Ozark: Season Four (2022) * * * (streaming on Netflix)

Starring:  Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, Sofia Hublitz, Lisa Emery, Charlie Tahan, Skylar Gaertner, Felix Solis, Alfonso Herrera, Jessica Frances Dukes

Season four of Ozark continues the saga of Marty and Wendy Byrde (Bateman and Linney), who launder money from the Ozarks for the Navarro drug cartel.    As the superior season three concluded, Navarro had taken the Byrdes into the cartel's inner circle after murdering cartel attorney Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer) in front of them.   Omar (Solis) not only wants the Byrdes to continue laundering for them, he wants them to use their influence with FBI agent Maya Miller (Dukes) to work out a deal which would grant him immunity as he attempts to retire from the drug distributing world.   His successor, nephew Javi (Herrera) is even less patient than his uncle if that's possible.    If the Byrdes are able to broker the deal for Omar, then he will release them from his employ.   Like anything in Ozark, things are never that easy.

This is the first season of Ozark in which we see the cracks in the storytelling and consistency.   The first four episodes of the final season's first seven episodes (more episodes to premiere later this year) continued the atmosphere of tension around every corner.   You think you have a demanding boss?  Imagine having to pick up the phone when a cartel leader calls.   You don't swipe left on him or let it go to voicemail.   Bateman's Marty remains the ever-calm and cool head as his world threatens to crumble around him nearly every waking moment of the day.   Linney's Wendy steps up big time and becomes the Lady Macbeth of the Byrde family with her own bad-ass threats and assertiveness which enraptures Omar.   She tells some FBI agents late in the season that she doesn't bluff, and you had best believe her.

The members of the cartel, including Javi, blow people's heads off and don't bother to ask questions at all.   This brings me to a plot point which is beginning to become scarcely believable.   Major characters meet their end this season by way of the gun, but for some reason, these same killers hold Wendy and Marty at gunpoint allowing them to talk their way out of a jam.   The Byrdes should be dead ten times over by now, but they are allowed to stay alive mainly because they are the main characters.  

Ruth Langmore (Garner) left the Byrdes last season and has begun working for the Byrdes' rival Darlene Snell (Emery-ruthless as always).    Can Ruth complete a full sentence without dropping an f-bomb or some variant of same?   You know a character swears too often when it becomes noticeable and you are relieved when he or she utters a sentence without a swear word.   It's as if Ruth dropped in from a Scorsese picture.   

Ozark is full of betrayals and subplots in which even the most moral characters find themselves in quandaries they never anticipated (see Agent Miller).   The Byrdes escape from one close shave to find themselves in another quicker than you can say Ozark.   The series is still suspenseful and engrossing despite the tropes it has provided for itself, but there has to come a time in which its lead characters run out of good fortune and alternatives to being shot.   In the next episodes perhaps? 

Jacob's Ladder (1990) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Adrian Lyne

Starring:  Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello, Jason Alexander, Matt Craven

Jacob's Ladder defies description in the best way possible.  Reality and hallucinations are blurred seamlessly, so we never quite know what's real.   One thing is for sure:  If there is a Hell, Jacob Singer is living in it.  

Jacob Singer (Robbins) is a Vietnam soldier wounded in battle during a confusing raid.   Was it friendly fire, the enemy, or something even more sinister?  We then move to after the war, in which Jacob earns a doctorate but works at the post office.   He lives with Jezzie (Pena), a fellow postal worker, but has an ex-wife and children, including one child who passed away.   Any semblance of normalcy is quickly eroded as Jacob is assaulted by frightening visions.   Are these real or hallucinations?   He tracks down some former platoon mates who experience the same horrors.   They believe they were part of a government experiment during Vietnam and seek an overworked lawyer (Alexander) to represent them.  The case falls apart and Jacob is further tormented when another friend is blown up in a car explosion.

Why Jacob's Ladder is such a chilling experience is because it doesn't take the easy way out.   There may be a simple explanation for all of this, or is something darker and deeper going on?  Jacob's Ladder suggests both or neither, yet it doesn't cheat.   When all is seemingly revealed, you realize the answers were there all along if we weren't too terrified to look or listen to the signs.   Robbins is the picture of ordinariness and deep wounds which makes him all the more sympathetic when this starts happening to him.   Pena is a caring lover, or is she part of something grander?   Danny Aiello appears as a chiropractor who may be more than that as he dispenses otherworldly wisdom.   You may never experience more jolting neck manipulations on screen like this again.

