I Can Only Imagine (2018) * *

Directed by:  Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin

Starring:  J. Michael Finley, Dennis Quaid, Madeline Carroll, Trace Adkins, Cloris Leachman, Brody Rose, Tanya Clarke

One of the critical scenes in I Can Only Imagine can double as the basis for why it doesn't work.   The Christian rock group MercyMe is at a crossroads professionally, and the band's manager Scott Brickell (Adkins) tells the group's troubled lead singer Bart Millard (Finley), "I hear something that sounds genuine and authentic, and then you pull back,"    The movie feels the same way.    It contains brief flashes of power and genuine emotion, but then retreats into safe clichés.    Like other faith-based films I've seen, I Can Only Imagine preaches to the converted but presents not much else to care about for those who aren't already Christian.

The movie is based on the backstory of the late 1990's song of the same title.    It traces the roots of Bart's childhood of abuse and putdowns by his gruff, wounded father Arthur (Quaid) and how later in life Bart learned to forgive his father and heal himself in the process.    This is the recipe for a powerful family drama, but I Can Only Imagine doesn't delve as deeply into this as it should.    We also see the genesis of the band MercyMe, which according to the film's epilogue has released 21 #1 Christian singles.    These scenes fall back on generic rock band biopic formula, with the myopic focus on Bart so tight that we aren't sure if the rest of the band is even named, let alone given any scenes of any depth.    They exist simply to be the guys who play music while Bart sings.    If the actors who played the rest of MercyMe were replaced by other actors in midstream, I'm not sure I would've noticed.

I Can Only Imagine is less preachy than other faith-based films I've viewed, but when it pours on the faith, it isn't subtle.   The actors stop playing characters and instead become a vessel for the filmmakers.    That's a shame, because the performances in I Can Only Imagine are strong, played by actors with considerable screen presence and a seasoned pro in Dennis Quaid, whose meanness as Arthur never seems forced, nor does his eventual redemption before his death from cancer.    Finley can sing (he is a Broadway actor) and he handles himself deftly in some tricky scenes in which he has to overcome some stiff writing.    Country singer Trace Adkins has an air of authority and avuncular authenticity which allows him to be totally credible when telling Bart about what it takes to succeed in the music business.     It took me a minute to recall where I saw Madeline Carroll, who plays Bart's on-again, off-again (mostly off-again) girlfriend, but I remember her in Rob Reiner's Flipped.    She has a perky face and a winning smile, it's just too bad she spends most of the movie angry at Bart.  

I confess while Finley can surely belt out the tunes, the songs in I Can Only Imagine don't distinguish themselves.    The title song, which is supposed to be what all the hoopla is about, is frankly unmemorable.    I didn't leave the theater humming it or even recalling how it went.    But, it became a high watermark for the band, which continues to make music to this day.    The climactic concert scene contains some of the usual clichés of such scenes, including the slow-gathering applause and the late arrival of the singer's girlfriend, who the singer spots in the crowd and smiles at knowingly.   Would you be shocked to learn that after the song, the singer makes a beeline for the girl and they fall into each other's arms to the cheers of the adoring crowd while the score swells to a crescendo of elation?  

The epilogue tells the ongoing story of MercyMe and mostly Bart and finishes with footage of the real Bart Millard giving a speech about his father at a National Prayer Breakfast attended by Donald Trump and Mike Pence last year.    This may please evangelical Trump supporters, but it drew a groan from this viewer.    Poor Bart went through all he went through and his ultimate reward is meeting Donald Trump and Mike Pence?   Yikes. 

She's the One (1996) * * *

Directed by:  Edward Burns

Starring:  Edward Burns, Mike McGlone, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston, John Mahoney, Frank Vincent, Leslie Mann

She's The One is Edward Burns' follow-up to 1995's The Brothers McMullen, itself a charming comedy about a conflicted Irish-American Long Island family.    She's The One isn't a sequel, but it covers a lot of the same ground, and like Burns' debut film it is intelligently written and contains warmly observed humor.   This film's working title was "The Fighting Fitzpatricks" and that is an apt description of two brothers, Mickey (Burns), a cab driver and Francis (McGlone), a rich Wall Street hotshot, who don't have a lot in common except that they both slept with the same woman.   

The woman is Heather (Diaz), who was once engaged to Mickey, but is now having an affair with the married Francis, who hasn't had sex with his wife Renee (Aniston) since the affair started.    Francis' father (Mahoney) sums up the situation:  "Let me get this straight...you don't want to cheat on your girlfriend with your wife?"    Mr. Fitzpatrick's wife is never seen in the film, which is just as well since he doesn't regard her as much more than a servant.   ("If she keeps leaving the house, I'm going to have to make my own breakfast,").    Despite his sexist, antiquated views on marriage and the opposite sex and his belief that any dispute can be settled with a boxing match in the backyard, Mahoney instills Mr. Fitzpatrick with a certain likability.    We've all met this guy before and while we shake our heads at some of the things he says, his honesty and love for his sons is endearing.

Mickey's romantic fortunes take a turn for the better when he picks up Hope (Bahns) in his cab and drives her to New Orleans for a wedding.   They marry on the spot instead and this causes friction between he and Francis, who wanted to be the best man.    Further issues develop when Hope informs Mickey that she is going to move to Paris to further her education.   Mickey isn't keen on moving to Paris, but he doesn't want to part from Hope.    Heather also manages to work her way back into Mickey's life, and not necessarily via Francis.    We know as night follows day that soon Mickey, Heather, and Francis will all learn about what's going on and it will cause a strain, albeit not a permanent one, between Mickey and Francis.    We get the feeling Heather, who "works on Wall Street" although surely not in the same fashion as Francis, will land on her feet.    Diaz brings cool street smarts to the role and is far less clueless and far more practical about love than either Mickey or Francis.  

Burns' films remind me of a sharper edged Woody Allen, minus the neuroses but including the religious angst.    Burns knows how to keep us interested and care.    Burns, as an actor in his own films and in other movies, has an unforced, edgy presence which serves him well.    He is a nice guy, but don't push him too far.     He generally makes movies which, after all of the fighting, insecurity, and conflict, still manage to fall into a happy ending, even if it isn't exactly what they deserve. 

