Kelly Leak (Haley) drive them from California to Houston.

Kelly is 13 going on 26, although with his continual cigarette smoking and driving a motorcycle, I thought he was closer to an adult.   They're a rowdy bunch of course, and although they are the supposed California state little league champions, they play with the incompetence of the Bears of the previous year.  Walter Matthau is nowhere to be found, but since the team requires an adult coach, Kelly looks up his estranged father Michael (Devane), who doesn't even recognize him when Kelly meets him after Michael's shift at the local plant. 

Michael agrees to be the team's coach, and he's a pretty good one.   He returns them to their former glory as the play the local Houston champs in a four-inning exhibition before an Astros game.  It doesn't make much sense to turn them back into bumbling players from the first film, except to recycle that comic formula.   Devane's Mike is a genial guy with a resentful son and naturally they have argument before reconciling.   All of this is the undercard to the main event, the game where the Bears (who inexplicably are batting at the bottom of the inning because they seem like logical visitors) are being pounded early and then coming back after the game is halted due to time overruns.  

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training has no Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, or Vic Morrow.  The kids are the focus, including a new pitcher (Baio) who throws wild every pitch, and then we have Tanner Boyle (Barnes), the blonde-haired hothead with the Dutch Boy haircut who is the smallest player on the team, but has the biggest mouth.  The movie is mostly a retelling of the story which made the first film a success, and they win the big game this time. 

Love and Death (1975) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Woody Allen

Starring:  Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Harold Gould, James Tolkan, Georges Adet

Love and Death was the last of Allen's pure comedies before he pivoted and geared his work closer to dramas and dramedies.  Like Sleeper and Bananas, Love and Death is a verbal and physical free-for-all lampooning Russian literature and novels like War and Peace.  If you're a Russian literary novice, like me, there is plenty of humor here which is very funny and also pushes the comic envelope.  This is the only movie to date I can recall which uses the word "jejune" in any capacity.  

Allen plays Boris, a Russian villager circa early 1800's in love with his cousin Sonja (Keaton), who has zero romantic interest in him.   When Napoleon invades Russia, Boris reluctantly joins the army and manages by a stroke of luck to help this unit win a battle by hiding in a cannon.  Sonja, meanwhile, is in love with Boris' brother who dies in battle.  In her grief, she marries an rich, older man who made his fortune in herring.  Once he passes, Sonja marries Boris and concocts a scheme to assassinate Napoleon.

Boris is tormented by his love for Sonja and his beliefs on religion, life, death, and war.  Allen scores with numerous one-liners and even some sight gags, much like he did in Bananas and Sleeper.   He keeps the tone light and the pace fast.  Love and Death's running is a mere 85 minutes, which these days is slightly over half a movie.   Following this triumph, Allen decided to be more introspective and autobiographical with Annie Hall, which was still hilarious but in a different way.  The rest is history.  

One Life (2024) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  James Hawes

Starring:  Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Jonathan Pryce, Lena Olin, Romola Garai

Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 mostly Jewish children in late 1930's Czechoslovakia by having them transported by train from Prague and having them adopted by foster families in England.  If it were up to him, no one outside of his immediate family would have ever known about it, but such good deeds could not stay hidden.   Why did Winton want to keep his actions a secret?  Partly due to a sense of humility, but also because after eight successful transports of children to safety, a ninth one was stopped on the day Germany invaded Poland and the fate of the children aboard was never made known.  This ninth train's fate haunted Winton for the rest of his days.  Like Oskar Schindler, Winton wished he could do more even though he had already done so much to save lives.   

Winton's story is told in 1938 with Johnny Flynn as Winton, a British stockbroker who volunteered to aid refugees in Prague, with Czechoslovakia under threat of Nazi invasion at any moment.  Winton observed that the children would surely perish in concentration camps unless they are shipped out of Prague to safety in the UK, with foster families waiting to adopt them.   Winton, with help of his team in Prague, his mother (Bonham Carter) and other friends in the UK, created the visas, passports, and transportation schedules which would take the children to freedom.   The start of World War II brought about the end of Winton's plans, but not before he saved so many lives. 

The story oscillates to 1988 England, where the now-retired Winton, still active in local charities, prepares his house for the arrival of his first grandchild.  He disposes and burns boxes full of documents pertaining to his exploits fifty years earlier, bringing about the memories both good and bad, leading to the flashbacks to Prague.   How Winton was able to pull off saving any children was miraculous and a study in grit, determination, and positivity.  If it was possible, Winton tried to pull it off.  In most instances, he succeeded.   However, Winton continually felt guilty about the ninth train in which its passengers were likely rerouted to camps.  

Like Schindler's List, One Life shows us how one man's work saved the lives of generations of people.  The Flynn and Hopkins' performances detail a quiet man of strength and conscience who got the impossible done.   Winton surely didn't have Schindler's bravado, but that was part of Schindler's plan to fool the Nazis.  Schindler was a master of sleight-of-hand.  Winton was a magician without the stage act.   What Winton received that Schindler may not have in later life was validation that his work yielded something extraordinary.   One Life understands that, documents it, and relishes in the payoff of having an audience full of people surround Winton during a British television show stand up to acknowledge his efforts.   If that didn't convince Winton that his actions were worthwhile, than nothing would.   

Arthur the King (2024) * * *

 

Directed by: Simon Cellan Jones

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, Juliet Rylance, Paul Guilfoyle, Rob Collins

Arthur the King is a feel-good story about an abused dog who latches on to a foursome of Adventure Racers in a ten-day Dominican Republic race.   Adventure Racing makes an Iron Man contest look like child's play.  The team is led by Michael Light (Wahlberg), who has a history of top ten finishes, but no wins.  His last race three years ago ended in humiliation as he led his team during the kayaking portion directly into mud.  His teammate Liam (Liu) posted the video and made Michael a laughingstock while making Liam a social media star.  