Because the movie doesn't try to explain what's happening in a simplistic way, it builds suspense and fear.  We don't want the worst to happen to Jacob, but we aren't able to control that.   You know all of this apparent supernatural activity will lead to something and when it does, I couldn't help but notice a slight grin on Jacob's face.  After all he goes through, he's earned it.  

Scream (2022) * * *

Directed by:  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Starring:  Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Neve Campbell, Jack Quaid

Like the original 1996 film of the same name, Scream satirizes the slasher film genre while working through its own mad slasher story.   Scream understands suspense is better than having a killer whose identity we know (a la Michael Myers) stalk victims and execute them with blood spurting all over the place.   There is blood in Scream to be sure (and violence) but the action is punctuated by the characters' knowledge that they too are in a predicament you would find in a movie like Halloween.  

Scream also introduces as to the concept of a "requel", a movie which is part reboot and part sequel.  Scream is the fifth in the series but also introduces the next generation into the decades-long story.   The new characters are intertwined with the "legacy characters" who are returning from the previous films.    These are former sheriff Dewey Riley (Arquette), sensationalist TV reporter Gale Weathers (Cox), and many-times victim Sidney Prescott (Campbell).   When a new "ghostface killer" makes his mark by attacking and brutally slaying people, the survivors of the previous films are enlisted to help find out who the killer is and stop him (or her).  

Dewey and Gale are now divorced (just like the real-life David Arquette and Courteney Cox) and their one scene together is poignant.   The fact these two were married in real life and are no longer makes the scene work on two levels.   There is a touch of truth there.   Gale and Sidney are two women who have been through this enough to know what their younger counterparts don't.   Bringing back Arquette, Cox, and Campbell isn't just stunt casting, it adds a certain wisdom to the proceedings.   Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), the killer from the first film, is dead all right, but he plays into the story too.

The younger folks aren't as engaging as their predecessors, but we're still involved enough to care who the killer is and why he's killing.   In that case, Scream works.  

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) * * 1/2

 

Story 1 directed by:  John Landis

Story 2 directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Story 3 directed by:  Joe Dante

Story 4 directed by:  George Miller

Like the series it's based on, Twilight Zone: The Movie presents supernatural stories in which you leave logic at the door.   Instead of one episode, we have four in one movie which vary in quality.   None of the stories ever reach a superior level of craftsmanship you would expect from these established directors, but as mildly entertaining fantasies they will do.  

The first story stars Vic Morrow as a mouthy racist who leaves a bar one night after a loud, bigoted rant and finds himself persecuted in Nazi Germany and Vietnam.   The story soon becomes repetitive, as Morrow's character is forced to endure being shot at, beaten up, and otherwise made to understand what it's like to be on the receiving end of hate.   Morrow and two young children were killed in an on-set helicopter accident during filming which makes me wonder if the segment ever should have been featured in the movie at all.   

The second story, directed by Steven Spielberg, stars Scatman Crothers as a nursing home resident who can magically transform the other residents into kids again.   He urges his friends to keep a young mind and play whenever they can, even if they don't wish to remain in young bodies.   The message is clear even if the execution is rather bland.   It's a ho-hum tale.

Story three is the most effective of the movie.   A woman starting over in life named Helen (Kathleen Quinlan) encounters a young boy with telekinetic powers who can make any of his whims or wishes a reality, much to the fears of his "family" which are really terrified strangers held hostage in the house.  The boy doesn't want people to fear him, but also doesn't understand how to harness his gift.   He and Helen become friends and agree to learn to use his telekinesis for good.   The episode produces an appropriate feeling of dread and mystery .

Story four stars John Lithgow as a very anxious air traveler who recently recovered from a nervous breakdown.   He swears he sees a monster out on the wing of the plane attempting to rip it apart.   The flight attendants and other passengers have their doubts.   The story is centered by a Lithgow performance which relays exhaustion and terror, while being frustrated that no one will believe him.   

