The Alto Knights (2025) * * *

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Robert DeNiro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli

Robert De Niro has played so criminals in his career that he could be an honorary mob member.  I've never seen him play two mob bosses in the same movie, though, and The Alto Knights gives him an opportunity to relish in playing both reasonable boss Frank Costello and hot-headed Vito Genovese.  They're done seamlessly and allows the audience to enjoy The Alto Knights, directed by Wag the Dog's Barry Levinson.  It is a mob movie, with violence, hits, and feuds, but it feels different in its atmosphere.  

Frank and Vito were lifelong friends who grew up in the New York mob together.  Vito controlled a portion of Carlo Gambino's family, and bequeathed it to Frank when he was forced to flee the country.  When Vito returns over a decade later, Frank is unwilling to relinquish power, mostly because he was able to stabilize the normally violent elements of the streets.  This begins the tension between Frank and Vito, which culminates in Vito putting out an unsuccessful hit on Frank which takes place in the film's opening scenes. 

Frank is cool and intelligent, using brains instead of muscle.  Vito is stubborn and unpredictable, which is reflected in his marriage and later divorce to his equally stubborn wife Anna (Narducci).   Frank is married to the supportive and steady Bobbie (Messing) and has been for years.  Their home lives are in direct contrast and it spills out into their public ones.  All of this is moved along steadily and assuredly by Levinson, who took on the inner workings of the mob in Bugsy (1991), the story of another wild card, mobster Bugsy Siegel, who founded Las Vegas but never lived to see it flourish.  

Levinson brings a special energy to The Alto Knights, which works most of the time, while occasionally lapsing into near self-parody.  However, it is amusing and gripping to see Frank stay one step ahead of those trying to bring him down; those who think he's a soft touch when in reality, he truly was able to run the mob like a business.  He's as close to a hero as you'll find in this world.  

Reacher: Season Three (2025) * * * 1/2 (streaming on Amazon Prime)

 

Starring:  Alan Ritchson, Sonya Cassidy, Maria Sten, Anthony Michael Hall, Brian Tee, Johnny Berchtold, Olivier Richters

Reacher's season three is the first season in which Reacher (Ritchson) doesn't have all the answers and isn't the biggest or the baddest dude on the block.  It's refreshing to see Reacher sweat, something we didn't see in the first two seasons.  This is the first season which maintains our interest throughout, and the villains are thoroughly scary.  Granted, the concluding, inevitable fight between Reacher and the towering bodyguard Pauli (Richters) continues long past either person would be able to remain conscious, but we were waiting for it and it delivered. 

In the beginning of season three, Reacher is passing through a small New England town when he sees a young man named Richard (Berchtold) being kidnapped.  Reacher thwarts the crime and drives the scared kid home to his grateful father Zachary (Hall), who offers Reacher a job as his bodyguard after a thorough background search.   Zachary lives in a lush mansion with plenty of acreage, and is said to be a carpet dealer, but we soon learn he also deals in guns under the thumb of the vicious Quinn (Tee).  Reacher has a past with Quinn and assumed he killed him years ago, but this isn't the case.  Reacher seeks vengeance against Quinn while trying to assist DEA agent Susan Duffy (Cassidy) in finding her informant who was kidnapped by Quinn.  

How season three differs from previous Reacher seasons is how we sense Reacher is in danger and not always in control.  Ritchson's season three Reacher is vulnerable and more human than the previous seasons' iterations.  The human stakes are higher this season than in previous ones.  Anthony Michael Hall also gives us multi-faceted dimensions as a gun runner who is also a loving father.  He's someone we can sympathize with to an extent, while the villains are cold, nasty, and unsympathetic.   This is the best season of Reacher by far.  Now that we know how well it can done, I hope season four builds on it. 

Black Bag (2025) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Rege Jean-Page, Tom Burke, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan

Black Bag, even at only 93 minutes, plods along methodically.  It's a whodunit, but this time British intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Fassbender) must find which person is a security leak within the agency.  If he can't, thousands of people will die.  The operation known as Severus will soon begin causing worldwide unrest and death, so George must find and contain the leak, even if it might be his own wife.  Would he have the gumption to pull the trigger on his beloved?   You would think the stakes would feel higher, but Black Bag never reaches the level of energy required for what should be a bang-bang thriller. 

George is given a list of five suspects, one of which may be his wife Kathryn (Blanchett).  This type of ground was covered before in the superior Allied (2016) which starred Brad Pitt as a World War II spy whose wife is suspected of treason.  George and Kathryn throw a dinner party with all of the suspects in attendance and the game begins.  George pieces together clues from their behavior.  Some are having affairs, but try to hide it, which is tough to do with George.  He says "I hate liars," and he will find plenty as he roots out the traitor. 

Steven Soderbergh's best films are lively affairs even with heavier subject matters.  Black Bag has the opportunity to be dynamic, but it never makes it past a competently-made film with intelligent performances.  When all is revealed, we only sort of care.  

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2025) * * *

 

Directed by:  Pete Browngardt

When you hear the title of this movie, you look for Marvin Martian, and I'm sad to report he does not appear in The Day the Earth Blew Up.  Besides Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Petunia Pig, no Looney Tunes favorites star, but that's okay.  The Day the Earth Blew Up is more of an Animaniacs-type of treatment with Daffy and Porky battling an alien plot to turn Earthlings into gum-chomping zombies.   In 2025, the Looney Tunes are alive and well, although not in the way they were originally presented.   I admit it would have been a real throwback to see the WB logo hurling towards the screen and the Looney Tunes theme blasting over the soundtrack.  

We begin The Day the Earth Blew Up with Daffy and Porky adopted by a kindly man named Farmer Jim, who later passes away and leaves his home to Daffy and Porky.   In the present day, an alien (voiced by Peter MacNicol) launches a flying saucer which clips off Daffy and Porky's roof and crashes near the local gum factory and contaminating it with some green goo.  The goo is mixed in accidentally and anyone who chews the new flavor gum turns into a zombie.  Daffy and Porky, after a series of firings from other jobs they took to try and repair their roof before their home is condemned, find themselves working at the gum factory and discover the plot.  Daffy, forever the alarmist, tries to tell anyone who will listen that chewing the gum will transform them into a zombie, but no one believes him.  Porky soon finds Daffy is right and works with he and Petunia to foil the alien's plans.   Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" and REM's It's the End of the World As We Know It" are incorporated into the action.  

I may have spent more time on the plot than required, and yes The Day the Earth Blew Up relies on childish silliness at times (to be expected), but there are also jokes for adults and a payoff for the alien arc which is unexpected.  I admit I didn't see it coming, but it adds a layer to the proceedings.  At the heart of this Looney Tunes movie is, well, a heart.  The results are occasionally uneven, but because we all love Porky and Daffy, we enjoy their movie all the same, even if they are the updated versions for the 21st century. 

UHF (1989) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jay Levey

Starring:  "Weird Al" Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Gedde Watanabe, David Bowe, Michael Richards, Trinidad Silva, Anthony Geary

UHF is a parody of 1980's television strung together by a threadbare plot.  It hurls gags at you, not quite in Airplane! style, but close enough.   It's hit and miss, but while funny in spots, it never extends into comedy gold.  Aside from cameos in the Naked Gun movies, this is the only film I can think of to date starring song parodist extraordinaire "Weird Al" Yankovic.  He plays George Newman, who is fired from job after job until being handed a local UHF station to run by his uncle who won the station in a card game.  

Channel 62 wants ratings, but how can a station barely on the dial compete with the network affiliate run by the malevolent R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy), who laughs off Channel 62 until George's oddball programming propels it to number one in the ratings.  A big part of this turnaround is Stanley Spadowski (Richards), a former janitor fired by Fletcher who is given his own children's show on George's channel which goes through the roof.   The rest of the movie involves Fletcher's attempts to buy the station and put Channel 62 out of business while George attempts to win back his former girlfriend Teri (Jackson) who wants him to get his life in order.