Sidewalks of New York (2001) * * *

Directed by:  Edward Burns

Starring:  Edward Burns, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci, Brittany Murphy, David Krumholtz, Dennis Farina, Rosario Dawson, Aida Turturro

The backstory of the delayed release of 2001's Sidewalks of New York is likely more remembered than the film itself.    Scheduled for release shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the movie's release was instead pushed back to November 2001 because I suppose the idea of hearing the words "New York" in a film title or viewing the Twin Towers would cause some people to freak out to the point of apoplexy.    I'm shocked the studio didn't change the name of the movie to Sidewalks.    There is sensitivity to a recent horrible terrorist attack, and then there is this insanity. 

On to the movie, which is a fun lark through the romantic lives of six or seven New Yorkers with a definite Woody Allen feel.    I could've done without the pseudo-documentary like footage in which some of the characters are interviewed about their attitudes on sex, love, romance, and their current romantic situations.    But, when the stories are given the chance to play out, they are charming and knowing about love, or at least people's perceptions of it. 

Before Sidewalks, Edward Burns wrote and directed the intelligent romantic comedies The Brothers McMullen and She's the One.    Sidewalks of New York expands the Burns universe to a few more interlocking romances in which the subjects are connected.    We meet Tommy (Burns), who is looking to romance skittish schoolteacher Maria (Dawson), who is fresh from a divorce from Ben (Krumholtz), who while pining for his ex is also looking to romance college student Ashley (Murphy), who is having an affair with dentist Griffin (Tucci), who is married to realtor Annie (Graham), who completes the circle by flirting with Tommy as she shows him Manhattan apartments.

The subplots are fairly easy to keep straight and there is also the late, indispensable Dennis Farina as Tommy's aging Lothario boss who offers cynical, yet sage advice on dating.   ("I'm as big a dog as there is, but even I know to stay away from married women,")   Farina always had a way of cutting through the crap and creating genuine authenticity in every scene.  Not a word leaves his lips which doesn't sound heartfelt and true.  I miss him dearly.  

Burns, the actor, is a welcome presence.   He is less neurotic than Allen, whom he clearly patterns his comedies after, and maintains a certain edge even while putting on the charm.   I especially liked the wordless, awkward showdown between Ben and Tommy outside Maria's apartment, in which Ben glares at Tommy while Tommy stands with arms folded resisting any chance of small talk.    Another standout is Tucci, whose Griffin is a heartless womanizer who still manages to believe he is a decent person while all evidence points to the contrary.   He deludes himself temporarily into thinking he is in love with Ashley, or is he just more into her now that she made herself unavailable?  

Sidewalks of New York poses fundamental questions which no one really knows the answers to.   They, like we, just do the best we can with the information presented and what we know about ourselves.    Even then, most people still find a way to screw it up, because hearts and minds are unpredictable and rarely agree. 

Unsane (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Amy Irving, Aimee Mullins

Steven Soderbergh shot Unsane on an iPhone, which surely saves money on production expenses, but it adds to the film's effectiveness.    There is an eerie feeling that its protagonist's space is not her own and Unsane deliberately adds the topical subtext of the #MeToo movement.    It functions on the level of a nightmare; one in which Sawyer (Foy) is not only imprisoned against her will, but her protests are believed to be byproducts of her supposed insanity, so no one takes them seriously.  

We first meet Sawyer speaking curtly to a customer over the phone at her new job 450 miles away from home.    She fled her hometown to get away from a stalker and the psychological effects linger.   She is tense, impersonal, and distrusting.    Her Tinder hookup date goes awry, and Sawyer consults a local behavioral center for therapy.    After filling out a few forms which she was made to believe were your typical routine medical forms, Sawyer unwittingly gives her consent to be institutionalized and is soon held for "observation".  

Fellow patient Nate (Pharoah), who is undergoing opioid withdrawal treatment, befriends Sawyer and tells her how insurance plays a big part in how the center will treat her.    When the insurance stops paying, she will suddenly be "cured", which is estimated to be seven days.    Sawyer is not a model patient.   She attacks fellow patients who invade her space and adds to the center's belief that she is a danger to herself and others.    Her protests to the doctors go unheeded, especially when she discovers her stalker in the flesh working at the center.    Or a man she believes to be her stalker, a bearded giant named George (Leonard), who she knew as David back home.    Even if George is indeed David and is indeed continuing to stalk her, no one believes her anyway.

There isn't much suspense as to whether George is her stalker under a new identity.   He may as well wear a t-shirt which says, "STALKER" on it.    Sawyer confides in Nate, who manages to maintain access to a cell phone even though they are forbidden, and tells her story of how she met the obsessive and dangerous David/George.    Why does Nate have a cell phone while others don't?   And why does he write things down in a notebook?    We know there is more to Nate than meets the eye.

Even though Unsane was shot on an iPhone, it does not look cheap or like something one posts on YouTube.    The colors are drained in the shots, and we feel like we are watching surveillance footage; almost feeling guilty for not intervening.   Foy gives us a remarkable performance, mostly because she is edges and elbows and not necessarily easy to like.    Did her experience with David make her that way?    Or are there deeper psychological scars hinted at by her mother (Irving), who tries to rescue Sawyer legally but to no avail.    Her lawyer is so disinterested in Sawyer's case that he hangs up on her mother in mid-sentence.

The final twenty minutes or so play out like a routine slasher thriller, which is somewhat disappointing considering how well Unsane was working before that.    But, the payoff isn't fatal to the overall viewing pleasure of Unsane, which combines Hitchcock-like suspense with the topical undercurrent of how women are not listened to even when they are screaming at the top of their lungs.    Sawyer is under attack by the center and by her stalker, but the medical machine scarcely notices or even cares.   

Downsizing (2017) *

Directed by:  Alexander Payne

Starring:  Matt Damon, Hong Chau, Christoph Waltz, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Udo Kier, Neil Patrick Harris, Laura Dern

Downsizing is all concept with its only amusing parts spoiled for us in the trailers.    The movie lumbers for 135 minutes without any sort of satisfying payoff.    It wants to be director/writer Payne's usual social satire mixed with feel-good liberalism about doing the right thing after all even if you are only five inches tall.    Downsizing doesn't go anywhere and, worse yet, it is in no hurry to get there anyway.

