Solo Mio (2026) * *

 

Directed by:  Charles & Daniel Kinnane    

Starring:  Kevin James, Kim Coates, Jonathan Roumie, Nicole Grimaudo, Alyson Hannigan, Julee Cerda, Andrea Bocelli, Julie Ann Emery

Solo Mio is a lackluster romantic comedy in which there is no new ground covered, which isn't always a bad thing, because romantic comedies tend to follow certain ground rules and rarely deviate from them.  We're on familiar terrain in Solo Mio, in which the likable but introverted Matt (James) is left at the altar by his fiancee Heather (Emery) during their wedding in Italy.  The humiliated Matt decides to take his honeymoon trip alone, since it's already paid for and he can't receive a refund, and naturally he falls in love with a local barista who helps him to come out of his shell.  Will the fiancee return at some point to try and reconnect?  Does a bear do his business in the woods?

Since Solo Mio isn't going to win any points for originality, we have to review how it's made and the energy it brings.  Solo Mio, even with the cast trying its hardest, is flat and limp.  James is as dependable a comic actor as there is, but even he seems weighed down by the material.  There isn't a lot of chemistry between he and the kind Gia (Grimaudo, who could be Catherine Keener's twin).  They're both very nice people indeed, but they just don't click.  The other couples who are part of the honeymoon tours Matt and Heather were supposed to attend as a married couple also intervene in Matt's love life, with their entire existence centered around prodding Matt and Gia toward eternal coupledom.  

Solo Mio (which means mine alone as Gia points out) is not hefty and isn't meant to be.  But it should be more amusing and delightful than it is.  We aren't stirred by the belief that Matt and Gia belong together.  The scenery of Rome and the Tuscan countryside is gorgeous and Andrea Bocelli (who is related to Gia) drops in to play and belt out some songs (and riding a horse). It's a shame these aren't in service of a better movie.  

The Lincoln Lawyer Season 4 (2026) * * 1/2

 

Starring:  Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Neve Campbell, Becky Newton, Angus Sampson, Jazz Raycole, Cobie Smulders, Elliott Gould

The Lincoln Lawyer is still a serviceable courtroom drama series, but it won't elevate into anything greater.  That's fine.  It doesn't need to.  However, this season's case involves Michael Haller (Garcia-Rulfo) on trial for murdering a former client who was found in the back seat of his convertible at the end of last season.  Fast forward to this season, and Haller is in county jail awaiting arraignment while serving as a pro bono attorney for other prisoners.  It's a good way to keep others from messing with you. 

Meanwhile, Haller's pending trial is causing his clients to drop him and his associate/ex-wife Lorna Crane (Newton) to try and scrape for clients just to keep the practice going.  Haller is still equipped with his loyal staff which includes Lorna, investigator Cisco (Sampson), paralegal and part-time driver Izzy (Raycole), and Haller's other ex-wife Maggie (Campbell), who joins the team to defend him in court.  The quasi-family vibe here works well, and the best scenes are the courtroom ones because of the inherent drama involved as Haller tries to defend himself while also figuring out who set him up and why.

Of course, Haller gets away with legal maneuvering that doesn't seem plausible nor would a judge continue to allow it.  Garcia-Rulfo remains a solid lead, but he's not the Michael Haller from the 2011 movie.  That is Matthew McConaughey and McConaughey will continue to be the actor people think of first when The Lincoln Lawyer is mentioned, but Garcia-Rulfo is smart and slick.  Newton is also a standout as the tireless, loyal Lorna, who is married to Cisco and we scratch our heads as to why a spark plug like Lorna would be married to the monosyllabic Cisco whose hygiene is suspect, although he is quite a good investigator.

The case itself doesn't wrap up satisfactorily.  It is anti-climactic with no true stunning developments or a suspect out of left field we didn't anticipate.  Instead, the final moments hint at a crossover with Bosch, which I never saw but I heard was entertaining.  I hope I don't have to catch up on multiple Bosch seasons in order to enjoy next season's Lincoln Lawyer.  Don't make me work so hard. 