I neglected to mention the prologue, which stars Albert Brooks as a driver who picks up a hitchhiker (Dan Aykroyd).   The two get along and reminisce about old Twilight Zone episodes before the segment ends with Aykroyd turning into a monster.   Burgess Meredith's narration would've sufficed leading us into the movie instead of this prologue which goes nowhere.  

Ray Donovan: The Movie (2022) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  David Hollander

Starring:  Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Alan Alda

Showtime cancelled Ray Donovan after its seventh season with threads still needing to be tied up, mainly the conclusion to the years-long love/hate cold war between Ray (Schreiber) and his father Mickey (Voight).   Ray wants to free himself of Mickey, but can't seem to do so.   The movie which concludes the series indeed wraps up the Ray/Mickey saga while suggesting the relationship has gone full circle.  Ray Donovan is told in flashbacks to Ray's teenage years in Boston, when events involving the criminal Mickey will forever alter the lives of the Donovan family.

Ray Donovan opens with a bloodied Ray calling his therapist (Alda) and confessing to a murder.  Who is murdered is not in doubt as much as what led up to it and what exactly happened.   At the end of season seven, Ray is hunting yet again for Mickey who has made off with Ray's loot after a deal for bearer bonds goes awry, resulting in the shooting death of Ray's daughter Bridget's (Dorsey) husband.  Mickey flees to Boston, where he tries to dump the bearer bonds and money with some old crime acquaintances.   Ray's return to Boston leads to flashbacks of his distant relationship with Mickey in his youth.   Mickey is less a father than a criminal mentor to Ray.   One fateful night in a bar involving Mickey, Ray, and Ray's girlfriend causes Mickey to spend twenty years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.   

When Ray Donovan premiered in 2013, it was among the most electrifying shows I'd seen.  Liev Schreiber was perfectly cast as the gruff, no-nonsense Hollywood fixer with the permanent five o'clock shadow.   As the seasons wore on and Ray grew more morose and drank heavier, the show suffered and became a joyless dirge.   In the movie, there is a scene in which Ray and his brothers laugh and reminisce about the fleeting good times of the past.   It's the first I'd seen any of them smile in forever.

The movie clocks in at under 100 minutes and more or less does what it's supposed to do, which is to bring the show to its end.   It does so efficiently and with occasional power, although by now these characters don't have much of a tendency to surprise us.    I'm thankful we didn't have to endure a full eighth season.  

The 355 (2022) * 1/2

Directed by:  Simon Kinberg

Starring:  Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Sebastian Stan, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Bingbing Fan, Edgar Ramirez

Without giving away any spoilers or plot points, the villain of The 355 could have saved himself a bunch of time, energy, and money if he simply paid for the drive everyone in The 355 winds up chasing all over the globe.  The 355 boasts a stellar cast thrown into thin characters and a generic action movie which doesn't require actors of this caliber to star in it.  

Since you have the likes of Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Oscar winners Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong'o and Marvel veteran Sebastian Stan in the cast, you may as well give them something more to do than to battle each other out in fights and chases which don't distinguish themselves from other movies of this ilk.   The 355 doesn't have such aspirations and that's okay if the product were more than an average action movie which is likely to be forgotten shortly after viewing it.

The 355 (the title is explained near the end, not to worry) begins in Colombia with a transaction for a unique drive which can cripple any security system, hack into anything, or "start World War III".  The transaction goes awry and winds up in the hands of a Colombian agent (Ramirez) who attempts to sell the drive to the highest bidder.   If I'm not mistaken, this drive is not one of a kind.   We've seen it in spy movies as far back as Sneakers (1992).   Spies are forever after a drive, disk, list of agents, etc.   The CIA enlists agents (Chastain and Stan) to go to Paris and intercept the drive, which is stolen right out from under them by German agent Marie Schmidt (Kruger), the angry loner type that doesn't play well with others.