The shows on the channel include Wheel of Fish, Gandhi: The Return, and a wildlife show recorded in a barrio apartment, which are somewhere between amusing and goofy and held together by Yankovic's nerdy charm.  Richards, pre-Seinfeld, gathers the most laughs as the janitor/children's show host who loves both in equal measure.  UHF isn't a comedy gem, but it's worth the ninety minutes if you don't have much else to do one afternoon.  

Novocaine (2025) * *

Directed by:  Robert Olsen and Dan Berk

Starring:  Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, Ray Nicholson, Evan Hengst, Matt Walsh, Betty Gabriel

Nathan Caine (Quaid) is an unassuming San Diego bank assistant manager who awakes daily to a routine of smoothies and coffee.  He has a ho-hum job with the occasional threat of foreclosure to customers who can't pay their mortgages, but Nathan even tries to help them out.   He has a crush on Sherry (Midthunder), a teller who has been with the bank only four months and would love nothing more than to date her.  Nathan, however, hides a disorder...he can't feel pain.  He accidentally spills scalding coffee on his hand and feels nothing although he suffers second degree burns.  He confesses he has to set an alarm to ensure he uses the restroom or else his bladder may explode.  This doesn't mean he is immortal.  A gunshot could cause him to bleed out and die, but he wouldn't need morphine to cope with it.  

Then, on Christmas Eve, the bank is robbed by a trio of sadistic thieves who kill the bank manager and take Sherry hostage.   Nathan decides to go after them instead of waiting for the police to find her.  He chases down one robber and, following a series of events, dips his hand in boiling cooking oil to retrieve a gun and shoot the guy dead.  His hand is fried to a crisp, but that's the cost of this vigilante business.  Nathan recruits his online gaming buddy Roscoe (Batalon) to assist him in his quest, while we learn Sherry may not be all she seems. 

Quaid is an affable hero but is not a superhero, just a guy in love.  With the exception of the protagonist's inability to feel physical pain, though, Novocaine is a standard action movie with overly choreographed fight scenes and endless car chases.   Nathan navigates a home filled with booby traps we suspect were placed there just so we can witness arrows or knives stabbing him over and over.   The movie repeats the same tiresome gag throughout.  We realize that Novocaine is a by-the-numbers action film tied together by a gimmick.  

Captain America: Brave New World (2025) * *

Directed by: Julius Onah

Starring:  Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, Harrison Ford, Shira Haas, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito

The Marvel universe has lost its mojo.  It's all "been there, done that" to the point that Captain America: Brave New World has a "Red Hulk" and the action scenes are a blur.  Brave New World feels defeated even before it starts.   If you recall the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America (Chris Evans) bequeathed his shield to "The Falcon" Sam Wilson.  It made logical sense for Wilson to accept the role.  Brave New World is Anthony Mackie's first movie holding the shield, but he didn't take the serum which made the previous Cap ageless and nearly impervious to pain.  He can chuck the shield with the best of them, but he bleeds and bruises.

Captain America is summoned to the White House by his (and the Avengers') on-again, off-again ally Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Ford), who was recently elected President.  The president wants to reform the Avengers, citing the error of his ways from previous Marvel films where he broke them up for fear they will grow too powerful.  Captain America is skeptical, but he's the President after all.  Shortly after, Cap's longtime friend and the first "Super Soldier" (I missed where in the series that happened) Isaiah Bradley (Lumbly) is triggered by a song on his cell phone and attempts to assassinate Ross.  Bradley is soon captured, remembering nothing of the incident, and wastes away in jail awaiting trial while Sam tries to find out who set up Bradley and why.

You're likely wondering how Ross soon morphs into the Red Hulk in the final thirty minutes.  It turns out Dr. Sam Stearns (Nelson) gave Ross pills to cure his ailing heart without informing him that the medication contains gamma radiation which triggers the inner hulk of Ross when he's enraged, which occurs often in this film, although not enough to transform him into the big red monster whose pants miraculously stay on even when he changes from average-sized man to a twenty-foot tall Hulk.  Then again, I recall Watchmen (2009) where the antagonist is a giant blue guy with his schlong hanging out for all to see. 

The action is by rote.  Mackie tries his best, but his Captain America is bland and through most of the movie.  Ford is supposed to be Trump-like in his ability to spin out of control with anger.  Cap is joined by a new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Ramirez), who is sidekick material and as virtuous as Captain America with a little wisenheimer thrown in.   Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) makes a cameo appearance, but none of the other Avengers are present.  I think of the meme which shows an Avenger sleeping with a caption reading, "When the world is in danger, but it's not that Avenger's movie."  Where exactly is Ant Man or the original green hulk when Captain America is battling the Japanese fleet in order to save the world?  The meme makes a brilliant point.  

Last Breath (2025) * * *

 

Directed by:  Alex Parkinson

Starring:  Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, MyAnna Burning, Mark Bonnar, Josef Altin

Last Breath is based on a true story of a saturation diver who, while attempting to repair a pipeline hundreds of feet deep in the ocean, is stranded for nearly thirty minutes without oxygen.  I won't give away the ending, but it's unlikely a documentary (made in 2018) and a feature film would be made about a diver who perishes.  

The movie tells the story in taut fashion, with the mission to repair a section of natural gas pipeline beneath the tempestuous North Sea coming to the forefront quickly.  We meet Chris (Cole), one of the mission divers who says goodbye to his trepidatious fiancee who fears the worst as Chris goes away for one month.  He assures her nothing bad will happen, but of course we know better.  Chris is inexperienced but skilled.   His crew consists of Duncan (Harrelson), the veteran who is working his last mission, and Dave (Liu), the laser-focused expert who doesn't have time to discuss his personal life.  

We see the pod from which the drivers will descend into the depths to the ocean floor lowered.  We learn what has to be done and why.  The ship which serves as headquarters is traveling through choppier than normal seas.  "It's the North Sea, after all," one of the crew members says, but a storm hits causing the ship to lose all power and Chris' oxygen hose to snap while he's working on a platform.  He has reserve oxygen in his scuba gear, but only ten minutes worth.  Once ten minutes comes and goes, we see displays on the screen ominously informing us of how long Chris has gone without air.  He passes out and after twenty minutes or so, Dave and Duncan, who are unable to rescue him until power is restored, fear the rescue will soon become a body recovery. 

The actors try their best to instill their characters with personality.  Harrelson relies on his effortless charm while Liu combines expertise with intensity.   We of course feel for Chris while knowing that, by some miracle, he will turn out okay.  That doesn't diminish the impact when Chris awakes from death's door and...   Yes, I said I wouldn't give away the ending, but I'm sure you figured it out by now.  

97th Oscars-A Recap

 

Anora was the big winner of the night with five Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay).   Those unfamiliar with the movie's writer-director Sean Baker became instantly familiar by the end of the show, which nearly four hours after it started.  Baker made four trips to the stage, becoming just the second person to win four Oscars in one night and the first to win four for the same film.  Walt Disney won four in one night, but not all for the same film. 

The show itself was a dull affair, not that this differentiates it from past telecasts.  The producers were hoping for a ratings boost last year by starting the show at 7pm Eastern instead of 8pm.  However, the producers also think this allows them extra time to cram the telecast with unfunny bits, banter between presenters which goes nowhere, and bloated musical performances.   We were treated to a James Bond montage and three Bond theme songs performed by singers like Lisa and Raye, neither of which I'd heard of before last night.   The five nominated original songs were not performed, but were inexplicably replaced by Queen Latifah performing "Ease on Down the Road," from The Wiz in honor of Quincy Jones, the aforementioned Bond themes, and Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande performing songs from Wicked.   Then, came Conan O'Brien's laugh-free monologue.  Conan tried mightily to make it work, but the jokes fell flat.  