After an unsuccessful attempt at working as a realtor for his father's company, Michael gives the race another go three years after the last fiasco.  He finds a reluctant sponsor who is only interested if Liam is part of the team and can give the sponsor social media exposure.  Michael's team consists of Liam, a former teammate with a bum knee (Suliman), and the daughter (Emmanuel) of a famed racer.   As Michael and company arrive in Santo Domingo, we see the dog soon to be named Arthur roaming the streets living off of scraps and suffering from abuse and possibly PTSD.  

The race itself is exhausting to watch because it convincingly puts us through its paces.  Michael and his team really have to grind to make it to the next rest stop, and based on how far they are behind the leader, only have a precious finite time to rest.  It is at one of the stops where Arthur encounters Michael, who feeds him a meatball and then goes on his way.   Nights and miles later in the jungle, Arthur shows up again and Michael decides it must be fate and brings the pooch along.  In one sequence, Arthur prevents the group from walking over a ledge into a ravine.

I won't say whether Michael's team wins the race.  It doesn't much matter, but soon Michael's relationship with Arthur takes center stage.   Arthur is a fighter, but his health is at risk due to abuse, starvation, and parasitic infection.   Like 2022's Dog, a moving rapport develops between Arthur and Michael, and a risky decision by the human prevents the dog from perishing.  Arthur the King is based on a true story.   I'm sure there is plenty of dramatization, plus the real Michael was Swedish and the dog was found in Ecuador, but why quibble?  What's here is a warm story which keeps you intrigued.  

Hope Springs (2012) * * *

 

Directed by:  David Frankel

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart, Elisabeth Shue

Hope Springs is a romantic comedy with a light tone about a long-married couple seeking counseling in the scenic East Coast community of Hope Springs.  It's not that Arnold (Jones) and Kay (Streep) don't love each other, but they have settled into their routine and no longer sleep in the same bedroom.   Kay wants to break loose from this malaise, while stubborn Arnold thinks all is well and counseling is not needed. Dr. Bernie Feld (Carell) believes otherwise, and based on his manner and communication skills, it's no wonder clients come in from all over the country to see him. 

Kay is all-in on trying to repair her marriage, while Arnold doesn't want to fix what in his view isn't broken.   He's a tough nut to crack and only half-heartedly participates in the homework exercises Dr. Bernie prescribes.  In the most effective scene in the movie, Dr. Bernie, having exhausted all patience with Arnold, asks him whether he truly wants to save the marriage or let it die.  When Arnold arrives at his decision, is everything too far gone?  Would Kay even want him back?  

Jones and Streep have contrasting character and acting personas which makes them a perfect fit.  Arnold doesn't do a 180 and become Mr. Sensitive.  It takes a while for him to change, which gives Arnold realism.   Kay is hopeful and willing throughout, since it was her idea to fly across the country to see Dr. Bernie, but soon even she reaches the end of her rope with Arnold.  Carell is a likable marriage counselor with exceptional control over his emotions and his sessions.   We thoroughly believe Dr. Bernie knows what he's talking about and loves what he does, and the audience responds to that.  

Hope Springs isn't a deep film, just a perceptive one in which the stick-in-the-mud Arnold has to undergo changes which are uncomfortable, but Kay also has to transform into someone who draws a line in the sand because what is happening in her marriage is no longer tolerable.  And Dr. Bernie is there to guide them with a gentle, but firm hand.  

About Last Night... (1986) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Edward Zwick

Starring:  Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jim Belushi, Elizabeth Perkins, Tim Kazurinsky, Donna Gibbons, George DiCenzo

About Last Night... was made in the mid-1980's, but its themes and emotions are universally relevant no matter time nor place.  Rob Lowe and Demi Moore previously appeared together in the previous year's St. Elmo's Fire, but About Last Night... is a more perceptive and funnier film about post-college adult angst and romance.  

The movie, based on a David Mamet play, is centered in Chicago where best friends/co-workers Danny (Lowe) and Bernie (Belushi) frequent singles bars looking for Miss Right Now.  One night, Danny hooks up with Debbie (Moore), and soon fall in love and move in together, to the consternation of Bernie and Debbie's best friend Joan (Perkins), who is in a relationship with a man whose marriage is on the rocks.  Bernie is upset because Danny is no longer his wingman at the bars.  Joan, who dislikes Bernie intensely, thinks Debbie is moving too fast.  In both instances, the friends feel left out.  

Once the novelty of being roommates wears off, Danny and Debbie start to annoy each other with little things that become bigger problems.  Bernie tries to sway Danny towards available one-night stands even though he is clearly taken.  It's not that Bernie is blind to this fact.  He just thinks Debbie is a phase Danny will soon grow out of.   Mostly he misses hanging with his friend.   Joan reacts mostly the same way in her subtle ways she attempts to cast doubt on the relationship.  In a lesser movie, they would be treated as villains.  In this movie, their motives are understandable and they are complicated, much like Danny and Debbie.

About Last Night...allows its characters to not be perfect.  Danny and Debbie are, of course, physically attractive people, but they have their faults, insecurities, and have a lot of growing to do.  They are also engaging and have personalities.  They have chemistry, but that only takes them so far when it comes to what each wants out of the relationship.  And don't think Bernie and Joan aren't influencing them even in small ways which they may not even realize.   About Last Night...follows the romantic comedy formula, but the ending isn't exactly a happy one where they Debbie and Danny jump into each other's arms.  Their final meeting is full of apprehension, fear, and ultimately hope.  We don't know where it will lead, and maybe that's life itself. 

Django Unchained (2012) * * *

 

Directed by:  Quentin Tarantino

Starring:  Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Don Johnson, Jonah Hill, Quentin Tarantino, Dennis Christopher, James Remar 

I'm treating this review of Django Unchained as if I hadn't seen it upon its initial release in 2012.  Back then, I saw Tarantino's Oscar-winning movie (for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay) as an overly-long and overly-stylized western in which over-the-top blood and violence ruled the day.  However, in this re-review (you're welcome to read the 2012 critique as a comparison to this one), while I do feel Django Unchained could have been trimmed by twenty minutes, I find Tarantino's vision of a slave who wreaks vengeance (with help from a scrupulous, anti-slavery bounty hunter) upon his wife's slaveholder wicked, yet entertaining on its intended level.   With the exception of Django (Foxx), who is reserved but deadly with a firearm, and his slave wife Broomhilda (Washington), the characters in Django Unchained are larger-than-life without becoming caricatures.   They fill the screen with intensity and manic zeal, while Django silently waits his time to start killing people. 

