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.   My lowest number 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."

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.