The concept, which I'm sure you've heard of by now, is how scientists discover a way to shrink humans to five inches in height (although curiously the people after they are shrunk still seem to be of varying heights).    The theory is that smaller people would consume less waste and thus help the planet pull back from the brink of self-destruction due to climate change.    People's reasons for downsizing are not entirely altruistic, as they learn a dollar stretches a lot further when you are smaller. 

The shrunken people live like kings in small colonies across the world, but Downsizing has a message, and that is even in this seemingly Utopian world, there will always be haves and have-nots.  Paul Safranek (Damon) is an Omaha occupational therapist who along with his wife Audrey (Wiig)  becomes increasingly interested in downsizing when they realize they are the full-size version of a have not.    In a spoiler the trailers gave away, Audrey wimps out and leaves Paul alone in the downsized world of Leisureland, which sounds more like a theme park than a community.

One of the running gags of Downsizing is how people keep mispronouncing Paul's last name and, if that is a running gag, it doesn't bode well for the humor in the movie.    Once Paul undergoes the transformation and is dropped into his new world, the movie grinds to a halt.    It takes on Paul's malaise and kind of muddles through scene after scene with no apparent energy.    Downsizing treks into "what's the meaning of it all" waters when Paul's partying neighbor Dusan (Waltz) befriends him and then Paul falls for Dusan's cleaning lady, Ngoc (Chau), who made headlines recently for defecting from Vietnam in a small box.   She had her lower leg amputated and Paul uses his occupational therapy background to help her out.    Despite not having an ounce of chemistry, they fall in love and soon Dusan, Paul, and Ngoc travel to Norway, where downsizing was first discovered by a scientist.    It seems there is grim news on the horizon for the human race; something to do with methane gas released from melting Antarctic ice caps which will speed up the timetable for humankind's doom.

Paul is then left with a decision: Stay with his friends or follow a group of other tiny people down a tunnel to live underground and allow humans to survive another catastrophe.    Since the movie up until this point has been stupor-inducing boring, we don't much care what happens to Paul.   Or anyone else.   Chau and Waltz try to bring some earnest energy to the film, but to no avail.    They surely steal the movie from Damon, who surprisingly doesn't make much of an impact.    Ditto for the movie, which starts out with an intriguing concept and then just travels through ever-increasing stages of dullness.   Alexander Payne has made some terrific satires and human comedies over the years, including Election (1999), Sideways (2004), and Nebraska (2013).    Downsizing is not among those, and is a step down from Payne's usual quality. 

She's Out of My League (2010) * * *

Directed by:  Jim Field Smith

Starring:  Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, TJ Miller, Krysten Ritter, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Lindsay Sloane

Kirk (Baruchel) rates himself on a scale of 1 to 10 as a 5.    He's a nice guy who works as a TSA agent at the Pittsburgh Airport, but suffers from a crisis of confidence.    He has a perpetual squint and his expression looks like someone who is puzzled by what you're saying.    When he speaks, the words come out, but not necessarily with authority.    He is further perplexed when a blonde knockout named Molly (Eve) asks him to dinner after he finds her lost iPhone and they actually begin a relationship.    For years, Kirk (like everybody), dreamed of dating a 10, but now that it is a reality he isn't entirely sure how to handle it.    She's out of his league, which his friends and family never tire of telling him.

Kirk and Molly make an intriguing couple and are played by the likable Baruchel and the knockout Eve, who lights up the screen.   They elevate She's Out of My League to a successful romantic comedy, mostly because it contains some insight into human nature which we didn't expect.    Kirk's romantic life is not prosperous.    His shrill, manipulative girlfriend Marnie (Sloane), cheats on him, but his family still seems to like her more than him.   So, she is involved in family functions while Kirk silently stews over this awkward dynamic.    She even brings her new boyfriend around.

Molly had just broken up with a shallow faceman because he is, well, a shallow faceman.   She takes a liking to Kirk's general awkwardness and takes the lead by asking him out.    She feels he is a "safer" choice for a boyfriend, because he isn't an insensitive hunk.    Kirk wants to be a pilot, but lacks the confidence to take lessons.    His friends at work, including the big-mouthed, but hilarious Stainer (Miller), simply can't believe Molly would be into him.    It isn't that Kirk is a bad guy or they don't like him.    It just doesn't look right to see Molly with him.    She's way too hot for him, in just about everyone's eyes.

Molly is a doll and genuinely loves Kirk, which makes Kirk excited and nervous at the same time.   He acts as if the clock is ticking on when she will eventually grow tired of him and dump him.    In his mind, his options are not as plentiful as hers.    One of the reasons She's Out of My League works is because it allows Kirk and Molly to be three-dimensional.     They each have their own hang-ups they need to work through, which hopefully can be figured out in time so they don't preempt what could be a lasting romance.

The ending is predictable and standard for a romantic comedy, in which the lovers are broken up but realize they love each other after all and their physical reunion is delayed by plot contrivances.    That doesn't matter, because those are to be expected.    What I didn't expect, and in fact cherished about the movie, was its intelligence and love for its wacky characters.  

  

Thank You for Your Service (2017) * * * *

Directed by:  Jason Hall

Starring:  Miles Teller, Haley Bennett, Beulah Koale, Scott Haze, Joe Cole, Amy Schumer, Omar J. Dorsey

The title "Thank You for Your Service" is not a thank you at all, but an ironic, hollow statement.    The soldiers in the film, Sgt. Adam Schumann (Teller), Specialist Tausolo Aieti (Koale), and PFC Will Waller (Cole), come home from tours in Iraq and are forced to deal with the rest of their lives.  Each suffers from PTSD, with varying degrees of depression, rage, anger, sleeplessness, inability to connect with people, and turning to drugs for relief.    Tausolo (or Solo) has memory loss so bad he can't remember if today is Wednesday or Thursday.    They seek help, only to battle an unsympathetic bureaucratic machine that couldn't care less about what happened to them in Iraq.    They are no longer of use to the military, so lotsa luck fellas.