Those wondering where Billy Crystal has been received a treat when he and Meg Ryan announced Best Picture, reuniting the When Harry Met Sally stars.  The presenters included Daryl Hannah and Goldie Hawn, both of which haven't been seen much in recent years, but it was good to see them.  I also enjoyed seeing Quentin Tarantino deliver the Best Director award with his usual offbeat flair.   There are critics of Adrien Brody's record-length speech, but while it's an easy mark for critics, I can't fault Brody for it.  However, throwing his chewed gum to his girlfriend Georgina Chapman before ascending the steps to receive his award is gross.   Just swallow the gum next time.  

I gave Anora a three-star review, mostly because the second half was more compelling than the first.  Of the movies I've seen, I would've given the Best Picture nod to A Complete Unknown, which was shut out at this year's awards.  Mikey Madison was a surprise Best Actress winner.  I picked Demi Moore, who was the favorite after her Golden Globe and SAG Award wins, but Madison went along for the ride with Anora's momentum.  Of the 23 categories, I got 13 predictions right.   This is my lowest number of correct predictions in many a long day.   And Anora is the first Oscar-winning film in which any of the Oscar recipients thanked "the sex worker community."  I never thought I'd hear that in one speech, let alone two.  

97th Oscars Predictions

Tonight is the night!  The 97th edition of the Academy Awards.  Here are my predictions in all categories.  Remember, these are based solely on how I believe the Academy and its branches will vote, not on personal preference.  

Best Picture:  Anora

Best Director:  Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Actor:  Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Best Actress:  Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor:  Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Supporting Actress:  Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez)

Best Original Screenplay:  Anora

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Conclave

Animated Feature Film:  Flow

Animated Short Film:  Yuck!

Cinematography:  Nosferatu

Costume Design:  Wicked

Documentary Feature:  No Other Land

Documentary Short Subject:  I Am Ready, Warden

Editing:  Conclave

International Feature Film:  Emilia Perez

Makeup and Hairstyling:  Wicked

Original Score:  Wicked

Original Song:  El Mal

Production Design:  Wicked

Sound:  A Complete Unknown

Visual Effects:  Dune, Part Two

Live Action Short Film:  The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Am I Racist? (2024) * * *

Directed by:  Justin Folk

Starring:  Matt Walsh (as himself)

Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh goes undercover Borat-style in Am I Racist?, posing as a liberal who wants to learn about DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), but in reality wants to prove his belief that DEI is an industry propped up by the need for perceived or false racism.  Walsh doesn't exactly become a master of disguise.  He wears a wig with a man bun and different glasses, but otherwise he's Matt Walsh.  The disguise didn't fool a group therapy session in which members call the police when they discover he's not a regular guy looking to rid himself of racist tendencies.  

Walsh takes an online course an earns a "DEI expert card", which he faux proudly displays to all of his interview subjects.  He later creates a class on Craig's List and charges several hundred dollars for whites to attend his session, which consists of some of the most ludicrous exercises you can imagine.  This involves class members yelling at Matt's wheelchair-bound "Uncle Frank" for allegedly telling a racist joke twenty years ago, and providing whips so they can self-flagellate.  What is more is amazing is that these "students" were willing to do this (those who stuck around anyway).  The point of Am I Racist? is that there is now a culture in which people are so full of "white guilt" that they would consider doing such a thing.  

Walsh and numerous conservative outlets are at war with the mainstream media over their alleged slant in reporting the news.  Many would simply ignore this as unsubstantiated, but Walsh is correct in pointing out that no major media outlets have reviewed this film.   This is sadly correct, and you can't help but wonder if what Walsh and others say about the media are true.  I acknowledge that while I lean liberal, I also can't dismiss conservative views out of hand as hateful, cruel, and racist.   Just because an argument comes from the other side doesn't mean it is incorrect or inaccurate.  

I found Am I Racist? funny and illuminating.  Like Borat, you question how much is staged.  Walsh insists that none of it is, and Am I Racist? requires one to emerge from their own bubble and watch with an open mind.  When Walsh attempts to physically recreate Jussie Smollett's ultimately false accounting of an assault by two MAGA-hat wearing men in the middle of a winter night in Chicago, I laughed.  Smollett's explanation simply doesn't hold water, and it turns out it didn't.  It would've involved actions that defied the laws of physics and sanity.  

Does watching Am I Racist? and agreeing with his argument make you a racist?  Absolutely not.  Disagreement with the the methods DEI implements isn't racism.  It's disagreement, which last I looked is something everyone has a right to do.   Why hasn't a major media outlet published a review of the film?  Why have they avoided it like the plague?  Do the outlets fear actually enjoying or liking the movie will cause them to be labeled racist?  Walsh uses comedy to expose how mainstream media perpetuates racism and DEI authors and speakers charge exorbitant fees to "fix the inherent racism found in all white people,"  We see evidence of this in support groups, dinners, and exercises where white pay to submit themselves to criticism by DEI experts.  It's like a form of BDSM.  Like Borat, Walsh gives his subjects enough space to make fools of themselves and expose their own hypocrisies.  It's a shame the mainstream outlets did not have enough courage to review the film.   Inclusion should also mean the ability to include opinions that may differ from yours. 

Cobra Kai Season 6 Episodes 11-15 (2025) * * *

Starring:  Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Martin Kove, Peyton List, Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Yuji Okumoto, Sean Kanan, Lewis Tan, Thomas Ian Griffith

We have come to the end of the Cobra Kai series with a satisfying conclusion.  The final five episodes maintain suspense while providing moving story arcs for many of the characters.  Compared to the first two sets of episodes which make up season six, these final five get the job done even with contrived methods of keeping the tournament going and no one seeming to notice that the two biggest villains have left the scene.  This isn't an inquisitive bunch.

I supposed criticizing Cobra Kai for being silly is like chastising my cat for not mastering geometry.  The season picks up months after the death of a competitor in Barcelona.  Johnny (Zabka) is preparing to bring his child into the world and marry his pregnant girlfriend.  Daniel is pouring his heart into his work at the dealership, but Amanda (Henggeler) thinks he is not dealing with his emotions over Barcelona.  Kreese (Kove) has done some soul searching in the months since the tournament and decides he no longer wants to lead a dojo.  The only person itching to restart the tournament is Terry Silver (Griffith), who we learn is dying from cancer and wants his dojo to win as a way to build on his legacy of being evil, mean, and nasty.  

Kreese wants to reconcile with Johnny, and after being rebuffed, the two have a heartfelt reunion at the restarted tournament, which is now taking place in the San Fernando Valley.  The matches are not as intricate or as potentially deadly as the ones in Barcelona.  They are the standard one-on-one battles where the Iron Dragons led by Silver battle the suddenly reformed Cobra Kai led by Johnny, with Daniel's blessing.  The fights are well-orchestrated and not as farfetched as Barcelona's, but then again which ones are?

Cobra Kai doesn't degenerate into an all-out brawl at its conclusion.  They went to that well once or twice too often, but some of the characters go through some moving changes and Johnny's relationship with Daniel's becomes a brotherhood, with the others as part of an extended family.  

The Monkey (2025) * *

 

Directed by:  Osgood Perkins

Starring:  Theo James, Chris Convery, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Adam Scott, Colin O'Brien

When the toy monkey depicted in the above photo begins banging its drum, someone will die.  We don't know who will die or how, but only that it's a certainty.  Those who realize this try to command the monkey to kill their enemies, but we learn "the monkey doesn't take requests".  The only question is how gruesomely the person will die.  The Monkey is full of blood, decapitations, "accidents", mangled body parts, and other assorted killings.   The movie keeps upping the ante.  It is more interested in the kills than suspense.

Osgood Perkins' directed last year's Longlegs, which was atmospheric but not successful in its attempts to depict a serial killer played by Nicolas Cage.  I'd reread my review but that's a lot of work.  The Monkey, based on a Stephen King short story, is more campy and humorous than Longlegs, but by comparison almost anything is.  In The Monkey, twins Hal and Bill (played by Convery as a kid and Theo James as an adult) come in contact with the toy monkey which soon begins its killing spree.  Their father Pete (Scott) tried to sell it in a pawn shop years earlier which resulted in the shop owner's death.  The toy just keeps finding this family.  The more they try to get rid of it, the more it finds its way back. 

