Here (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Robert Zemeckis

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Paul Bettany, Robin Wright, Kelly Reilly

Robert Zemeckis' Here is an experiment in which a camera is planted in a spot and documents what happened in that spot throughout history.  The movie starts with the dinosaurs up to the present day, with multiple stories zig-zagging through time.  The bulk of Here takes place in a living room in a suburban Pennsylvania house.  Across the street is an old colonial home once owned by Benjamin Franklin, and the land on which these homes are built are ancient Native American tribal lands.  We meet the owners from the 1910's through the 2020 COVID pandemic.   My girlfriend told me that the movie reminded her of Disney World's Carousel of Progress only with sad parts.  It is an astute observation, and Here manages to be more than that.  Some parts are hokey, but others earn the audience's emotional response.

Here's main storyline focuses on the Young family, with WWII veteran Al Young (Bettany) and his wife Rose (Reilly) buying the home shortly after the end of the Second World War.  They settle into suburban life, raising three children with the oldest being Richard, who will grow up to be played by Tom Hanks.  Hanks is a gifted artist, but at eighteen knocks up his high-school sweetheart Margaret (Wright) and marries her.  Richard abandons his plans at an art career to raise his daughter in his father's home.  Meanwhile, Margaret laments the sacrifices she made for her family and verbalizes them at her 50th surprise birthday party. 

After a shaky start, I began to appreciate Here's sweep through time.  Zemeckis' style doesn't dominate the story and the characters.   Hanks and Wright, even de-aged, are still effective while harkening back to their pairing in Forrest Gump.  Could I have done without the time-jumping aspect?  Yes, a linear story framing would've worked well, but I was still moved by what's presented in the film.                                   

The Old Man (Season Two on FX) * *

 

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman, Joel Grey, Navid Negahban

The first season of The Old Man was terrific.  It told the story of former CIA operative Dan Chase (Bridges), who is forced out of hiding by assassins working for an Afghan warlord Faraz Hamzad (Neghban) looking for personal payback.  It turns out Dan fled Afghanistan with the warlord's wife and baby daughter Parwana, who grew up believing she was Dan's biological child.  The mother passed away and Parwana (Shawkat) goes by the name Abby Chase but also Angela Adams when she is working for the FBI under Harold Harper (Lithgow), who aided Chase in smuggling Hamzad's family out.  

The finale of season one saw Parwana/Angela/Abby kidnapped successfully by Hamzad and brought to his village where he controls a lucrative lithium mine in Afghanistan.  Parwana doesn't put up much of a fight in her acceptance of the villainous Hamzad and her family she never met.  Soon, Parwana's concern for her family outweighs her loyalty to Dan and Harold as they travel to Afghanistan to rescue her.   The first season's complicated history between Dan and Harold was in the forefront and it crackled.  In the second season, they bicker like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men, but that is the depth of their relationship. 

Season two meanders often, with Dan and Harold trying to save Parwana (who isn't exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of being saved), and then uncovering a conspiracy involving Russians trying to usurp control of the mine and wipe out the villagers.   This involves a visit to their mentor Morgan Bote (Grey), who is pulling the strings behind the scenes, although how he is doing so isn't fully explained.  Morgan has Dan's lady friend Zoe (Brennaman) with him when Dan and Harold drop in.  Was she kidnapped?  Did she go willingly?  There is no explanation on that either. 

Bridges and Lithgow shine even if the plot and subplots weigh them down.  I feel Lithgow is the heart of the show, acting as Dan's conscience while seemingly one step behind the plot as we are.  Harper halfway still believes in institutions like the FBI and CIA, even while seeing their handiwork firsthand.  The first three episodes drag, with endless dialogue and Parwana's monologues about how she found what was missing from her in Afghanistan.   Things perk up occasionally after that, and who knew being kidnapped could be such a positive experience?  

 

Conclave (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Edward Berger

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Carlos Diehz, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msamati

You wouldn't expect the conclave to elect a new pope would be the backdrop for a suspenseful thriller, but Conclave operates quite well within those parameters.  In the opening scenes of Conclave, the pope is on his deathbed and surrounded by the cardinals who aspire to take his place.  Among them is Dean Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes), who is put in charge of the conclave which will elect a successor.  