Nick is seemingly killed and Mace (Chastain) enlists a former MI-6 operative (Nyong'o) to aid her in finding the drive before World War III commences.    Along with therapist Graciela (Cruz) who is not an agent and spends a lot of time fretting over the situation she's in, the women join forces to deliver the drive to the CIA, which doesn't go as planned.   The drive finds its way to Shanghai to be auctioned off.   You would think such an auction would take place inconspicuously, but nope, the bidders all drive up to the front door of an ostentatious palace in flashy sports cars and limos while wearing attire more suitable for walking the red carpet at the Oscars.   

Nothing happens which can't be predicted a mile down the road and not much happens we care about.  If you inserted Tom Cruise into the cast, the 355 could be Mission: Impossible 8 and no one would notice the difference. 

  

Soapdish (1991) * * *

 

Directed by:  Michael Hoffman

Starring:  Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Elisabeth Shue, Carrie Fisher, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Teri Hatcher, Whoopi Goldberg, Garry Marshall

The longtime star of soap opera (excuse me, daytime drama) The Sun Also Sets, Celeste Talbert (Field) is under siege from all sides in Soapdish, which satirizes a time in which daytime dramas were king.  Something tells me all of the backstage drama, backstabbing, conspiring, plotting, and egomaniacal behavior we see in Soapdish doesn't stray far from real life.

Written by Andrew Bergman, who wrote sharp-witted comedies such as Honeymoon in Vegas and The Freshman, Soapdish is madcap fun you don't see anymore.   Celeste may win awards for her role on the show, but the ratings are dwindling which alarms the network vice-president ("Quiz shows are beating us").   Showrunner David Barnes (Downey) is under pressure not only to boost the ratings, but to write Celeste out of the show so he could bed her scheming co-star Montana (Moriarty).   David has to circumvent the show's head writer/Celeste's best friend Rose (Goldberg) to dream up scenarios which would force Celeste to quit in protest.   One is having Celeste's character murder a homeless girl (Shue), who is played by Celeste's niece Lori.  The network loves Lori, though, so she stays.   

David then rustles up Celeste's former co-star/boyfriend Jeffrey Anderson (Kline), who after being kicked off the show twenty years ago is now resigned to playing dinner theater in Florida.   Jeffrey has dreamed of revenge and makes the moves on Lori, which horrifies Celeste but not for reasons you would think.   The behind-the-scenes drama brings itself to the foreground thanks to Entertainment Tonight, and viewers tune in just to see what will happen next between Celeste, Jeffrey, and Lori.   The Sun Also Sets becomes a show within a show.

Soapdish at times ventures too close to silly slapstick which doesn't work as well as the pointed satire of the daily pressures of running, writing, directing, or starring in a daytime drama.   The actors provide the frenetic energy necessary to keep Soapdish going, sometimes expressing themselves with crazy body language to express their innermost desires.   Just watch Jeffrey when he hears Celeste's name.  

Only the Lonely (1991) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Chris Columbus

Starring:  John Candy, Maureen O'Hara, Ally Sheedy, Jim Belushi, Milo O'Shea, Anthony Quinn, Kevin Dunn

Chicago cop Danny Muldoon (Candy) lives with his outspoken, domineering mother Rose (O'Hara) and has settled into an inevitable routine and appears to be doomed to live with her the rest of his days.  One day, he and his partner Sal (Belushi) transport a dead body to a funeral home in which the reclusive, pale Theresa (Sheedy) provides makeup on the deceased.   Danny attempts awkward small talk to the silent, uncomfortable Theresa and asks her on a date.  She agrees and the first date includes dinner on the field at old Comiskey Park and Danny trying in vain to keep conversation going.   But, they continue to see each other.   As the relationship progresses, Rose grows more concerned because of the likelihood Danny may leave the nest and leave her with no one to harass.   Plus, Theresa is Sicilian, leading to Rose spouting ignorant, prejudicial remarks about different ethnicities under the guise of "telling it like it is."

As much as Only the Lonely tries, Rose never softens to the point where we can tolerate her.   This isn't O'Hara's fault.   She approaches the role with gusto, but the character is too burdened with old-school ignorance and nastiness to allow us to sympathize with her.   When Danny tells her he loves her, we can't quite believe it, especially when Theresa stays over and he has to sneak her out of the house.   We hope the charmer next door (Quinn) can work some romantic magic on Rose, but that's a fool's errand.  Even someone with Quinn's natural vivacity can't penetrate the hard-as-stone Rose.