Bill bullies Hal as both a kid and an adult.  Hal takes it to a point, and then instructs the monkey to kill Bill, but their mother has her throat slit instead, which may be the most tame of the murders.  Or maybe it's the pawn shop owner in the prologue who is merely speared to death.  The Monkey, like Longlegs, has an odd, unique atmosphere to it which makes the material palatable to a point, but overall we are left with a series of bloody, gory murders and a cute little evil monkey toy that one would rather not see operate.  

Snow Day (2000) * *

 

Directed by:  Chris Koch 

Starring:  Mark Webber, Schuyler Fisk, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Chris Elliott, Chevy Chase, Pam Grier, John Schneider, Jean Smart, Zena Grey

There was nothing like a snow day during my school days.  We woke up, gathered by the radio, and listened for the three-digit code which signified our school was cancelled.  When we heard it, we erupted in glee because, hey, no school today!  And if it's harsh weather, maybe none tomorrow either.  One can dream.  To folks my age who claim they walked to school in two feet of snow: I say bullshit.  We had plenty of school days cancelled by weather.  And two-hour delays didn't exist in my school district. 

Snow Day takes place near Syracuse, New York during a particularly uneventful winter.  One night, television meteorologist Tom Brandston (Chase) catches a winter storm forming over the area at the last minute and declares abundant snowfall will happen overnight.  Tom detests having to wear silly costumes on air at the behest of his boss (Grier) and further dislikes rival weatherman Chad Symmonz (Schneider) taking credit for discovering the storm first.  Tom's son Hal (Webber) uses his snow day to declare his love for pretty Claire (Chriqui) while his best friend Lane (Fisk) stands by his side and is, of course, secretly in love with Hal.  Tom's wife Laura (Smart) is a workaholic who uses the snow day to stop and smell the coffee finally.  

Meanwhile, all of the other kids in town are trying to stop the menacing snow plow operator Roger (Elliott) from plowing the streets and preventing a second snow day.  Most of these events are played with tired slapstick, while the love story is uninvolving and trite.  The best moments of Snow Day are the opening ones where the feeling of a pending snow day is captured joyously.  Then, the subplots take over and all is lost. 

Good Burger (1997) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Brian Robbins

Starring:  Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Dan Schneider, Abe Vigoda, Shar Jackson, Sinbad, Carmen Electra, Jan Schweiterman, Linda Cardellini

Good Burger is based on a late 90's Nickelodeon sketch and blown up to feature length.  I wouldn't say I was the intended audience even back in 1997, but my son loved it.  It's equal shares of slapstick and a showcase for Kel Mitchell, who was half of the Kenan and Kel Show then.  Kenan Thompson went on to become the longest-tenured Saturday Night Live performer in the show's history.  Mitchell faded into obscurity (as far as I know).  But Good Burger gives us Ed, a likable dimwit who takes most things said to him literally.   When a character asks Ed, "How does ten dollars sound?", Ed crinkles a ten-dollar bill up to his ear.  

Ed works tirelessly at Good Burger, a mainstay which is soon about to run out of business by Mondo Burger across the street.  Mondo burgers are three times the size of any normal burger, and with all of the additives pumped into the beef, no wonder.  Mondo Burger is run by the hard-ass jerk Kurt (Schweiterman), who will stoop to any level to ensure Good Burger goes out of business.  Ed, however, creates a special sauce and people love it.  Good Burger finds itself back on the map.  The manager Mr. Baily (Schneider) couldn't be happier.  Kurt makes it his business to find out the sauce's recipe and even hires sexy Roxanne (Electra) to go on a date with the clueless Ed to love the recipe right out of him.

Ed's co-worker and friend is Dexter (Thompson), who is forced to get a summer job after he is involved in an accident and has to pay for the damage.  He doesn't care for Ed much, but soon befriends him, and then tries to bilk Ed out of part of his bonus for each burger sold.  This doesn't endear Dexter to Monique (Jackson), the Good Burger staffer who cares for Ed and is Dexter's romantic interest.  But Ed and Dexter soon become the heroes who save Good Burger from the sinister Kurt and his minions.  

Good Burger is occasionally funny and is aimed at a younger audience that would appreciate it more.  Ed is a unique character and carries most of the movie with his witless charm.  He seems to have been beamed here from another planet, but he nearly carries the movie by himself. 

Get Hard (2015) * * 1/2

 

Directed by: Etan Cohen

Starring:  Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, T.I. Harris, Craig T. Nelson, Alison Brie, Paul Ben-Victor, Edwina Findley

No, Get Hard is not a porno movie.  It's about guileless, gullible hedge-fund manager James (Ferrell), who is wrongly convicted of fraud and sentenced to a term in San Quentin.  His father-in-law Martin (Nelson) is of course the guilty party, but he pretends to support James and promises to find "the real fraud", much like OJ Simpson pledged to find "the real killers".  With one month to get his affairs in order, James chooses to hire Darnell (Hart), the owner of the car wash in James' office garage, to give him lessons on how to survive in prison.  Darnell has never had so much as a parking ticket on his record, but he needs the money to keep his business afloat and goes along with the training.  James is a dope, and believes Darnell has been to prison because, well he's black.  Darnell plays along because he needs the cash. 

Get Hard walks the fine line this material presents.  It's funny to be sure, but also inconsistently so.  Darnell, with help from his cousin and other gang members who have actually been in prison, provides lessons on how James can avoid being gang-raped and assaulted daily.  When Get Hard is cooking, it is hilarious.  Those moments, however, don't come often enough, and what we have is Ferrell and Hart trying their best with mixed results.  

I'm reminded of Spike Lee's The 25th Hour, in which Edward Norton has 24 hours to get his affairs in order before he begins a seven-year prison term.  Norton's character knows he won't emerge unscathed and he will not be the same person as when he entered.   The 25th Hour covers the dramatic ground as Get Hard covers comically.  As the days tick off toward the beginning of James' sentence, it doesn't even occur to him that Martin framed him.  Darnell feels sorry for this knucklehead whose only crime is believing the best in the wrong people. 

F/X (1986) * * *

 

Directed by:  Robert Mandel

Starring:  Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, Mason Adams, Cliff DeYoung, Diane Venora, Tom Noonan, Joe Grifasi, Martha Gehman, Josie de Guzman, Jerry Orbach

Movie special effects wizard Rollie Tyler (Brown) is approached by the Department of Justice to use his skills to fake the assassination of mob boss Nick DeFranco (Orbach), who is set to testify in a mob trial and enter the Witness Protection Program.  Rollie is paid $30,000 to orchestrate the "murder", including disguising himself and "pulling the trigger" in a public place.  Following the phony assassination, agent Lipton (DeYoung) tries to kill Rollie, citing "no loose ends" and Rollie is soon on the run and being framed for murder.  

The detective on the case, Leo McCarthey (Dennehy) knows DeFranco and smells a rat, especially when Rollie's girlfriend (Venora) and the agent who killed her and tried to kill Rollie are found dead in the woman's apartment.  F/X takes on Hitchcockian proportions, as Rollie is the innocent man accused and must rely on his visual effects prowess to fight his way out of this conspiracy.  He isn't an action-hero type, but he's smart and resourceful with numerous tricks up his sleeve.  I grant you that Rollie somehow is able to summon an effect up at a moment's notice, especially when he invades the ringleader Col. Mason's (Adams) home and does in all of his goons.  

Some of these tricks are elaborate and are unlikely to fit inside a bag, but because we root for Rollie and he's played so winningly by Bryan Brown, we forgive the movie's occasional lapse in credulity.  Brian Dennehy provides a counterpoint to the otherwise amiable Rollie.  He's a heavy drinker, but relentlessly pursues the truth, and has some nice scenes displaying his absolute cynicism.  F/X is a movie that comes out of nowhere to entertain, even in the face of plot holes and questions.  No matter.  We get to see the bad guys get what's coming to them from someone whom everyone underestimated. 