Lawrence himself is not campaigning to be pope, but he has his supporters.  He is as close to saintly as one could be, perhaps naively believing everyone in the Vatican is there to serve God and only God.  He will learn the hard way that this isn't the way things are.  Various cardinals jockey for position to win the title of Pope.  Among them are Cardinal Tremblay (Lithgow), the last cardinal to meet with the pontiff when he was alive, and may or may not be involved in a financial scheme while also allegedly trying to besmirch Cardinal Adeyemi (Msamati) with issues from his past.  Tremblay fervently denies wrongdoing, but we know better than to take him at face value.

Also in the running is Cardinal Tedesco (Castellitto), a conservative cardinal who laments the direction the church has taken and wishes to restore more traditional values, Cardinal Bellini (Tucci), who is against all of Tedesco's ideas and is Lawrence's best friend, and the newest member of the conclave, Cardinal Benitez (Diehz), who arrives secretly at the behest of the late pope.  As the daily voting takes place, candidates gain and lose ground, while others steadily climb.  Lawrence uncovers each cardinal's secrets, and navigates the territory while trying to keep his faith in the system.  Fiennes, a brilliant actor, is a sympathetic lead we can most identify with.  

The cast, of course, is stellar and how could it not be?  They could make reading a phone book compelling (if there are any of those anymore).  Conclave operates on the level of suspense and behind-the-scenes negotiating, bickering, and politics which make up this process.  Is it realistic or accurate?  I have no clue, but what's here is compelling.  The ending may appear to be a swerve for swerve's sake, but it raises questions about not only the direction of the Catholic Church, but about how many strings the late pope was pulling even from beyond the grave.  Would Catholics dismiss the movie out of hand for being "anti-Vatican" or would they follow it and be entertained?  I found myself siding with the latter point of view.  

Venom: The Last Dance (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Kelly Marcel

Starring:  Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Andy Serkis, Clark Backo

Venom: The Last Dance is the third in this Marvel trilogy of a symbiote from another planet which co-inhabits the body of Eddie Brock (Hardy).  After three films, the two have a funny chemistry which isn't explored enough.  Instead, the movie concentrates more on an alien invasion which had to be explained and from what I could see, they're here to take over the world somehow and the symbiotes that are being studied in a lab below Area 51 can stop them.  The plot itself is a mess, but Hardy redeems the movie somewhat. 

I don't know if studied is the correct word.  They hang in suspended animation in large jars with doctors marveling at them, while another is inside a prisoner (Graham) who tells the doctors and military commander Rex Strickland (Ejiofor) of an imminent invasion.  Meanwhile, Eddie and Venom are on the run from the government for events from the second film which I can't remember to save my life.  I gave Venom: Let There Be Carnage a positive review, mostly because of the solidified relationship between Eddie and Venom.   This third and tired installment doesn't even choose to fall back on that positive development.  

Hardy is up to the task of giving us a sympathetic Brock who has learned to how to co-exist with Venom and vice versa.  There is even a scene in which he dons a tuxedo to get into a Vegas casino with a strict dress code.  This is likely a tip of the cap to the persistent rumors that Hardy is running to play the next James Bond.  He looks the part, although, like Venom, the Bond series should rest in peace.  

We Live in Time (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  John Crowley

Starring:  Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Adam James, Grace Delaney

We Live in Time takes us on an unconventional romance between Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh) after Almut hits Tobias with a car.  It sure was a violent, shocking strike, but all is forgiven and the two engage in a years-long relationship in which Almut battles cancer twice.  The second diagnosis causes Almut to ask Tobias a question with no correct answer.   Do they put Almut through one year of chemo hell with no certainty that the cancer will remit?   Or live the rest of her life treatment-free and try to enjoy the moments, which may last roughly six months?  Tobias surely had to think long and hard about this, and who could blame him?

Tobias and Almut are nice enough people, but not memorable like Oliver and Jenny from Love Story, which is similar in story arc to We Live in Time, but more impactful.  Garfield and Pugh invest as much into these people as they can, and it's their performances that almost carry the movie over the finish line.  However, I watched We Live in Time and didn't feel there was much conflict or much to play against.  There is a brief interlude in which the two break up temporarily over Tobias' desire to have children, but that feels tacked on, and the reunion seems just as arbitrary.