As Django Unchained opens, Django is chained along with four other slaves on a cold night when a mysterious carriage with a wooden tooth dangling on its roof belonging to Dr. King Schultz (Waltz) comes by.  Schultz, a former dentist turned bounty hunter, is looking for Django, who may be able to provide information on Schultz's quarry.  After killing Django's owners, Django becomes Dr. Schultz's partner/student.   Besides splitting the money, Schultz agrees to assist Django in his quest to reunite with his wife Broomhilda, who now belongs to the genteel, but monstrous Calvin Candie (DiCaprio) on the Louisiana plantation known as "Candieland"  

Schultz and Django pose as a Mandingo buyer and his trusted, free man advisor, but Candie's oldest and most trusted slave Stephen (Jackson) smells a rat.  Unlike the other slaves on the plantation, Stephen has unfettered access to Candie, who in turn treats Stephen as a father figure.  In Django's mind, this makes Stephen worse than Candie because Stephen has betrayed his race by allying with Candie.  

Waltz won his second Best Supporting Oscar three years after winning his first (for the memorable performances as Col. Hans Landa in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds), and Schultz is almost a 180-degree moral opposite of Landa.  He abhors slavery and treats Django as an equal and a friend, with a profound sense of duty and guilt propelling him to help Django regain his wife's freedom.   There is no ulterior motive, no hint of the cruelty Landa possessed while hiding behind pleasantries and good manners.  Schultz instead hunts creeps and villains for court-issued bounties, and business is booming.  Waltz excels in Django Unchained as he did in Inglourious Basterds, practically stealing the movie.   

DiCaprio plays Candie as a vicious master who cares only about getting the most value from his slavery investments.   He does so with unchecked glee, which is matched by his cruelty.  Watch his response as he encounters one of his Mandingo slaves who no longer wishes to fight.   It is this which sets Candie's fate, as well as Schultz's in motion with the haste of an unstoppable freight train.  The final 45 minutes contains intense, gratuitous violence which might even give John Wick pause, although the movie never quite recovers when Schultz leaves the scene.  However, Tarantino is a master at combining elements of his favorite genres and turning them on their ear.  We have a writer-director (who also co-stars late in the film as an Australian slaveholder), who approaches his material with the excitement of a child playing with his newest toy, and that is reflected in his films, whether you necessarily think it fully works.   In most cases, it does.  

Insomnia (2002) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Christopher Nolan

Starring:  Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Paul Dooley, Maura Tierney

Insomnia isn't simply a thriller, but also a depiction of a weary cop worn down by mental and physical exhaustion.   Will Dormer (Pacino) is a Los Angeles detective being investigated by Internal Affairs.  As a favor to an old friend who is now the police chief in an Alaska town, Will and partner Hap Eckhart (Donovan) travel there to solve a murder of a teenage girl.  Will thinks this will allow the investigation back home to blow over, but Hap informs Will that he's going to a cut a deal which will likely end both of their careers.   

Will already can't sleep because this is the time of year in Alaska when it is 24 hours of daylight.  When Will asks to speak to a teen suspect because he is probably in school, another cop says, "It's 10:30...at night,"  Add the mounting pressure of the investigation and he probably wasn't in the right frame of mind to pursue another suspect in a thick fog.  Thinking he is aiming at the suspect, Will fatally shoots Hap dead, and the suspect saw everything.   Will lies about seeing the suspect shoot Hap, because even though the shooting was inadvertent, who is going to believe that he didn't kill Hap to silence him?

The killer, a local writer named Walter Finch (Williams), calls Will and verbally torments him with his knowledge that he saw the shooting.  He thinks Will will lead the investigation away from him and target someone else.  Local detective Ellie Burr (Swank), who idolizes Will, can't help but smell a rat because the angle of the shot just doesn't match up to forensics.  Meanwhile, days pass, and Will doggedly attempts to pursue Finch while lie upon lie builds up and his cognitive functions suffer due to lack of sleep.  Pacino gives us not only world-weariness, but he takes on the physical aspects of sleep deprivation brilliantly and convincingly.  Williams is a murderer forever trying to justify his actions by saying he's not at heart a bad man, but in a moment of anger, he did one wrong thing.  But we later see he is a cold, calculating, manipulative monster who essentially blackmails Will.  

Insomnia is an early Christopher Nolan film and a remake of a Swedish film made roughly five years earlier.  Nolan presents this crime story with an eerie feeling of dread surrounding everything.  Will is the protagonist, but not a hero.  Ellie is the closest thing to a moral center, but is she traveling down Will's path by bending over backwards to exonerate him?  We soon wonder why Will is putting himself through this torture.  Does he want to do the right thing at last after years of questionable ethics as a detective?  Or is he tormenting himself over guilt from killing his partner?  Or are the lies piling up on him and he won't be able to unbury himself?  The answer is likely all three, and Insomnia relentlessly examines that.  

Glory (1989) * * *

 

Directed by:  Edward Zwick

Starring:  Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Andre Brugher, Cliff De Young, Jihmi Kennedy, John Finn 

Glory tells the true story of the 54th Massachusetts regiment which became the first all-black Civil War unit circa 1862 as the war began to turn in favor of the Union.   The 54th is a ragtag group of former slaves and freedmen under the command of Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Broderick), who comes from a wealthy family and is assigned what is cynically expected to be a cushy job which will keep him off the battlefield.  Shaw has seen the horrors of battlefield deaths firsthand, and is surprised to learn his recruits, which includes childhood friend Thomas (Braugher), who naively expects preferential treatment because of his friendship with Shaw.  Shaw hires his best friend Major Cabot Forbes (Elwes) as his second-in-command and leads the training of the diverse, fiery group of soldiers.  