Heart Eyes (2025) * *

Directed by:  Josh Ruben

Starring:  Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa, Yoson An

Heart Eyes begins with a tinge of satire and shock as a newly engaged couple is gruesomely murdered by the masked "Heart Eyes" killer, who has done this nationwide over the years to many couple on Valentine's Day.  You can see what the mask looks like, and now it seems the Heart Eyes serial murderer has taken up residence in Seattle.  We meet Ally (Holt), who has a winning smile and is a total cutie.  She is a marketing executive whose last ad campaign flopped and now needs a better one in order to keep her job.  A new hotshot named Jay (Gooding) comes on the scene, and despite her attraction to him, Ally feels her job threatened.  

Jay calls for a truce and a strictly professional dinner on Valentine's Day.  Ally is still trying to get over the boyfriend who dumped her and, after running into him and his new girlfriend outside the restaurant, kisses Jay to make the boyfriend jealous.   This is witnessed by the Heart Eyes killer and Ally and Jay become his (or her) targets.  The Heart Eyes killer creatively offs his victims in brutal fashion, and it is at this point when Heart Eyes simply becomes another slasher film with jump scares and kills that grow more bloody and violent.  

Those who go to see Heart Eyes for this reason will be satisfied.  Other than discovering the identity of the killer and why he or she committed the killings, Heart Eyes isn't built for suspense but slaughter.  It's wearying watching the filmmakers up the ante on the gore, wasting two appealing leads in the name of gory slashing.  

Love Hurts (2025) * *

Directed by:  Jonathan Eusebio

Starring:  Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Marshawn Lynch, Lio Tipton, Daniel Wu, Sean Astin, Mustafa Shakir

Marvin Gable (Quan) is a mild-mannered, relentlessly upbeat Milwaukee realtor hiding a secret past as a ruthless assassin.  He was in league with his brother Knuckles (Wu), but he fell in love with Rose (DeBose), who was ripping off Knuckles and ordered to be killed.  He fakes her death and then decides to leave the criminal life altogether.   He is a successful realtor, but soon Rose comes knocking, asking him to help her get rid of Knuckles once and for all.  

Maybe my sense of direction is way off, but it doesn't seem that the goons Knuckles dispatches to kill Marvin travel all that far to find him.  It seems like they live only on the other side of Milwaukee.  No matter.  Love Hurts features Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan in his first starring role.  He is likable and gives off Jackie Chan vibes in both personality and the fight scenes where he uses everything including the kitchen sink to fend off his opponents.  

The action is fun for a time, but then grows stale halfway into the movie's 84-minute running time (including credits).  Yet, the movie still feels like a slog even with the trim running time.  DeBose and Quan don't have much chemistry, and the movie chugs towards its conclusion with the speed of molasses in January.  Love Hurts takes place on Valentine's Day, but I doubt it will become a Cupid classic. 

Goodrich (2024) * *

Directed by:  Hallie Meyers-Shyer

Starring:  Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Laura Benanti, Michael Urie, Kevin Pollak, Carmen Ejogo

Andy Goodrich (Keaton) is a workaholic Los Angeles art gallery owner with a wife and twins whose wife calls him one night to inform him she has checked into a rehab.  Lotsa luck with the kids, she basically tells him, and the distraught Andy calls his pregnant adult daughter Grace (Kunis) to help him.  The trouble is:  Grace and Andy have a frosty relationship, mostly because of Andy's divorce from her mother.   No points for guessing that Andy will figure it all out and have a better relationship with the kids he hardly knows.  

Andy, though, isn't a bad man, just aloof because he devoted his life to a gallery which is now losing money and might go under if it is unable to attract artists.  Andy attempts to lure the daughter of a former client to his gallery in hopes she will allow her mother's work to be displayed.  This possibility grows to be more of a probability, but then it doesn't in a development that feels like a plot twist.  Because Andy is generally a decent man, the dramatic tension of Goodrich is lost.   

However, Michael Keaton still gives us an effective performance, making the most of his underwritten character.  Kunis hits all the notes you would expect as his estranged daughter:  Exasperated, frustrated, resentful, and then forgiving and reconciliation.   She does all well, but Goodrich itself simply lacks anything to push against.  

September 5 (2024) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Tim Fehlbaum

Starring:  Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Benjamin Walker, Jim McKay (archive footage), Leonie Benesch, Rony Herman

September 5, 1972 was an unprecedented day in the history of the Olympic Games, and not because of Mark Spitz winning his record seventh gold medal.  The Munich Games, the first in Germany since 1936 Berlin, went on uneventfully under shots were fired in the Olympic Village before dawn.  Before long, it is learned two Israeli athletes were killed and nine others taken hostage by a terrorist organization called Black September.  

ABC Sports president Roone Arledge (Sarsgaard) soon puts all hands on deck to cover this unprecedented event.  He wrestles away control of coverage from ABC News to ABC Sports.  His reasoning was sound:  The ABC Sports headquarters in Munich are set up a few hundred yards from the Olympic village where Black September was conducting its reign of terror.  Why cover it from New York?  September 5 takes place over the course of one tense day where Black September operates in the shadows and the plight of the Israeli athletes hangs in the balance in the same nation which forged the Holocaust against Jews three decades earlier.

The sports team scrambles, pivots, and creatively covers the events on the fly behind producer Geoffrey Mason (Magaro), an inexperienced newcomer working his first shift as segment producer.  He expected to cover track and swimming and instead the story becomes Black September.  The sports team is resourceful and smart, trying in earnest to bring the full story to viewers, but what is correct and what is speculation? Why September 5 works so brilliantly is that it fosters tension and suspense even though we know the terrible outcome.  The final minutes in which it was believed the Israeli athletes were freed at the airport hits like a gut punch.  Geoffrey is discussing interviewing the athletes about the ordeal.  We know better and it is brings a tear to your eyes. 

The performances in September 5 are outstanding, but there are no flourishes or excessive emoting.  September 5 is tautly told and focused.  It is also the first new release in the last three years I've attached a four-star rating to.  Now that we know that Hollywood can make a four-star movie, it's time to begin making them again more frequently. 

Caddyshack (1980) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Harold Ramis

Starring:  Michael O' Keefe, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Cindy Morgan, Brian Doyle-Murray, Scott Colomby, Sarah Holcomb, Dan Resin

Caddyshack is a funny movie in search of direction.  It has a threadbare plot and some of the characters and subplots seem dropped in from another movie.  There is plenty of comic talent on both sides of the camera, with Michael O'Keefe as a stabilizing force as our hero, caddy Danny Noonan, who wants a scholarship and sucks up to the snobs who frequent the country club where he works.

Danny is more or less a straight man and a witness to the lunacy taking place at the club.  Some of the nuts he encounters are head groundskeeper Carl Spackler (Murray), who obsesses over getting rid of the gophers who live under the course, sardonic golf pro Ty Webb (Chase), the apoplectic villain Judge Smails (Knight), and uncouth land developer Al Czervik (Dangerfield), who would love to buy the club and level it to make way for condos.  

We have various forms of humor, some of it successful, competing for the same screen.  There's gross-out humor, one-liners (courtesy of the energetic Dangerfield), dry wit, and then Murray's performance which is mostly improvised and is the weakest part of the movie.  Most of Murray's duties involve long, dragging monologues as he tries to eradicate the varmints from the course.  Caddyshack is frustrating because while it has a few brilliant comic moments, it plays like a series of unrelated comic vignettes instead of a full movie.  

Flight Risk (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Mel Gibson

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace

Flight Risk is Mel Gibson's first directorial effort since the excellent Hacksaw Ridge (2016).  Flight Risk is material that doesn't need someone of Gibson's talents to direct it.  It's not a terrible film, but it isn't memorable either.  Its star is Mark Wahlberg, but he spends the bulk of the movie in the back of the plane either tied up, knocked out, or beat up.  It's a shame, because he plays a terrific psycho when he is awake.  