Candy is always lovable, even while playing a sad sack like Danny.   We hope he finds love, but with Rose working on him and Theresa sometimes unfairly pulling him in another direction, we would rather he move to New York and find another option.   Only the Lonely is a romantic comedy at its core, but there are too many hurts and wounds in it to shoehorn in a happy ending and have it be successful.  

Smokin' Aces (2006) * *

 

Directed by:  Joe Carnahan

Starring:  Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, Chris Pine, Joel Edgerton, Alicia Keys, Taraji P. Henson, Ben Affleck, Curtis Armstrong, Common

Smokin' Aces plays like a crash at an intersection.   The film's action and comedy drive recklessly and speedily toward each other.   While the impact is loud, it's also ugly and ungainly, with parts and fragments flying all over the place.   In the end, you wonder why they were driving so fast.

Smokin' Aces puts together a stellar cast in the service of a movie which is a routine shoot-'em-up no matter how stylishly it's presented.   The setup is this:  Vegas magician, casino/hotel penthouse resident, and FBI informant Buddy Israel (Piven) has a contract placed on him by the mob.  Groups of eclectic assassins descend upon the casino where Buddy is holed up hoping to be the ones to off Buddy and collect.   The assassins also attempt to kill their rivals in the process to eliminate the competition for the money.   FBI agents played by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta are assigned by their bureaucratic boss (Garcia) to protect Buddy.   Good luck with that.

There is no shortage of guns, blood, body parts flying around, explosions, and treachery as the contract killers close in on the cocaine-addled Buddy.   Even Buddy's bodyguards, including one played by Common, can't be trusted.   With the exception of straight-shooters Reynolds and Liotta, everyone in Smokin' Aces has an agenda.   You would think with all of the noise going on that Smokin' Aces could pass as mindless, but entertaining.   However, Smokin' Aces, even with its quick cuts and the furious pace, still plods towards its Big Reveal conclusion.   There are only so many killings we can witness before it just gets ancient. 

The Tender Bar (2021) * *

Directed by:  George Clooney

Starring:  Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Max Martini, Daniel Ranieri, Max Casella, Briana Middleton

The Tender Bar is as its title suggests:  Gentle, tender, and toothless.   It's based on a memoir by J.R. Moehinger in which the writer recalls his loving, supportive uncle Charlie (Affleck) who runs a Long Island bar and dispenses advice and love.   Charlie isn't a drunk, a bum, or a criminal.   Ben Affleck creates a subtle, nuanced performance which never descends into cliche.   The movie surrounding Uncle Charlie is short on conflict and stakes.   Like last year's Hillbilly Elegy, I found myself questioning why I should care about J.R. and his fledgling writing career?

JR (played by Daniel Ranieri as a youth and Tye Sheridan as an adult) lives with his single mother (Rabe) in her childhood home with her father (Lloyd), mother, and Uncle Charlie circa 1973.   A running joke, in theory, in The Tender Bar is people questioning what JR stands for.   His biological father, known only as The Voice, is a smooth-sounding radio DJ whom JR listens to on the radio and finds this is his most meaningful connection to the old man.   Whenever he meets with The Voice in person, the visits are over quickly and JR finds he'd rather just listen to him on the radio.

Even though his grouchy grandfather longs to have everyone out of the house, he loves his kids and JR and keeps them around.   JR later attends Yale and begins a quasi-relationship with an attractive rich girl named Sidney (Middleton), who uses him for occasional sexual trysts and then cruelly dumps him because she's always "seeing someone else."   JR pines for her and continually enters into the same self-defeating pattern of having sex then being dismissed.   

Other than Sidney and The Voice, JR is surrounded by encouragement and familial love.   The payoffs to his issues with Sidney and The Voice are underwhelming to say the least.   The film ends similarly to Good Will Hunting in which our hero receives a car from the Ben Affleck character and then rides off into the sunset towards his future.   This is where the similarities between The Tender Bar and Good Will Hunting end.  George Clooney is of course an able director, but I'm not seeing anything here which required a director of his talent to helm the project. 