The main players in the unit are Rawlins (Freeman), who Shaw met as a gravedigger on the Southern battlegrounds and Tripp (Washington), an angry former slave itching to fight anyone, including other soldiers if need be.  Tripp enjoys picking on the educated and proper Thomas, who learns quickly life in the army isn't what he bargained for after dealing with Tripp's abuse and that of his drill sergeant Mulcahy (Finn).  When questioned by Shaw about his methods, Mulcahy responds, "You grew up with him?  Let him grow up some more,"  

Shaw and his unit doubt they will see any real battle time.  The government sees fit to pay the 54th less than white soldiers and the local quartermaster drags his feet when he receives a requisition for boots and socks.  But the members of the 54th bond and persevere to the point they are assigned battle duty, and after a successful skirmish, they are later ordered to seize a Charleston fort which is geographically well-positioned atop a hill.   This is tantamount to a suicide mission, since the strategy appears to be march into enemy fire and plenty of one-on-one fights with muskets, bayonets, and swords.  It is not surprising to learn the fort was never taken.

Glory thinks its most powerful moment is when the 54th is marching to the beach to take the fort the other Union units have failed to take.   The music swells and the white union soldiers wish them good luck.   Actually, there is no real payoff to the drama which came before, because the mission proves to be deadly and killing over half of the 54th, including, not coincidentally, all of the major characters.  Glory's best scenes occur during basic training, when we learn how the soldiers gel with each other and understand their place in the war machine.  We see Shaw gaining his footing and learning to be a commanding officer, finding the balance between aloofness and leadership.   Washington won a Best Supporting Oscar for his performance and he electrifies in every scene he's in.  Freeman portrays a quiet leader who is promoted to non-commissioned sergeant-major, but he doesn't narrate.  The narration belongs to Broderick, who writes in his letters home about his fears and doubts as he leads the 54th into Civil War lore.  

2024 Oscars: The Good, The Bad, and the Indifferent

The 96th Oscars wrapped up at approximately 10:30pm EDT Sunday.  10:30?  You mean the telecast ran under 3 hours?  Well, no.  The show began a little after 7pm for the first time and heaven forbid the show runs lean and efficiently.   Nonetheless, here are the highlights and lowlights, and doing my best to remain apolitical. 

*  "The Fab Five":  This year, the acting nominees in all categories were presented by five previous winners in their category.   This last occurred in 2009.   We are treated to actors gushing verbally over the nominees' performances.   Why not just show the clips of the respective performances?  I'd rather be shown than told.  Explanations take longer, which is something the Oscars is not adverse to. 

*   Standing ovation-happy audience.  I'd have to review the telecast on my DVR, but I believe each category's winners received a standing ovation this year.  Mix that in with the song performances and ovations for presenters like Al Pacino and you have the audience standing much more often than in previous years.  Originally, I believed this devalued the ovation if everyone receives one, but since a theme was the solidarity between various trade unions within the industry, I can at least understand why it happened this year. 

*   Host.  Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the fourth time.  Most of the jokes were flat.  My issue with having a host is that you need something for the host to do in addition to the opening monologue.  Most times, this leads to lame bits which add nothing to the proceedings except running time.  You can feel the seconds and minutes tick away as you realize that time would've been better spent on presenting the next award.   We also have the obligatory montage, this year it was a tribute to stunts, and this came after painful banter between Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt and Barbie's Ryan Gosling about which movie made out better this year.  Although, former president Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about what a poor job Jimmy was doing.  Jimmy's response was pretty clever:  "Aren't you past your jail time?"  

*  Oppenheimer.  The movie about the creator of the atomic bomb won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.   Poor Things finished second in the trophy haul with four Oscars, including Emma Stone as a surprising winner for Best Actress.   Of course, art is subjective.  Oppenheimer was well-crafted, but overly long and was hit and miss on its dramatic power.  I felt Poor Things was a movie only a film critic or an Academy member could love.  Despite the performances and its unique look, the message is icky and the movie is style over substance. 

*  In Memoriam.  A segment which causes annual controversy, usually due to omission of famous names who died since the previous year's telecast.  This year, the segment was shown at wide angles and in such a way that the home audience couldn't see the names or images clearly.  Normally, a close-up is provided, but this year the production team thought we'd be more interested in watching dancers or cutaways of Andrea Bocelli and his son singing.  (Which they did very well, by the way).  Then, at the very end, a list of names were presented in a circle, which were the names of those who weren't provided images.   Even then, I'm sure there were those who were missed which we'll read about in the coming days.  One day, they'll get this right.

*  John Williams loses out again.  The greatest film composer every to score the movies lost out to Oppenheimer in the Original Score category.  Williams has won 5 previous Oscars, but his last was 1993's Schindler's List.  He is 92 and how many of these scores does he have left in him?  I doubt anyone recalls Oppenheimer's score, but we sure know Indiana Jones.   One more win would be nice if he is nominated again.   

The Burial (2023) * *

Directed by:  Maggie Betts

Starring:  Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Pamela Reed, Bill Camp, Alan Ruck, Mamoudou Athie

The Burial is a curious courtroom drama based on true events, but I can't imagine the real thing played out this awkwardly.  Because the story takes place in 1995 Mississippi and involves black lawyers and a white client, there is unnecessary emphasis on race.   The case was a contract dispute involving a funeral home owner (Jones) who agreed on a handshake deal with a large corporation to sell three of his eight funeral homes in order to climb out of debt caused by his unwitting participation in a Ponzi scheme.  The corporation, however, passively reneged on the deal by not moving forward with the purchases, so the owner, Jeremiah O'Keefe, sues the corporation.   On the advice of a young lawyer (Athie), O'Keefe chooses a flashy, rich personal injury attorney named Willie Gary (Foxx), who initially refuses the case because there is little money in it, but decides to take it when he realizes he might be able to generate huge payouts later on.