Thank You for Your Service is an angry film with riveting portrayals and situations that feel real.    What happens to the former soldiers is intense, dramatic, and feels authentic.    There is no military glorification here.    No fetishistic patriotism either.    The movie doesn't seek to inspire the next Chris Kyle, but instead deals humanely with those soldiers who don't get to have films made about them (although this film is based on true events).   What happened to Adam, Solo, and Will has likely happened to millions of other soldiers, and not just in the United States.

Adam comes home and pretends all is well, but we see how out of touch he is when he makes chocolate chip pancakes for his daughter and she tells him she doesn't like chocolate.    His wife Saskia (Bennett) sees through the facade when he sits quietly while they watch a race at the speedway.    She wants him to open up, which he is reluctant to do.    Adam tries to go on with life as if things were normal, but after a terrifying late night hunting expedition with Solo, he realizes he isn't right.    There are reasons why, which the story takes its time developing.     Will returns home to find his wife left him, cleaned out his house, and took his daughter.    He terrifyingly deals with this news.

Solo wants to be deployed again, probably because the Army is the only place in which he ever felt comfortable or necessary.    The Army, due to his head trauma and symptoms, does not want him redeployed.    He turns to drugs and falls in with a ruthless drug dealer (Dorsey), an Operation Desert Storm veteran who cruelly takes advantage of Solo's need.    The film's performances are all real and engaging, and we feel everyone's pain from the inside out.     The former soldiers want only to feel as useful as they did in Iraq, but instead they are left as shells of their former selves.    The scenes in which Adam and Solo wait endlessly for help as the red digital counter slowly moves upward are enraging.    One telling point is when Adam's former commanding officer sees him waiting in line for help and chastises him for being weak, saying something about morale, as if the others truly care.   As Adam says, "He didn't fight our war.  He fought the war from behind a computer," 

Thank You for Your Service truthfully understands how soldiers continue to be chewed up and spit out by a society they thought they were protecting.    Our nation has become too obsessed with the symbolism of the military and not the actual people in it.    Some people profess love for the military that borders on fetishism and call themselves patriotic.    But, how patriotic is it when soldiers come home after all of the hoopla subsides and are left with few alternatives to deal with their experience?  People love it when a uniformed soldier shows up at a football game and his reunion with his family is captured on camera.    But, does anyone care what happens when the cameras are turned off?   In a time when kneeling during the national anthem is treated like a capital offense while the pregame ceremonies before sporting events play like recruitment ads for the military, Thank You for Your Service is a welcome and needed antidote to the false "patriotism" people profess.    Is allowing soldiers to suffer and make them jump through hoops for basic psychiatric help patriotic?   Or does patriotism only extend to how much life and energy we can squeeze out of a person while he or she is overseas fighting battles started by his or her government?    After that, it seems they are on their own.

I Am Heath Ledger (2017) * *

Directed by:  Adrien Buitenhuis and Derik Murray

Featuring:  Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts, Ang Lee

Heath Ledger died in January 2008 soon after wrapping what would be his posthumous Oscar-winning, iconic role of The Joker in The Dark Knight and while filming his next feature, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.    He was just 28 and as I Am Heath Ledger suggests, he had a lot more creativity in him simply waiting to bust out.     He was a tireless worker, with his mind racing a hundred miles a minute with ideas and plans for projects.    His brief film career rose following The Patriot, Monster's Ball, and A Knight's Tale, stumbled with The Order and The Four Feathers, then rose again to superstardom with Brokeback Mountain.    The Dark Knight might have netted him an Oscar even if he had lived, because it was such a daring, original performance.    But, we will never know that. 

I Am Heath Ledger covers the all too brief life of Ledger, who moved from Australia to Hollywood as a late teen and soon found himself in the lead role of the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate about You (1999).    Ledger wanted more than to be pigeonholed as a teen heartthrob, he wanted mainstream fame, which came and went and then came again, but before he could ever gain his footing and appreciate it, he was gone.    In the words of a childhood friend, "He wanted fame, until it came and then he didn't want it anymore,"    At the time of Ledger's death, he wanted to explore directing and other avenues of filmmaking.    We sense he would have been one to try and push boundaries, like he did in some of his performances.

This documentary has a clear love for its subject because it was made with assistance of Ledger's childhood friends and actors such as Naomi Watts, who once was Ledger's girlfriend and has a great affection for Ledger's spirit.    But, something is missing here.    I Am Heath Ledger never fully compels.    It wastes a lot of time on Ledger's home movie projects, which are as long and artless as your average Joe's home movies.    Just because it's Heath Ledger doing the work doesn't make it any more riveting.

The movie spends the most time on Ledger's best known performances in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight.    We gain an understanding of Ledger's unusual choice in physical mannerisms which completely work for his characters of Ennis and The Joker.    We learned he licked his lips as The Joker a lot out of necessity because his lips would dry out.    It is illuminating to hear Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain's director, confess that Ledger actually had more lines in the film than any other actor, but due to Ledger's unique acting choices made it seem like he didn't speak much.

The Order, The Four Feathers, Casanova, and I'm Not There are not covered at all, which makes the documentary seem only interested in Ledger's successes and not his failures.    I would have liked to see how he handled box office bombs and how they played into his psyche as an actor.    I would have also enjoyed to hear from Michelle Williams, with whom Ledger had a daughter, but it isn't necessarily the filmmakers' fault if she didn't wish to be interviewed.   

We see Ledger as an artist who rarely slept, who was insecure, but unafraid to try new things in his performances, and whose flame was doused much too early.    There is a better documentary to be made on his life, but this isn't it.    It is frustrating to watch. 