Shelter (2026) * *

Directed by:  Ric Roman Waugh

Starring:  Jason Statham, Bill Nighy, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Naomie Harris

Shelter is the latest in what seems to be the annual Jason Statham action movie dumped into theaters in mid-January.  It will attract his built-in audience, but may not necessarily bring in newbies to the fold.  I didn't dislike Shelter, but it's not anything new or special.  Statham is capable of bringing us stellar action movies like Wrath of Man and even decent ones like A Working Man, but Shelter is strictly Statham by the numbers, which means he kicks a lot of ass, shoots many others, and utters as few words as possible.  

Statham is Mike Mason, a retired (and officially dead) former MI6 assassin who is drawn out of retirement to protect himself and a young girl (Breathnach) from being hunted down by current government killers who are trying to erase him as part of a cover-up.  Mike is a man with a particular set of skills who uses them in lengthy action sequences in which you wonder how his hands aren't killing him after delivering so many punches and how his guns never seem to run out of ammo.  He also develops fatherly instincts for the young girl and emotes as best he can when speaking to her. 

I've seen movies where Statham can deliver some dimensions such as Wrath of Man, The Bank Job, and The Italian Job, and no The Bank Job is not a sequel or prequel to The Italian Job.  He's rarely called on to do so anymore, but he's certainly capable of it.  Instead, we get Shelter, which is competently made but not likely to last long in your memory more than a few hours after seeing it. 

Saturday the 14th (1981) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Howard R. Cohen

Starring:  Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jeffrey Tambor, Severn Darden, Kari Michaelsen, Kevin Brando

I saw Saturday the 14th recently on a B-movie channel for the first time since I saw it in theaters decades ago.  I knew it was a cheap horror comedy, and I didn't expect any Oscar-caliber production values or performances, but maybe it would be amusing and silly.  It's silly, yes, but Saturday the 14th is simply not good even with the low expectations. 

The movie barely clears 75 minutes of running time (thank goodness).  The plot is:  The clueless Hyatt family inherits a spooky house in Eerie, PA (get it?) with the parents John and Mary (real-life married couple Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss) not seeming all that concerned that supernatural goings-on are happening.  Meanwhile, Dracula (I assume that's who he is) and his wife want the house because it contains a book of evil which they want to get a hold of.  Meanwhile, Van Helsing (Darden), a supernatural exterminator, also wants the book for his own nefarious reasons.  Both want to rule the world, although I always thought Van Helsing was supposed to be a hero.   Here is a worse villain than Drac. 

I guess Saturday the 14th was meant to be a spoof, but there aren't any laughs.  There are talented actors in it who are set adrift.  Maybe they thought the project would be fun.  They try.  They really do, but the whole enterprise just doesn't work.   I even tried to view it nostalgically, hoping I could maybe enjoy it on that level.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  

Send Help (2026) * * *

 

Directed by:  Sam Raimi

Starring:  Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien

Send Help might've been pitched as Misery meets Cast Away.  Instead of one person trapped on a deserted island, there are two and one of them is the other's dickhead boss.  Linda Liddle (McAdams) is an Annie Wilkes-type in a cutthroat corporate world.  She is an accounting whiz at some big company who was promised a promotion by the CEO who soon after dies and his son takes over.  He epitomizes arrogance and cockiness and finds Linda repulsive.  Then again, she does devour tuna fish sandwiches at her desk and according to Bradley has less than desirable personal hygiene.

Bradley and his crew then take a business trip to Thailand and bring Linda along because she knows the client well.  While on board, and shortly after Bradley and his buddies were viewing Linda's Survivor audition video and laughing at it, the plane malfunctions causing it to crash into the ocean.  Linda and Bradley are the only survivors and wash up on shore of a remote island.  Linda puts her survival skills to good use, while Bradley is helpless and injured and relies on Linda to even eat or drink water.  