Jeremiah sees Willie on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and witnesses his act in court where he wins a significant payout for a drunk bicyclist hit by a large company's truck.   Jeremiah is a mild-mannered plaintiff who only cares that Willie wins his case and allows him to leave his funeral home chain to his thirteen children.  The corporation cynically assigns a black legal team led by Mame Downs (Smollett), who is a killer on cross examination.   Maybe race was discussed as part of the case, but soon the movie is bogged down by it.  Foxx puts in considerable energy and is a likable protagonist, and Jones' quiet tone is a perfect contrast to Foxx's flash.  After spending so much time muddying the waters, the movie then circles back to the contract itself, but how exactly Willie wins the case and convinces the jury to award $500 million to O'Keefe remains a mystery.  

The Burial starts out as a compelling courtroom drama and a study in opposites between attorney and client, but then the courtroom scenes strain to provide false racial bigotry where it isn't present and derails what made the movie interesting in the first place.   

Imaginary (2024) *

Directed by:  Jeff Wadlow

Starring:  DeWanda Wise, Betty Buckley, Tom Payne, Pyper Braun, Taegen Burns, Veronica Falcon

Imaginary is the story of the Ted from hell, a toy bear who does more than just swear and smoke weed.  The teddy bear of Imaginary, named Chauncey, becomes the real manifestation of a child's imaginary friend, or does it?  Even Chauncey may be imaginary, but that doesn't prevent him from being a demon who wants to destroy his newfound pal, a young girl named Alice (Braun), who doesn't realize Chauncey is evil.

The dull and dreary Imaginary, is a by-the-numbers horror film with predictable gotcha moments surrounded by a murky plot which dissolves into a confusing finale.  A lot happens, but none of it is interesting.  Alice's stepmother Jessica (Wise) tries to protect Alice and her resentful sister Taylor (Burns) from the terror caused by the malevolent spirit which surrounds both the bear and Jessica's childhood home to which the family unadvisedly moves.   Terrible things happened to Jessica in that house decades ago, which are described by an off-kilter neighbor (Buckley), who was Jessica's babysitter back in the day.  I would think moving back into that home would not be helpful for Jessica, but I guess money is tight and she moves to where she can afford.

Jessica's husband Tom (Payne) is a musician and conveniently on the road when the bulk of Imaginary's horror takes place.   Tom has the good fortune of not being present for the terrible things that happen to his family and also for not being in the movie much.   He is curiously off-screen for much of the mess and doesn't even come home at an opportune time to intervene or save his family.   He is introduced and then forgotten.   I supposed the filmmakers wanted the female cast members to carry the load and not have to be saved by a man.   They got this, just keep touring Tom. 

Most of the movie's final thirty minutes are filmed in dark, murky corners where we can't tell who is doing what to whom.   It's a free-for-all, and no amount of explanation can save it.  Imaginary is a movie which plays for one or two weeks in half-empty theaters before being shuffled off and not remembered by anyone.  

Ordinary Angels (2024) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Jon Gunn

Starring:  Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Emily Mitchell, Skywalker Hughes, Nancy Travis, Tamala Jones

Ordinary Angels' mission is to pull tears and joy from the viewer by the emotional strength of its story, and it succeeds.   Based on a true story, the movie stars Hilary Swank as Sharon, a Louisville, Kentucky alcoholic  hairdresser moved by a local man's fight to save his daughter's life from a rare illness which also killed her mother.  Sharon soon raises money for the family's medical bills, helps babysit the kids, and provides unsolicited help which causes resentment at first from the father, a roofer named Ed (Ritchson), who wants to take on the burden himself, but only finds himself deeper in debt and little way to repay it.  

Sharon figures out a way to cancel Ed's debts, talk local CEO's into lending Ed their private planes on the chance that they might be needed it if an organ donor becomes available and the girl would have to fly to Omaha for a transplant.   It is short-sighted of Ed to ban Sharon from his house when she relapses and gets drunk one night when watching his daughters while he was at work.  I would think based on Sharon's help and all she did to help his family that he might want to let that slide.  It's also amusing to learn in the movie's epilogue that Sharon and Ed "remain friends to this day".   Well, Ed had better be her friend, without giving away any spoilers. 

I don't know much about the true story on which Ordinary Angels is based, but maybe it's better that way.  I was moved by many scenes and touched by its quiet power.   Swank and Ritchson give contrasting performances which work.  I also liked that their friendship remained platonic and the movie didn't bog down with a useless romance.  Better yet, that the screenwriters didn't think to insert one for dramatic purposes.   The final 45 minutes of Ordinary Angels dares you not to be choked up as Ed attempts to get his daughter to Omaha during the worst snowstorm in Kentucky's history.   And it's a dare you will lose.  

Reacher (2023) * * (Season 2 on Amazon Prime)

 

 

Starring:  Alan Ritchson, Robert Patrick, Maria Sten, Shaun Sipos, Serinda Swan, Domenick Lombardozzi, Andres Collentes, Ferdinand Kingsley

  

Season two of Reacher merely confirmed my reservations about the show in season one.  Reacher himself is a hulking machine who is too cool to be human.  He rarely shows fear, emotion, or doubt.  He may as well be a Terminator and be played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.   Alan Ritchson has the look for the role, but lacks charisma.   This didn't change in season two, where Reacher is able to think himself out of any situation no matter how perilous.  And he can thrash ten guys at a time, since they make it easy for him by attacking him one at a time like in old karate movies.  

In one scene, a group of gun-toting villains has our weaponless group of heroes surrounded.  All they had to do was start shooting and Reacher and his friends would be toast.  Instead, they throw the guns away and start fisticuffs.  Why?   Reacher says something about the baddies not wanting to make noise, but if your mission is to snuff out your enemy, noise ordinances are the last thing on your mind.   So often, the villains have Reacher or someone dead to rights and instead they monologue and talk until Reacher can figure his way out of the dilemma.   Roger Ebert used to call this "The Fallacy of the Talking Killer".  It appears the show's writers didn't read Ebert. 

Reacher and his old unit of military investigators look into the death of one of their own, who was thrown from a helicopter after being tortured.   This leads to a mystery which takes these folks roughly a few days to unfurl.   All points lead to a weapons manufacturer selling 650 units to dealer only known as "A.M." (Kingsley) who will in turn sell to terrorists.  A.M. is built up to be a supervillain who creatively kills innocent victims who could recognize him.   We figure he will eventually fight Reacher one-on-one and give him a run for the money.   Nope.  Once A.M. is lured into a trap by Reacher's team, he is left impotently standing with guns pointing at him pleading for his life.  Then, they all shoot him and that's that.  It's a disappointing payoff to a promising buildup of the character. 