Almut, a restaurant owner, also secretly engages in rehearsals for a prestigious European chef competition in place of her treatments, which also lacks a satisfying emotional payoff, even though it really tries to have one.  The entire movie is an exercise in a near-miss emotional experience.  

Smile 2 (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Parker Finn

Starring:  Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Drew Barrymore, Peter Jacobson, Raul Castillo, Dylan Gelula

Smile 2 is the follow-up to 2022's Smile, a horror tale of an invisible parasite which takes over your mind and drives you insane to the point that, when it's time to die, your mouth upturns into a malicious smile and you kill yourself.  If you happen to die in front of someone else, that person will now carry the parasite.  

I recall nothing about the original Smile.  I looked back and saw I applied a negative review, but I couldn't pass a quiz on it.  Smile 2, however, starts out with promise and Naomi Scott's performance is indeed terrific, but the horror aspects kick in and turns the movie into a mess.  Scott is Skye Riley, a pop superstar on the comeback trail one year after nearly dying in a car accident which killed her boyfriend.   Skye is recovering from substance dependency and is planning a nationwide tour kicked off on The Drew Barrymore Show.   However, the psychological and physical scars remain, and one night after a painful rehearsal, Skye visits her former drug dealer (Gage) in hopes of scoring painkillers. 

The dealer, though, acts erratically and is soon wearing the telltale smile before staring into Skye's eyes and smashing his own face with a barbell.  Skye leaves the scene and is haunted by troublesome visions which question her own reality.  Her mother (DeWitt) manages her career down to her sleep schedule, but soon is worried about Skye's erratic behavior which alienates her fans, her record label, and her best friend Gemma (Gelula), whom Skye hasn't spoken to in a long time.  Skye attempts to rekindle her friendship with Gemma, but soon we have to question what's even real. 

If Smile 2 were a drama about the life of a troubled pop star, it would've been compelling, but Smile 2 wasn't made to document Skye's life.  It was meant to be a horror film with gotcha moments and jump scares.  There are plenty of these to go around and would satisfy those who attended for scary moments, but soon Smile 2 flies off the rails to its inevitable ending, wiping out whatever goodwill the first half provided.  But, it's surely an improvement over the first film, for what that's worth. 

Jimmy Hollywood (1994) * *

 

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Joe Pesci, Christian Slater, Victoria Abril, Jason Beghe, John Cothran

Jimmy Alto (Pesci) is getting a late start on becoming an actor in Hollywood, but he doesn't lack confidence.  Like so many before and after Jimmy, he believes superstardom is one call away.  He even takes out a trade ad on a bus stop bench advertising himself.  When the phone rings, however, Jimmy is usually found hanging out by the pool of his apartment complex with his best friend William (Slater).  William is as quiet as Jimmy is loud and loquacious.  Most of Jimmy's dialogue is in fact a monologue, with William nearby just to lend his ears.   If William weren't around, Jimmy would be seen as someone who talks to himself or an actor reciting dialogue.  Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.

Jimmy Hollywood, written and directed by the usually top-notch Barry Levinson, has such a strong setup, but it is sad when it degenerates into a crime story where Jimmy becomes a vigilante in order to gain fame and stop crime (in that order).  One night, Jimmy learns his live-in girlfriend (Abril) was mugged and later his car broken into.  He decides to wait for the thieves to come back and then have William videotape what happens.  The thief returns and Jimmy throws him into the trunk, depositing him in front of a police station with a note signed "S.O.S." which William thought was the initials for Steven O. Selznick, who he thinks was producer of Gone with the Wind.  It was David O. Selznick, but close enough.  Jimmy then names his vigilante "group" Save Our Streets, and because he can't resist the spotlight, he sends videotaped messages to the police as Jericho, the shadowy leader of the S.O.S. 

The first thirty minutes of Jimmy Hollywood are full of vibrant energy, mostly due to the wired Pesci performance.   Abril and Slater are much quieter and provide balance, especially Slater as Jimmy's disciple who hangs on Jimmy's every word.  But, then the plot kicks in, and the performances are lost in the shuffle.  However, the end credit sequences featuring Harrison Ford are not only funny, but an insider's view of moviemaking that would've served Jimmy Hollywood better than the vigilante plot.