Tomb Raider (2018) * 1/2

Directed by:  Roar Uthaug

Starring:  Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Derek Jacobi

If a tomb is built to bury alive an evil sorceress who has the power to unleash dread upon the world, then why would those who constructed the tomb create a way to enter it later?    In case they change their minds and decide to let lose the evil after all?    Why would they waste time, energy, and resources constructing a pyramid-like tomb on an uninhabited island in the first place?    Who drew the paintings all over the wall?    Why did they bury her followers who committed a mass suicide also?    How much did it cost, which I figure would be a lot even in early 11th century money?    Why would a multi-billion dollar corporation, even one with plans of total world domination, want to unearth this evil to unleash upon the world and thus kill nearly everyone in it?   Who would be left to dominate?

My entire review of Tomb Raider could be nothing but questions, but that would be boring.   Almost as boring as the movie itself, which features a game Alicia Vikander doing her best Indiana Jones impression in a film which feels like a knockoff Raiders of the Lost Ark.    I saw only parts of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), which starred Angelina Jolie as the ultra-skilled adventurer and never bothered with its sequel.    Now we have a reboot which starts the Lara Croft story before she became the famous video game hero. 

It isn't much of a story.    Lara, whose missing father was a powerful billionaire, is content working as a bicycle courier, training for MMA battles, and taking on athletic dares such as a "fox hunt" in which she is the "fox" whom others chase around London on bikes.    Her beloved father Richard (West) has been gone for lo these seven years and the trustees of her dad's corporation want Lara to sign papers which would officially declare him dead in the corporation's eyes and allow Lara to gain control.  Lara hangs on to the faintest hope that her father is still alive and soon discovers he was not just a corporate billionaire, but a guy who tracked down artifacts in his spare time. 

Richard's mission, Lara soon discovers, was to travel to an unknown island near Japan and stop another evil corporation from stealing the corpse (I assume that it is a corpse by now nearly 1,000 years after being buried alive) of the sorceress (or perhaps queen, who knows) and using it to control the world.    Or at least severely deplete the surplus population.    Lara lights out for Hong Kong, where she tracks down the son of the man Richard hired a boat from seven years earlier to light out for the island.    Before she travels to Hong Kong, we see several instances of her athleticism, including her MMA sparring session, her bicycling abilities, and her chasing after thieves who steal her backpack in a Hong Kong harbor which looks more like a bazaar.    Forget this archaeological stuff.    Lara could enter in the decathlon and win a gold medal. 

The ship, owned by Lu Ren (Wu), is soon destroyed in a storm and Lara and Lu are taken hostage on the island by Matthias Vogel (Goggins), who has been working for seven long years with help of lackeys and slaves to find the missing tomb on behalf of the evil corporation Richard was trying to stop.   We soon learn Richard's fate as well as Lu's father's, and the movie handles a potentially touching moment all wrong.    And when Lara crashed up on shore, how did the person who captures her know she would be there at that exact moment in the middle of the night during a hurricane?
And if the island is indeed as off the grid as Richard suggested in the prologue, then how can the villain receive cell phone service there?    And how do so many people keep crashing into it? 

No more questions, I promise.   Vikander looks the role with her athletic build and steely determination, but she doesn't possess the sly sense of humor that Harrison Ford brought to Indiana Jones or even Jolie brought to the original Lara Croft.    The entire film lacks any sort of fun or humor, two things which a movie such as this one desperately needs because the audience already knows it will be ridiculous.     Tomb Raider feels like it is holding something back and never lets loose enough to be enjoyed or enjoy itself.     The ending leaves the possibility open for future adventures, but like the tomb in Tomb Raider, the filmmakers should leave well enough alone. 

A Wrinkle in Time (2018) * 1/2

Directed by:  Ava DuVernay

Starring:  Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, Deric McCabe, Zach Galifianakis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Levi Miller, Michael Pena

Maybe I should have read the book.    Maybe I should've known there was a book, or a series of books, in the first place.    People tell me they read the book in grade school.    Funny, I went to the same grade schools and don't recall a wrinkle in anything.    Maybe the book should've been adapted to the big screen sooner than fifty-plus years after its initial publication.    Because the supposedly wondrous things we see in A Wrinkle of Time have already been done in countless other science fiction films.  It feels curiously outdated, even on the visual front, and we are left with not a lot to care about.

I'd be heavily disappointed to say the least if I were transported ninety billion light years away in a flash and I stumble upon yet another gorgeous planet of green grass, mountains, water, and fields as far as the eye can see.    Heck, there is all of that in Kentucky.    Once I gaze at the untouched, unmolested beauty, then what?   What do I do for the remaining 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 10 seconds of my day?    And the ones to follow?    I'd be bored out of my skull.    A Wrinkle in Time is not the first movie to suggest that somehow this is heaven.    That, or the endless cloud place.    If heaven is a place, I'd better not see a tree or I will complain to the management.

That's what we have with A Wrinkle in Time, which presents us with lush scenery, acres of greenery, and way too emotional music to remind us that something wonderful is happening, lest we forget something is.    I will tread lightly on the plot, which involves NASA scientist Alex Murry (Pine), who along with his wife (Mbatha-Raw) discover tesseracts, or ways to fold time and space so you can travel to other galaxies in a snap.    Alex soon disappears one day and is gone for four years, while his adopted daughter Meg (Reid), adopted son Charles Wallace (McCabe), and wife Katherine struggle to make sense of his vanishing.    A magical being in the form of Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon) soon arrives in the family living room to spread the good news:   Alex may be alive.   There is also a Mrs. Which (Winfrey) and a Mrs. Who (Kaling), who help Meg and Charles Wallace start the journey to find their father.    Funny, we don't see Mr. Whatsit, Mr. Which, and Mr. Who anywhere.   I'm sure they would be mildly upset that their wives are never around.

Besides the world of endless grass and mountains, we visit other worlds which look like the sets we saw in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and heck even the suburban cookie cutter homes of Edward Scissorhands.    When a movie makes me think of the latter two films, you know the movie is in trouble.    The beings, or guides, or whatever they are can use their powers to help move the kids, who go on the journey along with a school friend named Calvin (Miller), who has a crush on the distrustful, withdrawn Meg.    One turns into a flying piece of lettuce, while others use other magical tricks which rob them of their energy to the point that Meg and the group have to go it alone.    Will Meg find the confidence to trust herself and others?    What do you think?

