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.