The plot itself sways from occasional moments which made me care to pure apathy.  Reacher morphs into just another cliched action show where people are shot in the head three times (a la John Wick) because they feel once might not be enough.   Robert Patrick is on hand as Shane Langston, the former cop turned criminal leading the weapons deal who is devious and hateful enough to be a bad guy whose demise we would like to see, but we also know is no match for Reacher.  Then again, who is?  

Drive-Away Dolls (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Ethan Coen

Starring:  Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Bill Camp, Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Beanie Feldstein, Joey Slotnick, Colman Domingo, Miley Cyrus, C. J. Wilson

Drive-Away Dolls is a blatant shot at Florida politics and Ron DeSantis, even though the story takes place in 1999.  Even though DeSantis' political stature has taken a massive hit with his failed presidential run, the idea is still timely.  It is a story of two lesbian friends, the uptight Marian (Viswanathan) and Jamie (Qualley), the free spirit with the deep Southern drawl who light out for Florida after Jamie breaks up with her police officer girlfriend (Feldstein).  Directed by Ethan Coen (one-half of the immortal Coen Brothers), Drive-Away Dolls tries to capture the spirit of Fargo without a substantial story.  The one positive is the movie has the courtesy of an 85-minute running time.  

The crime element of the plot is when Jamie and Marian show up at a dingy, low-rent drive-away rental car facility and say they want to drop a car off in Tallahassee, Florida.  The owner (Camp) assumes these are the drivers of a vehicle bound for Tallahassee to be driven by criminals with a suitcase in the trunk.  The real drivers show up to learn the car is already gone and their boss (Domingo) beats up the hapless owner and does recon on the girls while the bickering thugs make their way to Tallahassee.

Jamie and Marian have no clue there is anything wrong with the car and stop off so Jamie could pick up one-night stands and the buttoned-up Marian can sip her drink and be uncomfortable.  She prefers to sit in the motel room and read books, while Jamie attends slumber parties with a college softball team making out with almost all of its members.   Meanwhile, the thugs argue and manage to stay within sniffing distance of Jamie and Marian.  

The trouble is:  The plot isn't anything we care about.  The actors are likable enough and do the best they can, but the material is flimsy as action, comedy, and romance.  Drive-Away Dolls tries to awkwardly combine these elements.  In some cases, this may work.  Not here. 

2024 Oscar Predictions

The 96th Annual Academy Awards are upon us.  They will be broadcast on March 10 at 7pm EST, a full hour earlier than previous years.  I pray they don't use this as an opportunity to present a four-hour snoozefest full of bits and skits we don't need or want, with filler as a chaser.  

Here are my predictions for who will win in this year's major awards.  I will also pick all categories for the first time ever.  These are not necessarily my preferences, just my predictions. 

Best Picture:  Oppenheimer

Best Director:  Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Actor in a Leading Role:  Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Best Actress in a Leading Role:  Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:  Robert Downey, Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:  Da'vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Animated Feature Film:  The Boy and the Heron

Cinematography:  Oppenheimer

Costume Design:  Poor Things

Documentary Feature Film:  20 Days in Mariupol

Documentary Short Film:  The ABCs of Book Banning

Film Editing:  Oppenheimer

International Feature Film:  The Zone of Interest

Makeup and Hairstyling:  Maestro

Original Score:  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Original Song:  What Was I Made For? from Barbie

Production Design:  Poor Things

Short Film (Animated):  Letter to a Pig

Short Film (Live Action): The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Sound:  Oppenheimer

Visual Effects:  Godzilla Minus One

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):  American Fiction

Writing (Original Screenplay): The Holdovers

 

Rain Man (1988) * * *

 

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Barry Levinson, Gerald R. Molen, Bonnie Hunt

Rain Man's story arc follows a familiar pattern.  It is a road/buddy movie involving brothers Raymond (Hoffman), an institutionalized autistic savant, and Charlie (Cruise), an abrasive antique car dealer who learns for the first time he even has a brother after his father's death.  Charlie is mostly cut out of his estranged father's will, and is enraged to learn the bulk of the $3 million estate was left to the institution which has housed Raymond for the past twenty-plus years.  

Charlie essentially kidnaps Raymond and takes him on a cross-country trip back to L.A., where Charlie's dealership which reeks of illegality is on the verge of collapse.  He hopes to trade Raymond for at least half of the estate he feels he's owed.  Charlie's loyal girlfriend Susanna (Golino) raises objections over Charlie's treatment of Raymond, especially since Charlie has no experience caring for anyone other than himself.  Raymond is a high-functioning autistic, capable of memorizing a phone book, but unable to understand the true concept of money and is a slave to his routine.  He has to watch certain TV shows at certain times or buy his clothes at K-Mart or the disruption would send him into a tantrum.  He doesn't express emotions in conventional ways, instead he starts reciting "Who's on First?" when he is nervous or agitated. 

We know Charlie will grow to love and accept his brother, even to the point that he battles with doctors to take care of Raymond when they arrive in L.A.   They have adventures along the way, including a trip to Vegas where Charlie wins because of Raymond's ability to count cards.  But we see Raymond change as much as he's able to as well.  At first, he wouldn't be able to handle any kind of physical contact, but the more he grows to trust Charlie and Susanna, he is more open to hugs and even kisses and dancing.  Rain Man is predictable in its overall scheme, but the movie exists in the subtle moments and changes Charlie and Raymond undergo.  

Hoffman won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance and it is technically marvelous, while allowing the audience to peek into his emotions as much as he would allow.  Cruise undergoes the most observable transformation since Charlie is not autistic.  He learns to care for others for the first time in his life.  Producer Gerald R. Molen and director Barry Levinson play doctors who explain Raymond's condition to Charlie and in extension to us.  Rain Man was made at a time when autism was rare, and the movie itself breaks ground by trying to allow to understand Raymond and his feelings through Charlie's lens.  