There maybe was a time in which the material of A Wrinkle in Time might have seemed revolutionary or imaginative, but now it seems like old hat.    We've been from one end of the universe to the other and back so often we should be awarded frequent flyer miles.    The only villain in the film is a large tree-limb thingy called It, and guess what?   There was also a movie called that as well last fall.   I think I saw this creature in the Tom Cruise flop Legend (1985), which was played by Tim Curry.    The names of It, Mrs. Whatsit, etc. sound like lifts from Dr. Seuss books.    The film's events are moved to the present day, but the ideas are stuck in the early 1960's when the idea of things which are trite today seemed glorious and cutting edge. 

Our imaginations were stretched and challenged by 2001, Star Wars, Star Trek, and even the Marvel universe as to what powers the universe possesses.    A Wrinkle in Time is too little, too late.   We've been there and done that. 

Men in Black 3 (2012) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring:  Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve

The first two Men in Black films were both slyly fun.   They satirized "aliens attack" films while being one also.   I am shocked to learn I hadn't reviewed either for this blog, but I'd give the first two entries three stars each.   The third installment now has time travel to poke fun at, and the result is both entertaining on a story level and touching in other ways.   

We recall Agent J (Smith) and Agent K (Jones), who as the third film opens are now longtime partners battling a particularly nasty alien named Boris the Animal (Clement).   Boris escaped from life imprisonment on the moon and traveled back in time to 1969 to kill Agent K, thus avoiding imprisonment and preventing K from installing a global force field which would prevent Boris' race from attacking Earth and cause the extinction of his kind.  

J wakes up one morning to find that K died in 1969 while battling Boris the Animal, so J learns the ways and means of time travel, which involves a handheld device and not being afraid to leap from the top of the Empire State Building.   The method doesn't much matter anyway, it's what happens when J reaches 1969 which gives Men in Black 3 its heart and inspired humor.   J hopes to find the younger K (Brolin), who is as laconic, humorless, and deadpan as his older self, and battle Boris the Animal together and prevent K's untimely death.  

The Apollo 11 shuttle launch plays a huge factor in the events, in which Neil Armstrong and company see J, K, and Boris battling all over the place, but don't say anything because doing so might delay their place in history.   There is also Griff (Stuhlbarg), an alien donning an Elmer Fudd hat who possesses something Boris needs to carry out his plan and who is able to see numerous variations of future events which can be altered by the slightest action or inaction by those involved.     His interpretation of why the 1969 Mets eventually won the World Series consists of varying degrees of luck, chance, and a not-so-well manufactured baseball.   

Brolin not only behaves like Tommy Lee Jones, but sounds like him too.   The story goes that during the filming of No Country for Old Men (2007), in which both Jones and Brolin starred, Brolin played a practical joke on the directors by calling them while pretending to be Jones.    The impression is uncanny.   There is also a scene involving Andy Warhol's Factory in which Warhol is not who he seems to be.   Funny stuff.   

The Men in Black films work because the actors remain unfazed by the insanity going on around them.    They treat the presence of Star Wars-esque creatures and evil alien plots as if they were routine, which adds to the laughs.    They don't do a single double-take in the entire series.    Men in Black 3 inventively handles a time travel plot and adds a dimension to the relationship between J and K which not only alters their friendship, but allows us to question whether K's recruitment of J in the first film was a chance meeting, or destined to happen. 

Gringo (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Nash Edgerton

Starring: David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Harry Treadaway, Sharlto Copley

Poor Harold Soyinka.    His wife is having an affair, his boss Richard (Edgerton) is lying to him about selling the pharmaceutical company where he works and thus eliminating his job, and he finds himself evading would-be kidnappers during a business trip to Mexico.     Harold is a good guy who naively believes Richard is his friend and thinks good things should happen to good people.    In the world of Gringo, he learns this is not the case.

Richard and Elaine (Theron) run the pharma company which markets a marijuana pill and is ever close to merging with a larger company.    The partners and Harold travel to Mexico in order to inform its lab to no longer sell to a local drug cartel, which is easier in theory than practice for obvious reasons, in order to make the sale smoother.    Instead, it creates further problems, not the least of which for Harold, whom they ditch in Mexico.    Harold learns his worth not just to the company, but to his wife, which is practically zero.

A series of unfortunate events befalls Harold, some of which caused by Harold himself in a desperate attempt to swing some money for himself at the expense of Richard.    I won't delve much further into the things that eventually happen, mostly because it would spoil some of the fun, but also because I'm not entirely sure I can recall them all.     Various players come into focus, including the drug cartel leader who doesn't think Sgt. Pepper is the best Beatles album and Richard's mercenary brother who found religion, but may not let that get in the way of one last mission involving Harold for the right price.

Gringo works because we care for the unfortunate Harold (Oyelowo), who is too smart to be as naïve as he is.    We want him to figure things out before he winds up dead.   Oyelowo has made his mark in dramatic fare such as Selma and A United Kingdom, but in Gringo he shows his flair for comedy.  Yes, Gringo is a comedy.   How else would you describe the absurdities that unfold?    Edgerton and Theron are typical corporate cutthroats with little compassion for anyone but themselves.    The difference is how they display it.    Richard will slap you on the back and then stick the shiv in you, while Elaine is fearlessly offensive and up front.    Ice water may not be adequate enough to describe what must run through her veins.   The actors dig into the material and are clearly enjoying it, which helps to move things along.

The subplot involving the small-time drug dealer and his clueless girlfriend (Seyfried) is superfluous, as are the characters themselves, which tends to make Gringo a little longer than it needs to be, but the film, like the actors, walks that tightrope between fun absurdity and over-the-top silliness nicely.  At times, my own thoughts fluctuated between the two, but the fun won out.    And it was nice to see good things start to finally happen for Harold.

Defiance (2008) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Edward Zwick

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Allan Corduner, Alexa Davalos

Defiance is a story of a small community of Belarusians who survived Nazi genocide in the wilderness during World War II.     You would think such a story would be riveting, but it isn't.   It is compelling in spots, but not consistently, so Defiance is perhaps better to be told as a documentary instead of a dramatic film. 