The plot is simple.  The majority of the movie's 90-minute running time takes place aboard a beat-up plane flying a government witness named Winston (Grace) to Anchorage so he could testify against a mob boss in federal court.  U.S. Marshal Madolyn Harris (Dockery), seeking redemption after screwing up a similar assignment years ago, is in charge of the transfer.  The pilot is the talkative, affable Darryl Booth (Wahlberg), who we learn quickly is really an assassin hired by the mob boss.  Darryl (not his real name, but we will use for the purpose of writing this review) reveals his true colors while flying over the Alaskan wilderness.  

His plan was to kill Harris and Winston and...I assume dump their bodies or ditch the plane and parachute out?   I don't think this was well thought out.  Why not just kill them as soon as he boards and don't bother taking off?  I don't know.  Darryl needlessly complicated matters and also suffers a beating at the hands of Harris and Winston.  Once Darryl is incapacitated, Harris (who can't fly a plane), is talked through the flying process by a local air traffic controller who sounds like Apu from The Simpsons.

Dockery is a bit stiff and Topher Grace plays the weaselly Topher Grace role, while Wahlberg tries to have fun with the slightness that is Flight Risk.  Mel Gibson is a long way from Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge.  

Carry-On (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Jaime Collet-Serra

Starring:  Taron Egerton, Sofia Carson, Jason Bateman, Danielle Deadwyler, Logan Mitchell-Green, Dean Norris

Carry-On is an action movie which takes place on Christmas Eve, just like Die Hard, although that's where the similarities end.  For a while, Carry-On carries on (no pun intended) in the Die Hard tradition of silly action sequences and chases.  However, the plot bogs down in logistical questions in which we wonder why the villain made this all so hard on himself.  I'm aware Carry-On isn't made to be dissected or fully logical, but the more complications arise, the more I wonder how a smart guy like Jason Bateman's Traveler could've allowed for his plan to spin so far out of control. 

The plot is simple.  Ethan (Egerton), a TSA agent coasting along in his current job without much interest or future, is working the screening machines at the mobbed LAX on Christmas Eve.  He soon finds an earpiece with a note to place it in his ear.  The anonymous baddie on the other end tells Ethan that at a certain point, he needs to let through a passenger with something deadly in his carry-on suitcase.  If Ethan doesn't comply, the Traveler (as he's listed in the credits) will have his girlfriend Nora (Carson), who also works at LAX, killed.  For a while, this generates suspense, especially with Bateman providing menacing sarcasm similar to Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth (2002).  

But after Ethan allows the carry-on suitcase through (containing a bomb of Russian nerve gas), Ethan then attempts to stop the bomb and the Traveler from detonating it.  Through some bizarre plot point, The Traveler explains to Ethan how to dismantle the bomb before it blows up the airport.  This is the first of many head scratchers the Traveler commits.  What he should have done was use Ethan to get the bomb smuggled through, then prick him with some poison that will simulate a fatal heart attack (like he did with another LAX guard), the bomb could get on the plane, and no one would be any the wiser.

An LAPD detective (Deadwyler) is also on the case and needs to track down Ethan and the Traveler while piecing together what is happening.  And yes, there are some Christmas songs sprinkled throughout the soundtrack, to keep us in a jolly mood.  The actors sell the material better than it deserves.  But then the proceedings grow needlessly complicated and confusing.  The Traveler is supposed to be an expert "facilitator" who is paid a handsome sum to make plots like this run smoothly.  I'd say he's overpaid, and someone else could do it more cheaply and a lot less suspiciously.  

 

Street Smart (1987) * * *

Directed by:  Jerry Schatzberg

Starring:  Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Baker, Mimi Rogers, Andre Gregory

Jonathan Fisher (Reeve) is a desperate journalist for the New Yorker looking to save his job after each of his article ideas is rejected by his editor.  He then befriends a local hooker named Punchy (Baker), who doesn't want to give up information about her pimp, but she tells enough for Jonathan to create a phony article on a pimp named Tyrone.  The article is a success, he is now the toast of the town, and soon Jonathan finds himself on television covering investigative pieces.  All is great, until Punchy's pimp Fast Black (Freeman) is arraigned for murder and his lawyer notices the subject of Jonathan's article sounds an awful lot like his client. 

Jonathan is now caught in a lie, and this has legal ramifications for him should his secret come out.  His editor stands by him, but the court wants his notes, which Jonathan doesn't have of course, and the web of deceit grows larger.   Fast Black, who is as smart as he is ruthless, decides to use Jonathan's deception to his advantage.   He agrees to become Jonathan's interview subject legitimately, if Jonathan makes up notes and provides Fast Black with an alibi for his murder charge.  

Street Smart was Morgan Freeman's breakthrough role and his first Oscar-nominated role.  He can be charming and friendly, but then turn into a murderous monster without any notice.  Ask Punchy, who in a critical scene is reduced to a crying mess by the sheer force of Fast Black's personality.  Christopher Reeve's Jonathan rightly can't hold a candle to Fast Black.  He is out of his league and is being crushed by his own lie.  He's hardly a moral center, but we somewhat want him to get away with it because the other people in his life, except for his girlfriend (Rogers), don't seem to have much in the way of a moral compass either.  

Street Smart doesn't necessarily end convincingly.  Jonathan turns into a hero when he shouldn't, and do we really think he could stay on television after all of the public legal wrangling he was involved in.  

Stop-Loss (2008) * * *

Directed by:  Kimberly Peirce

Starring:  Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Abbie Cornish, Timothy Olyphant, Ciaran Hinds, Mamie Gummer

Stop-Loss begins in the middle of the endless Iraq War in which the soldiers, in between battles which could snuff out their lives, are counting down until their tour of duty ends and they leave the army.  The soldiers in Stop-Loss are led by Staff Sgt. Brandon King (Phillippe), who return home to a heroes' parade, party, get drunk, in some cases get into fights, but by the end of the weekend will have been discharged from the army.

It doesn't work out that way for Sgt. King, who just as he's finished filling out the discharge papers is stop-lossed, or has his service time extended because he is ordered to return to Iraq for another tour.  Sgt. King, who like many members of his unit is showing signs of PTSD, panics and flees the base.  He is soon AWOL and on the run with his best friend Steve's (Tatum) fiancee Michelle (Cornish) driving him to Washington where he hopes a local senator can help him.  Michelle sympathizes with Brandon and has seen and experienced Steve's PTSD firsthand when he struck her in a drunken rage.  Brandon experiences flashbacks and hallucinations.  He knows going back to Iraq would destroy him mentally if he manages to survive.

It is suggested to Brandon that he can take part in a lawsuit which might assist in reversing his stop-loss status, or he can contact a lawyer in New York who can send him off to Canada under a new identity.  Is Brandon willing to leave behind his friends and family forever because of his principles?  Stop-Loss doesn't end in a courtroom drama.  Instead, it concentrates on the military experience which disposes of its heroes soon after the parade ends.  Brandon and his friends are left to battle PTSD on their own.  Some are able to cope, others are not.   Phillippe makes a sympathetic hero and we care about him, even though we know where it all will end.  All of the performances work.  The movie doesn't settle for a happy ending.  How Brandon is able to avoid prison time is not explained, but Stop-Loss makes us feel sorry for a loyal soldier who fought for his country, but had the rug pulled out from under him right as tasted his own version of freedom.  

The Parallax View (1974) * *

Directed by:  Alan J. Pakula

Starring:  Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, Paula Prentiss, Earl Hindman, William Daniels, Walter McGinn

The Parallax View opens with an assassination atop the Space Needle in Seattle in which a panel determines was committed by a lone assassin.  This isn't the case, of course, and small-town reporter Joe Frady (Beatty), doesn't buy the official version.  He begins his search for clues, witnesses, and other players who can fill in the blanks.  Frady soon convinces his editor (Cronyn) that a corporation called Parallax trains and finances assassins.  Why?  To expediently get rid of its political enemies.  