Because Bradley is Bradley, he grows to resent Linda because he is the boss and shouldn't be relying on Linda to save him.  But then, Bradley and Linda begin to communicate better and respect one another to a point, but Bradley and Linda show their true colors in more ways than one.  Both are not likable.  Linda at first is the more sympathetic of the two, but then we see her darker side.  The McAdams performance walks the tightrope between pathetic, resourceful, and ultimately sneaky evil.  She's very good at balancing it all and still make it plausible. 

O'Brien is a frat bro type who attempts to stretch his boundaries and perhaps turn into a grateful man who sees Linda as valuable, but then again, it's tough to not be a prick when that's who you've been all your life.  Send Help has satirical elements and some of the scenes are unnecessarily gory and blood-soaked (I think of the boar scene and the projectile vomiting later), but Send Help is quite entertaining even if you consider that we're stuck on a deserted island with these two less-than-lovable characters. 

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) * *

 

Directed by:  Rob Reiner

Starring:  Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, June Chadwick, Paul Shaffer

Rob Reiner's sad and sudden death in December brought about nearly universal acclaim for his career.  He was a great actor and just as deft a director.  This Is Spinal Tap was his feature film debut in which he played documentary filmmaker Marty DiBerghi, who made a "rockumentary" about a fading British metal band whose glory days were clearly behind them but wanted to keep on rocking even if crowds were dwindling at their concerts.

As much as I hate to say it, This Is Spinal Tap is not among Reiner's best work.  It's sporadically amusing, but not a gut buster.  The humor is subtle, so much so that maybe I missed it.  There are long, droning interviews with the clueless band members, but they don't draw out many laughs.  Reiner's subsequent films like The Sure Thing, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, and A Few Good Men showcased his directing talents more effectively.  It was quite a stretch for Reiner, but I'd have to leave This Is Spinal Tap off of it. 

Spinal Tap pathetically attempts to remain relevant and reclaim their past glory, but a series of poor management decisions and subpar marketing have doomed Spinal Tap to a laughingstock.  One autograph session for their new album "Smell the Glove" draws zero attendees and the event organizer (Shaffer) can only lament what he thought would be a crowd-drawing spectacle.  The band's concerts contain sight gags like drummers simultaneously combusting and band members emerging from pods with bass player Derek Smalls (Shearer) stuck in one for the duration of the opening song.  

The band is unfortunately inept, not at performing necessarily, but about other aspects of the business such as marketing and interviews.  I've stated before that a British accent almost always makes someone sound more intelligent than he or she may actually be.  One could say "2 +2=6" and I'd halfway believe it.   The members of Spinal Tap push that notion to the extreme test.  But based on the movie's reputation, I expected a lot more.  Maybe this is why it took me over forty years to see it for the first time.  

Mercy (2026) * *

 

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, Kali Reis, Kylie Rogers, Chris Sullivan

Mercy sounds good on paper and for a while it leans into its whodunit premise effectively, but then it flies off the rails and becomes another in a long line of forgettable chase movies.  The movie centers on an LAPD detective who was a proponent of the new "Mercy Court" in which those accused are strapped to a chair and have 90 minutes to reduce their guilty quotient to 92% (which is considered reasonable doubt) by the AI judge who allows the defendant access to any online files, data, and assists with explaining the dizzying rules of the court. 

However, Chris Raven (Pratt) finds himself hung over and strapped to a chair accused of murdering his estranged wife Nicole (Wallis).  Raven swears he's innocent, but the evidence looks damning.  Of course, since he's the hero, we know he didn't do it, which is perfectly fine as Raven attempts to locate the real killer before his 90 minutes runs out and he's executed on the spot.  The AI judge (Ferguson) coldly provides Raven with advice, but soon maybe due to a program defect, she starts to sympathize with Raven, although it isn't made clear how or why except that the screenplay requires it.

I won't give away the ending of Mercy, except to say that it drifts into mindless action territory.  Mercy sounds like it should be a taut, clever thriller and on paper it is, but despite it's relatively short running time, Mercy starts to drag.  It's a concept that ultimately never flourishes into a film worthy of it.