The Crown (Season 6 on Netflix) * * 1/2

Starring:  Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Elizabeth Debicki, Dominic West, Lesley Manville

The final season of The Crown operates wondrously in the initial episodes leading to the death of Princess Diana.   The Crown and 2006's The Queen, starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, were both written by Peter Morgan, and it is refreshing that although the weeks and months following Diana's passing are covered, they are not simply repeated in the series.  Once Diana leaves the scene, the remaining episodes fail to find consistent footing.  We are left with Prince Charles finally marrying Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince William's troubles in college before meeting Kate Middleton, Prince Harry simmering in his envy of his older brother, and other less interesting subplots which feel more like playing out the string.

The Crown contains not one, but two meddling parents who want to be part of the royal family, even on the outskirts, so desperately that they nudge their reluctant children into pursuing relationships with Princess Diana (Debicki) and Prince William.   Mohamed Al-Fayed relentlessly harasses his son Dodi to go after Diana even though he is engaged to another woman.   Kate Middleton's mother is more subtle, and finds Kate is at least more willing to be pushed into a life with William.  Dodi likes Diana enough and vice versa,  but on the night of their deaths, it is speculated that their relationship was headed straight into the friend zone.  Then, the horrific accident came in Paris. 

As the series and the monarchy headed uneasily into the 21st Century, there is also the popularity of Tony Blair which eclipsed that of the monarchy for a time.   However, as Queen Elizabeth's reign reached record-length, The Crown begins to repeat previous themes, such as the relevance of a sovereign and how the institution can modernize.  The performances are uniformly excellent, even if the pacing is uneven.  

Season six says farewell to Queen Elizabeth and with cameos from previous queens Claire Foy and Olivia Colman.    Previous seasons were more deeply felt or dramatically more efficient, but season six works well enough as a finale.  

Bob Marley: One Love (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Starring:  Kinglsey Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, Michael Gandolfini, James Norton

Bob Marley: One Love must have been filmed for those already integrally familiar with the reggae legend.  Those who know little or nothing about him won't find many hints of why he was immortalized in music history or his personal life.   The movie is flat, without much energy or passion, two things which Marley had in abundance.   Kingsley Ben-Adir, who convincingly played Malcolm X in One Night in Miami (2020), plays Marley with a wink and a smile and not much else.  The performance, just like the movie in which it appears, drifts along without much direction or payoff, with dialogue delivered in impenetrable Jamaican accents 

The movie, except for brief flashbacks, at least spares us a thirty-minute setup in which Marley's childhood is examined.   The movie covers 1976 to 1978, two pivotal years in Marley's life in which he recorded his most famous album Exodus and became a worldwide phenomenon to match his already larger-than-life status in his native Jamaica.   When the movie opens, Jamaica's two top political parties engage in violent war against each other in a power struggle.  Marley announces a free concert for peace, but before that happens, he, his wife Rita (Lynch), and his manager are shot by home invaders.  Marley and Rita survived, while his manager died.  Marley attempts to perform at the concert, but the risks to his life are too grave and he and Rita separate strategically.   He and his Wailers go to live and work in London.  Rita and Marley's countless kids move to the U.S.  Bob says this will help him find answers, but mostly it allows him to smoke weed, record, and screw any woman he can find. 

One Love follows a recent musical biopic tradition in which the artist's most famous songs are written and recorded after instant flashes of genius.   "Jammin'" is written in about five minutes and performed expertly in one take.  Before you can say "Bob Marley", Bob and the Wailers are traveling Europe to sold-out audiences with Ben-Adir mimicking Marley's singing style.  Then, after a conversation with Rita, he returns to Jamaica to play the concert he only partially played two years prior, or was it just a dream that he played it?  The movie doesn't exactly make it clear.   There isn't an iota of power in this movie.   It just plays on the screen boringly and inertly.

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green's previous movie was King Richard (2021), which netted Will Smith the Best Actor Oscar, and while it is an ok movie at best, it's a masterpiece compared to Bob Marley: One Love, which has mostly evaporated from my memory.   The smoke from the endless amounts of marijuana smoked in the movie hangs around longer.   For a minute, I expected Cheech and Chong to show up, or I was hoping they would.

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Bao Nguyen

Featuring:  Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Dionne Warwick, Sheila E., Bruce Springsteen, Humberto Gatica, Quincy Jones

We Are the World has been both praised and derided as the quintessential 80's song, when pop musicians not only made hit albums, but raised money for causes such as Ethiopian famine.   The UK beat America to the punch with Do They Know It's Christmas in late 1984.  Harry Belafonte brought the idea to powerful show biz giant Ken Kragen to have American artists sing their own song to raise money to provide relief for starving Africans.  As The Greatest Night in Pop opens, Kragen was able to convince Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to write the song which would become We Are the World and to record it with a group of superstars in one night-long session in January 1985. 

In the days before cell phones were in widespread use, Kragen had to invite numerous superstars to participate in the recording.  While Jackson and Richie wrote the song, Kragen determined that the night of The American Music Awards (which Richie was hosting) on January 28, 1985 would have many of the artists in attendance.  It had to be that night and that night only.  Jackson and Richie, who encountered numerous pets in Jackson's home including a snake, finished the song only one week prior to recording.

The Greatest Night in Pop is a document of a tense, wearying, but ultimately triumphant creation of one of the biggest-selling singles of all time.   The recording didn't start until around 10pm and the race was on to finish the chorus, individual verses, and fills before dawn.   The singers were exhausted, especially Richie and Bruce Springsteen, who flew in from Buffalo one night after completing the first leg of his Born in the U.S.A. tour.  Spurred on by Bob Geldof, whose Do They Know It's Christmas? was the precursor of famine-relief songs and eventually Live Aid, the USA for Africa group of performers fought their way through to deliver a powerful song which raised millions for the cause.  