The movie works best when it closes in on Joe and begins to feel like a nightmare.  Joe steps into a world of being recruited as an assassin, but Beatty isn't entirely convincing as the plot inexorably moves forward to its inevitable conclusion.   He doesn't behave like someone who wants to be a paid hitman.  If Parallax were worth its salt, they would've spotted him as a pretender right away.  It's as if the movie didn't want Beatty's character to get his hands dirty.  The movie is a triumph of atmosphere over plot, for only a little while. 

The ending is a drawn-out mess in which a shooting takes place in a large warehouse where apparently there is no security detail and the place is a logistical nightmare for such.  Joe is, of course, framed as the murderer and the panel featured in the beginning also concludes Joe was the shooter and acted alone.  This has also been determined in future movies by future such panels or the media.  Then, we get another reporter like Frady who sticks his nose in and the cycle repeats itself.  

Rules of Engagement (2000) * * *

Directed by:  William Friedkin

Starring:  Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Anne Archer, Bruce Greenwood

Rules of Engagement stars Samuel L. Jackson as the intense Marine Col. Terry Childers, who is tasked with evacuating the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen (Kingsley) when local protestors begin to grow loud and possibly violent outside the embassy.  Childers helps the grateful ambassador and his family to escape, but then the protestors and snipers seemingly fire on Childers' unit and he responds by ordering his team to shoot into the ground.  83 people in the crowd are killed and hundreds of others wounded.  The worldwide headlines say it's a massacre, and Childers is court-martialed for murder.

Childers calls on his longtime friend and former Vietnam cohort Col. Hays Hodges (Jones), whose life Childers saved in Vietnam, to defend him at the trial.  Hodges feels he is outclassed by the government's prosecuting attorney Major Mark Biggs (Pearce-speaking in an intense, inexplicable Noo Yawk accent), who is sharp and focused, but much younger than Hodges.  The courtroom scenes are done well and fall into familiar but suspenseful enough rhythms.   The wild card is National Security Adviser Bill Sokal (Greenwood), who foolishly destroys the embassy security tape which could exonerate Childers.  Why he does this and why he is against viewing the tape is not adequately explained or even comprehensible.  How could he rise to the level of National Security Adviser by making such dumb decisions?

That doesn't sink the movie, however, because it has a tried-and-true formula which it sticks to successfully.  It's not as polished or memorable as A Few Good Men or The Caine Mutiny, but it does the job. 

Poltergeist (1982) * * *

Directed by:  Tobe Hooper

Starring:  Jobeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Dominique Dunne, Heather O'Rourke, Oliver Robins, Beatrice Straight, Zelda Rubinstein, James Karen

Poltergeist, produced by Steven Spielberg, takes place in suburban California like E.T., released the same summer as this horror film.  Things seem normal at the outset of Poltergeist, with a typical suburban family in the Freelings going about their daily business.  But, the white noise of the television station which just went off the air (remember that?), beckons the Freelings' youngest daughter Carol Ann (O'Rourke), who is able to see and feel the ghosts which have taken refuge in the television set.

It is not a spoiler that Carol Ann is soon sucked into the television and the Freelings call on parapsychologist Dr. Lesh (Straight) to locate her and return her to the family.  It is here where the movie sags a bit, with Dr. Lesh and Diane Freeling (Williams), having discussions about the hereafter and the spirit world while Carol Ann sits helplessly in the boob tube.  Meanwhile, Steven (Nelson), a real estate agent who sells homes in the neighborhood where he lives, doesn't get much sleep and begins to look like the corpses which would soon show up in his unfinished swimming pool.

Poltergeist is more of a suspense thriller than anything else.  Most of the time it works on its intended level, and even somewhat as a satire on suburban life, and it's fun just to see a television station playing the Star Spangled Banner with the American flag waving in the wind on the screen.   I'm old enough to remember when local stations actually went off the air.  

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) * * *

Directed by:  Steve Pink

Starring:  John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Lizzy Caplan, Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover, Collette Wolfe, Sebastian Stan

Hot Tub Time Machine is a much better time travel comedy than you'd expect.  It has some thoughtfulness along with the humor and the gross-out scenes which back in 2010 were almost compulsory in comedies.  The plot is rather simple, and has a Hangover vibe.  Three longtime buddies travel to a ski resort where they spent a lot of their teenage and young adult years and their hot tub is turned into a time machine by a cryptic repairman (Chase).  They buddies, along with the leader Adam's (Cusack) nephew Jacob (Duke), discover that overnight they were transported to 1986.  

1986 serves as a touchstone year for these men.  Jacob was conceived that year, while Lou (Corddry) was knocked out by a local bully (Stan), Nick (Robinson), whose wife is cheating on him in the present day, realizes he gave up on his dreams of being a singer then, and Adam has a flirtation with a music journalist (Caplan) who could be his one true love.  Hot Tub Time Machine has fun with the time travel aspects.  It isn't Back to the Future, but not many movies could be.  But this movie isn't a raunchfest (raunchiness isn't funny anyway), but it also has a heart.  

The comic performances of the cast lend some weight to the proceedings.  Hot Tub Time Machine is pretty silly on its surface (most time travel movies are), but in the end, we see one character use the situation not just to financially enrich himself and his friends, but also use it as a chance to grow.  I never expected that.  

The Last Showgirl (2024) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Gia Coppola

Starring:  Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song

Shelly (Anderson) is a showgirl in a long time Vegas show which she learns is closing in two weeks.  At 57 years old, what is she going to do with her career?  She once auditioned for the Rockettes and other Broadway shows years ago, but she grew comfortable with the steady paycheck and being home every night.  The show cost her the formative years with her daughter (Lourd) who now lives in Tucson and holds a grudge.  

Shelly tries to be defiantly hopeful and keep a smile going, but she realizes her prospects are limited.  She would likely join her best friend and former castmate Annette (Curtis) as a casino waitress, and doesn't like the idea of dealing with drunk gamblers who flirt and pay at her.  One of the pitfalls the movie falls into more than once is having its characters stare out towards the horizon or do interpretive dance numbers while songs like Total Eclipse of the Heart play on the soundtrack.  These are fillers and not much more.  They don't contain much power. 

The Last Showgirl is a hit-or-miss affair which is meant as a showcase for the talents we weren't aware Pamela Anderson has.   Once we get past Anderson's baggage and settle into the character, we see Anderson play Shelly with depth and sweetness.  We feel for her situation and we care about her, which shows that Anderson is no longer the Baywatch character, but a living, breathing human being who ages like all of us.  

Blow Out (1981) * * *

Directed by:  Brian DePalma

Starring:  John Travolta, Nancy Allen, Dennis Franz, John Lithgow, Curt May

Sound effects man Jack Terry (Travolta), who works on sound for low budget B-movies, is recording outdoor sounds late one night when a car crossing a bridge blows out a tire and plunges into a creek.  Jack saves the woman in the car, but not the driver, who turns out to a state representative tapped to be a future political candidate.  The official story is that of an unfortunate accident, but Jack suspects there's more, especially after listening to the recordings Jack captured of the event.  

Jack repeats his listening obsessively and is convinced that the tire was shot out, which caused the crash.  Sally (Allen), the woman in the car, was a hooker paid to get close to the candidate by the anonymous people who also hired assassin Burke (Lithgow), to shoot out the tire to make it look like a blowout.  While we see Burke talking to his benefactors and planning his next move to kill Sally, Jack starts to sound like a conspiracy theorist when everyone else wants the book closed.  

Travolta and Allen previously teamed with director Brian DePalma in Carrie (1976) and once again they create a terrifying story with ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations.  Jack cares for Sally and wants to protect her, but at the same time, he wants to prove he's right, so he uses Sally as bait to draw out Burke.  This is dangerous for both, of course, because Burke is smart and competent, using words like utilize, objectives, and measure with no emotion when discussing his plans to eliminate any loose ends.  