The film is based on true events, although how much dramatic license was taken is anyone's guess.   Defiance tells the story of the Bielski brothers:  Tuvia (Craig), Zus (Schreiber), and Asael (Bell), who escape Nazi roundups and hide out in the thick forest avoiding capture.    Soon, word of their hiding spreads and many more Jews join the Bielskis.    The group forms a self-sustaining community which includes policing the forest, building small forts and huts, and hunting wildlife for food.    They remain on the run for the duration of the war, which requires them to pick up and leave at a moment's notice.    The Soviet Army, to which the bloodthirsty, vengeance-minded Zus joins, assists when it can, but they have bigger fish to fry and aren't too keen on Jews anyway.

Tuvia and Zus both lose spouses and family to the Nazis, but their respective grief subsides all too quickly when the next pretty woman catches their eye.    Craig, most famous for playing James Bond of course, is a quietly powerful actor who assumes the leadership of the clan.    Schreiber, most famous for playing Ray Donovan, is a hulking man of bloodlust and action who finds himself naturally at odds with his more diplomatic older brother.    I admired both performances; it is interesting to see two strong men who are on seemingly opposite ends on how to deal with the imposing Nazi threat.  

But, I don't know.    Defiance is a tale in which somebody strikes back against the Nazi machine in the best way they know how, yet it isn't as powerful as you would expect.    I didn't expect Schindler's List or even Inglourious Basterds, but I expected something more.     The film doesn't allow us inside.    We see a group of people who weather the elements and sometimes their own distaste for each other to serve a common good, and they largely succeed, but maybe we needed a Steven Spielberg to tell this story to flesh out all of its power.    Edward Zwick directed Glory, Courage Under Fire, and a host of other films, so he is no doubt very good, but even with his sure-handed guidance, the film lacks. 

The 90th Oscars Review

One day, and I will likely never live to see that day, the writers and producers of the Oscars telecast will realize, at long last, that sitting through a nearly four-hour, bloated awards ceremony is a lot to ask of their audience.    The 90th Oscars was a lifeless affair, with even Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue appearing to go through the paces.    Kimmel seemed more settled in during this hosting affair, and that may not be a good thing.     The entire show felt like it was trying to rouse itself off the canvas.    There were topical jokes about Harvey Weinstein, Mel Gibson, Donald Trump, sexual harassment, etc., but most fell flat. 

If you are a fan of multiple endless film montages, supposedly witty presenter banter, and every other pitfall of Oscar broadcasts since time immemorial, than the 90th Oscars will not disappoint you.    Forget the montages showing every single acting Oscar winner EVER or paying tribute to the military in movies, let's see who won Best Actor already.  

Here are the list of major winners:

Best Picture--The Shape of Water

Best Actor-  Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Best Actress- Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director-  Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor--Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress--Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Best Original Screenplay-- Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Adapted Screenplay-- James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name

Best Original Score---Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water

Best Original Song---Remember Me  (from Coco)

I was six of eight picking major categories this year, missing on Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, but the acting wins were expected since each actor swept their respective categories at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and the BAFTA Awards.    Somehow, Frances McDormand managed to act surprised at the win.   

The telecast had too many cutesy bits which added more running time than laughs to the event.    The broadcast started 30 minutes earlier than was customary, but instead of running with the opportunity to possibly keep the show from overrunning into the late local news (or even Monday morning), the writers and producers saw fit to use the time to throw in more lameness.    Did we really need to see a jet ski offered away to the Oscar recipient with the shortest acceptance speech?   Or a group of celebrities crashing an "unsuspecting" movie audience showing at a theater across the street, which just so happens to be previewing Disney's A Wrinkle in Time?   (Disney owns ABC, which telecasts the Oscars).   Or jokes about how long the show is?     Here's a thought:   Instead of poking fun at the show's length, why not actually make the show shorter?     I know the whole "unexpected" drop-by at the movie theater probably sounded great on paper, but in reality it stopped the show dead.   The audience in the Dolby Theater was probably dying to get on with the show.

Del Toro's win for Best Director was expected, although with the Academy's recent trend of Best Picture not coinciding with a Best Director win, The Shape of Water's victory was hardly a sure thing.    Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, and Salma Hayek also were on hand to present...another film montage.    These women were the leading voices in the #MeToo and #Time'sUp movements and, like Christopher Reeve's surprise appearance during the 1996 awards a mere months after his paralyzing neck injury, it seemed a letdown to simply have these women merely present a montage. 

The In Memoriam segment featured a strong rendition of Tom Petty's "Room at the Top" from Pearl Jam lead vocalist Eddie Vedder, but of course they missed some important names, including John Mahoney and former Oscar nominee Emanuelle Riva. 

When Warren Beatty (who along with Faye Dunaway returned to announce Best Picture in a nice redemptive moment) read (correctly this time) The Shape of Water as Best Picture, the show was at three hours and 45 minutes with the Producers' acceptance speeches still to go.    I can't exactly heap praise on the show ending before midnight because it had a thirty-minute head start.    But, because I love the movies and I love seeing how the awards will turn out, I will return next year to watch it all again.    Why?   Because I'm a knucklehead...and I love the movies. 

Red Sparrow (2018) * 1/2

Directed by:  Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, Matthias Schoenaerts, Mary Louise Parker, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds, Joely Richardson

I'm not a spy, but I don't think the spies in Red Sparrow are very good at their jobs.   A spy is supposed to be conspicuous and secretive, so it wouldn't be prudent to torture an interrogation subject in his apartment within earshot of neighbors.    Or gut a woman in her own bathtub and encourage another person to call the police.   I wasn't the least bit convinced the spies on either side knew what they were doing.    The guys in Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy were more competent.

With Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election dominating the news cycle, it seems the Cold War is back on and now we have the next generation of one-upmanship between the Americans and Russians.    Think of the possibilities!   We will have more chases, more tortured Russian accents, more chases, more lurking in the shadows, more threats of nuclear war.   Ugh.