The night wasn't without issues.  Prince, who was begged to attend by Richie and others, didn't appear after his idea of playing a guitar solo in another room was nixed.   Sheila E. felt for a while that she was only invited in the hopes it would cause Prince to attend.  Waylon Jennings briefly left the studio after Stevie Wonder suggested singing lyrics in Swahili.   Bob Dylan was apparent in his discomfort while singing among all of these other superstars.   Some recording equipment either failed or went on the fritz, causing delays.   These troubles were managed and navigated by Quincy Jones, who produced the single and acted as the glue (along with Richie) to keep things together and moving forward.

I have to admit that I listen to We Are the World after watching The Greatest Night in Pop and understand it differently.   The documentary isn't a glorification of these artists and saying what great people they were,  It was instead a moving and riveting film about a group of different musicians and singers coming together for a purpose which would ultimately save and improve lives.  When Lionel Richie finally made it home after a busy, wearying 24 hours, he was exhausted, but proud and exhilarated.   When the final product was released in late March, we knew why. 

Lisa Frankenstein (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Zelda Williams

Starring:  Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Carla Gugino, Liza Soberano, Joe Chrest, Henry Eikenberry

Lisa Frankenstein mashes up several genres with mixed results, as you would almost expect when you combine macabre horror with teen comedy.   Zelda Williams' (daughter of Robin) directorial debut harkens back to 80's comedies with a movie that takes place in the 80's and feels like it was made then.  That's a compliment and one thing about Lisa Frankenstein is it aims to be above-average even if the results are not fully successful.

Lisa Swallows (Newton) is a high-schooler in 1989 whose mother committed suicide a short time ago and her father (Chrest) remarries a verbally cruel stepmother (Gugino) who is trying to have her committed. Lisa hangs out often in an old cemetery where a Victorian-era young man (Sprouse) has been buried for over a century.  Lisa likes the man's image on the headstone bust and one night, when she accidentally ingests LSD at a party, she stumbles her way to the cemetery, wishes that she could be with the man, and that night the reanimated corpse of the young man shows up at Lisa's house.  

This is where things, as they say, get complicated.  The man (who if I recall is never named) is missing body parts like an ear, hands, and even a penis.   Lisa and he then go on a killing spree to recover body parts which Lisa sews onto her new love interest and then places him in a tanning machine to enhance color and meld the parts to his body.   It is here where the movie transforms from offbeat to bloody comedy, but I suppose with a title like Lisa Frankenstein, this would be halfway anticipated.   

Newton has a funny way of moving, talking, and sometimes walking which is off-kilter and inspired.  Even Sprouse finds a method of making the man sympathetic and communicative even if he does little but grunt.  Lisa Frankenstein in some areas defies expectations while in others sinking beneath them.  

The Bear (Season 2-FX on Hulu) * * 1/2

 

Starring:  Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, Matty Matheson, Edwin Lee Gibson, Jon Bernthal, Oliver Platt

Guest stars:  Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, John Mulaney, Will Poulter

The first season of The Bear was a relentless exercise in dramatic tension which felt like a coil about to snap.  Its main character Carmen (White) is a reluctant sandwich shop owner who trained and worked as a chef in world-class restaurants until his deceased brother willed him The Beef.   At the end of season one, Carmen unexpectedly comes into beaucoup hidden cash and closes The Beef, promising it to reopen soon as The Bear.  

Troubles mount early.  Carmen takes on Uncle Jimmy "Cicero" (Platt) as his partner, but Jimmy wants his money back in eighteen months.  If not, he will assume control of the restaurant and the land.  And The Bear must open in a tight 12-week window, which considering the work the place needs, would be a miracle.   Carmen has sous chef Sydney (Edebiri) working along side him.  She, however, is much more nervous about failing than even Carmen is.   Carmen sends his workers to schools and other restaurants to learn the art of high-end dining.  This has the most profound effect on Richie (Moss-Bachrach), who finds his niche as a maitre-d for The Bear and a huge boost in his confidence.  He finds his place and Moss-Bachrach gives the most well-rounded performance in the cast and undergoes the most impressive changes.

The first five episodes of season two do not match the strengths of the first season.   With no restaurant open, there is more room for long conversations and confessions which doesn't always translate to a better show.  The sixth episode, a flashback to a dysfunctional, painful Christmas dinner with Carmen's family, is the first of the season to ratchet up conflict and tension to season one levels.  Then the episodes sag until the final episodes with The Bear's opening and a return to the nerve-wracking clusterfuck which is the restaurant business.   However, as a whole, season two is a comedown from season one.  

Argylle (2024) * *

Directed by:  Matthew Vaughn

Starring:  Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Catherine O'Hara, Samuel L. Jackson

Argylle is not a movie as much as scenes killing time until the next plot twist or reveal.  It's whiplash to the tenth power.  The movie is bloated nonetheless, with whole scenes dedicated to trying to explain the plot, and overchoreographed action scenes.  At the end of it all, do we really care about the outcome?  

The main plot focuses on writer Elly Conway (Howard) who writes a popular series of spy novels featuring Agent Argylle (Cavill) as her protagonist.  Encountering writer's block, Elly boards a train soon to visit her mother (O'Hara) when she encounters a real spy named Aiden (Rockwell), who informs Elly she's in danger because her novels cut to close to reality.  Aiden thrashes a series of thugs while Elly helplessly (with her cat Alfie in tow) looks on.  Can Aiden be trusted?  He says he and his archenemies The Division, led by the ruthless Ritter (Cranston), are after a flash drive containing the names of agents from all over the world.  Wait, haven't roughly three-quarters of spy movies, including Mission: Impossible, already used such a drive as the item the good guys and bad guys are chasing?

Argylle contains modest surprises and an entire scene in which a retired CIA man (Jackson) explains Elly's true nature and why she writes spy novels, all while Ritter relentlessly pursues her and Aiden and dispatching hundreds of nameless, anonymous assassins to kill their quarry and retrieve the flash drive.  One scene creatively shows an agent dispatching these poor souls by ice skating on floor frozen over like an ice rink.  But, Argylle mostly delivers a thud instead of thrills.  This is quite a cast to assemble for what feels like a warmed-over spy adventure we've seen more times than we care to count or remember.