Jack is correct that the accident was no accident, but he's also a person haunted by a previous government surveillance project which went sideways resulting in the death of the informant who was wearing the wire Jack provided that malfunctioned.   He thinks he can right this wrong in this case, but he finds there may be no redemption.  DePalma, like Martin Scorsese, specializes in stories which take on a subtext of guilt and wrongdoing, with redemption just out of reach.  Travolta's performance isn't flashy nor does it take advantage of his massive box-office appeal at the time.   Instead, we see him here as an actor giving a multi-layered performance, which he has done often, and it provides a strong moral center.  

Scrooged (1988) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Richard Donner

Starring:  Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Robert Mitchum, Carol Kane, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael J. Pollard, Alfre Woodard, John Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, John Forsythe

Scrooged is a modern-day retelling of A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray as the Scrooge-like Frank Cross, the head a television network who couldn't care less about Christmas, but is promoting a live retelling of A Christmas Carol on his network.  "People need to be absolutely terrified to miss this," he tells his Bob Cratchit in the form of his loyal assistant Grace (Woodard), who is among the many Frank takes for granted.   When he learns an elderly woman died after watching the commercial for the show, Frank is borderline elated.   His heart is as cold as the temperatures.

There is hope, however, in the ghost of Lou Heywood (Forsythe), the Jacob Marley who warns Scrooge, er, Cross to change his ways before it's too late, and to also tell him of the visit from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Christmas Yet to Come.   Cross is taken on a tour of his life, which includes a former girlfriend (Allen), who is still alive and available, and a cruel father who thinks he should've gotten a job at four years old. 

I don't need to tell anyone how the story turns out.  Scrooged is a middling telling of this classic tale.  Murray tries mightily to add sarcasm and a comic twist on the character, but we've seen Murray and Scrooge told better before. 

Nosferatu (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Robert Eggers

Starring:  Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson    

Nosferatu is Bram Stoker's Dracula with the names changed.  The original movie was released in 1922 by director F.W. Murnau and was remade over the years, including this version which is gray, dark, and effectively creepy for most of its running time.  While the atmosphere works most of the time, I found myself not caring that much.  Nosferatu held me at arm's length and the payoff isn't worth the buildup.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) had the same effect on me.  I haven't reviewed it, but this critique will suffice.  Its production values were top notch, and at least there were scenes where Dracula (Gary Oldman) reappears as younger and at least desirable to a young woman like Mina Harker (Winona Ryder), who is Dracula's deceased wife reincarnated.  In Nosferatu, the mistake is made to make Count Orlok (Skarsgard) so visually unappealing.  Orlok is a cadaver with a mustache and never transforms into someone his reincarnated love (Depp) should desire.  Torturing someone with vivid, horrifying dreams and visions is not a great way to convince someone to fall in love with you.  Besides, she's already married to the real estate representative (Hoult), who was sent to your dank castle in Transylvania to purchase land in Germany, 

The older version of Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie was old, but wasn't as decrepit as Count Orlok is here.   Oldman displayed an accent, but it wasn't unintelligible like Skarsgard's, who sounds like he's trying to speak English while having an asthmatic attack.  Ultimately, the first half of Nosferatu was more intriguing than the second half.  The closer we came to a resolution, the more boring it became.  

The Fire Inside (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Rachel Morrison

Starring:  Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry, Olunike Adeliyi

The Fire Inside is based on the true story of Olympic gold medal boxer Claressa Shields (Destiny), a teenager from Flint, Michigan who became the unlikely gold medalist at the 2012 London games, only to come home and find being an Olympian doesn't hold much weight when bills have to be paid.  This is not a boxing movie which ends in the Big Fight.  The gold medal match occurs halfway through the movie, with the obligatory training montage scenes before that.  

The Fire Inside isn't Rocky, although Claressa is surely an underdog with a fierce love of boxing that started when she was younger.  The opening scenes circa 2006 show her jogging before dawn to the local gym where Jason Crutchfield, himself a former boxer, trains.  Claressa, like Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby, asks to train to be a fighter.  Jason states he doesn't train girls, but after one round against one of her male counterparts, Jason agrees to train her.  Jason's attitude isn't rooted in sexism or misogyny, but the idea that in 2006, there weren't a lot of female boxers.  Women's boxing didn't become an Olympic sport until 2012, the year Claressa won gold. 

Claressa's home life is troubling, and boxing is her outlet and her passion.  Her mother is an aimless former drug addict.  Claressa admits to being raped when she was a young girl and she and her siblings frequently go hungry.  Jason has a loving wife and children, working steadily at the local cable company.  When Claressa wins the national title and travels to China for the Olympic trials, Jason can't afford to go with her.  Claressa loses her first bout there and squeaks into the Olympic draw, leaving her with self-doubt and resentment towards Jason for not being there. 

The rest is history.  Destiny is a convincing boxer and handles herself well, but the best performance in the movie is Henry's, who brings a steady dose of compassion, love, and strength to Jason.  He tries to be Claressa's manager and publicist when she returns home after winning gold, but finds the endorsements and money other Olympians gain aren't available to her.  A lesser movie would've blamed racism and sexism or even hinted at it, but The Fire Inside understands that sports agents are in the business for money, and there isn't much to be found for a female boxer back then, especially one like Claressa who is brutally honest in her interviews.  Claressa doesn't understand that she needs to play the game, and this doesn't sit well with her, but post-Olympic treatment isn't based necessarily on fairness.  The Fire Inside understands that and in some ways, it's refreshing.  

Mr. Brooks (2007) * * *

 

Directed by:  Bruce A. Evans

Starring:  Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Marg Helgenberger, Danielle Panabaker, Lindsay Crouse

Earl Brooks (Costner) is a successful Portland businessman who was just awarded by the city as its businessman of the year, but later that night, he murders two people in cold blood and burns his clothes in an incinerator.  We learn that Earl has killed many times before and has never been caught.  He is meticulous down to the last detail and troubled detective Tracy Atwood (Moore), who herself is caught up in a messy divorce, is frustrated by her inability to solve Brooks' murders.  

Mr. Brooks is a complex tale of a man at odds with himself.  On the surface, Earl is a family-oriented businessman whom no one can say a bad word about.  He isn't overly friendly and keeps to himself for good reason.  He thinks he has everything wired, until one day a young man named Mr. Smith (Cook) meets him at the office and provides compromising photos showing Mr. Brooks at the murder scene.  Mr. Smith, a voyeur, caught Earl in the act and blackmails him.  His price?  Take him along when Earl commits his next murder.  

Earl is guided by his imaginary alter ego Marshall (Hurt), who acts mostly as the devil on his shoulder.  He laughs off Earl's declarations that he won't kill anymore.  Earl's daughter Jane (Panabaker) also comes home saying she left school back east for fuzzy reasons and is also pregnant.  Earl and Marshall soon understand the truth of Jane's situation and Earl will have to go into the killing business again while trying to control the wildcard that is Mr. Smith.

Mr. Brooks is full of subplots and keeps a steady pace.  I'm sure I left a couple of other characters and plots out for the sake of brevity, but we find ourselves rooting for Earl to not be caught.  Why this dynamic?  It's rooted in the performances.  Costner's Earl Brooks is an intelligent man who loves his family, but also possesses the innate ability to kill.  Mr. Smith, well played by comedian Dane Cook, is a burgeoning psychopath looking for an outlet for his murderous desires.  We are also not without sympathy for Demi Moore's Tracy Atwood, whose job is to catch people like Earl Brooks and is not only dealing with a divorce, but a criminal she put away who escaped from prison and is coming for her. 

Mr. Brooks was supposed to be a trilogy, but its box-office failure prevented that from happening.  The movie serves its purpose as a standalone movie, but in the age of streaming, why not give us another couple of movies to see how the vision would play out?