Jennifer Lawrence stars in Red Sparrow as Dominika Egorova, a Russian ballet dancer who turns Russian operative following a gruesome injury during a performance.   Her leg is turned in ways it shouldn't, and Red Sparrow continues the disturbing trend of onscreen violence towards Lawrence which started with the vile mother! (2017).    Her Uncle Vanya (Schoenaerts), who has creepy sexual designs on his niece (blood relativity be damned!), offers her a chance to make some money and keep her ailing mother in their Moscow apartment with government-paid healthcare.    After a laborious setup and a rape, Dominika is sent to Sparrow School, run by the cold, domineering Matron (Rampling), who is only missing a whip.   

The Sparrow School is called a "whore school" by Dominika; and she isn't wrong.    The school's function is to train its cadets to seduce their targets and gather intel in the service of Mother Russia.    Dominika is very bad at this and, despite her obvious distaste for her training, she is sent off on a mission to seduce American CIA operative Nate Nash (Edgerton) into revealing his mole inside the Russian government whose identity he is protecting.     Nate falls quickly for Dominika, who may or may not be playing him, not that we much care.    We soon learn whatever happens onscreen is likely inserted to jerk us around anyway and the Big Reveal will explain all at the end.

If this was Dominika's plot all along, she leaves an awful lot to chance, and is she crossing her fingers hoping to worm out of the aforementioned police investigation in order for the plot to go her way?   I don't feel I'm giving away any spoilers by suggesting the events of Red Sparrow service a Big Reveal.    Cold War movies are not complete without such swerves.    But Red Sparrow is a listless film, bogged down by its grayness.    It doesn't even provide us with the benefit of nifty, amusing gadgets.  

Lawrence does what she can, as does the rest of the cast, but Red Sparrow is more like a series of red herrings than an actual thriller.    Eventually, we grow tired of waiting for the inevitable plot machinations and being put through the same Cold War spy film paces while pointing out the obvious glaring mistakes these so-called professionals are making. 

Game Night (2018) * *

Directed by:  John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein

Starring:  Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Danny Huston, Billy Magnussen, Jesse Plemons, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Michael C. Hall, Jeffrey Wright

Max (Bateman) has been uber-competitive his whole life.   He needs to win at everything and he meets his soulmate Annie (McAdams) at a bar trivia night.    Their eyes lock and they know they are destined for each other.    Fast forward a few years, and Max and Annie can't conceive a child, which bothers Max because it would give him a one-up on his older brother Brooks (Chandler), who drives around in a classic Stingray and brags about how much money he has.    Max loves his brother, but envies him and perhaps his competitive fire is stoked by his lifelong sibling rivalry.

Max and Annie host game night, in which the couple looks to wipe the floor with their coupled friends at Trivial Pursuit, Life, Sorry, or any number of board games.    They usually win, until one night Brooks comes to town and wishes to participate.    Brooks has no qualms about telling embarrassing stories about Max and taking over game night hosting duties.    Brooks promises a game night to end all game nights with a murder mystery in which even the participants won't be able to tell what's real and what's not.    In a plot twist the trailers gave away, so don't blame me, Brooks is kidnapped for real by thugs and Max and friends believe it is part of the game.    They act with a sense of urgency to find Brooks, but only for bragging rights and not because they believe his life is in danger.

The game night participants soon learn Kyle is in real danger and he isn't who he purports to be, which is met with some relief by Max, who sees Brooks as perfect.    The joke would become stale if it were to be stretched out to feature length, but once the movie becomes a straight action comedy, the laughs grow less frequent anyway.    Game Night is a concept which can't be sustained, but the alternative is tired also.   Bateman and McAdams are wonderful comic actors and pour plenty of energy into the film.    Jesse Plemons gets laughs also as a weird police officer neighbor who never seems to take his uniform off and longs to be part of game night.     There are a couple of plot twists, which on the surface seem fun, but after a few moments' thought don't make a lot of sense.   

We wind up with a comedy which is neither fish nor fowl.   It is harmless; perhaps better enjoyed by others.   After a strong start, the movie retreats into convention even as it tries not to. 

Love, Simon (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Greg Berlanti

Starring:  Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Logan Miller, Tony Hale, Keiynan Lonsdale

Love, Simon tells the sweet, touching, and safe story of a high school senior with a carefully hidden secret:   He is gay.    Yes, even though the calendar reads 2018, such confessions are still met with fear by some of the confessors and fear and derision by some of those hearing them.     Plenty of positive steps have been taken in terms of gay rights and gay marriage, but with cases pending in the U.S. Supreme Court about whether a baker has the right to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding, we see we still have far to go. 

Love, Simon doesn't concern itself with the larger picture, but focuses on Simon Spier (Robinson), an engaging, nice guy who pretends to be straight, or at least not to be gay.    He has friends and a loving family, none of whom suspect his homosexuality.    Or if they do, they aren't saying.    Simon believes coming out of the closet would upset his happy life and chooses to remain closeted, but word of another student at his school coming out anonymously surfaces.    Simon befriends the other student via email, cleverly concealing his own identity.    But, soon Simon falls in love with the person on the other end of the email and such love inspires him to push towards coming out.

Staying in the closet proves more precarious than coming out.    One of Simon's friends, a showboat actor named Martin (Miller), inadvertently discovers Simon's secret and blackmails him into meeting Simon's friend Abby (Shipp), who just moved to the area a few months prior.    Martin wants Simon to make the road easy for he and Abby to become an item, including forcing Simon to lie to his other friends about Abby's availability.    It becomes a treacherous web for Simon from which he can't untangle himself.

We care for Simon and we find ourselves swept into the story, even though it is at heart a light comedy which doesn't delve too deeply into the repercussions of Simon's plight.    Love, Simon is content not to make larger assumptions about society's views towards homosexuality.    It is home as a romantic teen comedy.    The actors are fresh and engaging, and Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel have some nice moments as Simon's parents, whom are kind, loving, and accepting.   

The movie plays like a mystery and we try to discover the identity of Simon's new love, and it is surprisingly not hokey.    Love, Simon proves coming out of the closet doesn't have to be a drag, but can be an uplifting experience.     As one character tells Simon, "Let yourself breathe."  

Note:   The school musical in Love, Simon is Cabaret.   Would a saucy story with a Nazism backdrop in which some characters dance in lingerie really be approved as the school musical in these times?    Food for thought.