Basic (2003) * * *

Directed by:  John McTiernan

Starring:  John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Daly, Brian Van Holt, Giovanni Ribisi, Taye Diggs

Basic's plot and myriad plot twists won't hold up under scrutiny.   Think about what has to fall right for the heroes to succeed in their mission, starting with...well I won't spoil it for you.   I'll tread lightly.   Col. Nathan West (Jackson), who won't win any popularity contests with his trainees, leads a special forces training exercise in the middle of a Panama jungle during a hurricane.   Rain is pounding everything and everyone, while the winds almost lift bodies off the ground.   There is so much precipitation, the poor actors and crew members shooting outdoors must have prayed for coffee and blankets nearby when director McTiernan yelled, "Cut!"

Col. West and two other members of the trainee group are killed, a suspect being held for questioning (Van Holt) won't speak to anyone but a fellow Army Ranger, and a witness is in the hospital with multiple wounds.   Base Colonel Bill Styles (Daly) opts to bring in former ranger now DEA agent Tom Hardy (Travolta) to speak to the witness and the suspect, whose stories naturally conflict.   What actually happened in the jungle is told through varying points of view.   With so much rain and darkness, it is difficult to tell who did what to whom and why, but we go along anyway. 

Hardy is a smooth talker with a knack of prying loose secrets from the suspects.   His partner for the night is Lt. Julia Osborne (Nielsen), who Styles throws over in favor of Hardy for reasons I still can't quite wrap my head around.  Osborne and Hardy banter and bicker, with Hardy putting on the moves as Osborne resists the flirtation.   But she sticks with Hardy because she wants to know the truth, if such a thing exists in this case.

Basic is an exercise in style with enough swerves to keep you involved, even if they don't make much sense afterwards.   We always love when a plan comes together, even if it's as fraught with loose ends as this one potentially was.   Basic isn't about the story, but about the twists and turns.   You see more than your fair share of both in Basic, almost as much as you do the rain. 

Lakeview Terrace (2008) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Neil LaBute

Starring:  Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington

Newlyweds Chris (Wilson) and Lisa (Washington) move into a cozy section in the Los Angeles hills with contrasting ideas of when to start a family.   Their world is about to grow a lot less comfortable since they now live next to LA cop Abel Turner (Jackson), who doesn't make his disdain for the interracial couple a secret.   His hostility towards them at first manifests itself with ultra-bright security lights flashed right into their bedroom window and then escalates to more aggressive and overtly violent acts.   Abel is in hot water with the department due to a lawsuit by a suspect he beat up before arresting.   He finds it easier to take out his frustrations on Chris and Lisa than the rest of the world since they share a fence line.

The marriage isn't exactly accepted by Lisa's parents, whose questions about when they plan to have a child aren't backed with enthusiasm.   People like Abel simply turn up the heat on a situation which is none of his business.   We learn later Abel's attitudes come from personal experience, which doesn't mean his actions are in any way mitigated.   It is a tip-off as to how much of a sociopath he is.    Jackson can play mean and hostile with his face so well he doesn't even need to verbalize his hatred, which of course he does as only he can.

Wilson and Washington make a sympathetic, believable couple being harassed for no good reason.   The wildfires which are slowly making their way towards the neighborhood symbolize the rage growing between the couple and Abel, who believes his shield puts him in the right in any situation or conflict.   In a shattering, tension-filled final showdown, he finds this is wrong.   Even though we know Lakeview Terrace will end with a violent conclusion, the implications still remain and grow.  

Cobra Kai (Season 4 on Netflix) * * *

 

Starring:  William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Martin Kove, Thomas Ian Griffith, Courtney Heggeler, Xolo Mariduena, Vanessa Rubio, Mary Mauser, Peyton Nichols

We're heading into Season Five of the saga which resurrected the Karate Kid franchise.   Despite four seasons of conflict, threats, all-out brawls, and allegiances which shift on a dime, Cobra Kai remains a streaming page-turner.   I'm sure there will come a time soon enough in which I'll be weary of the soap opera antics of Cobra Kai, but it isn't now.    

Season Three ended with Johnny (Zabka) and Daniel (Macchio) allying to take down Cobra Kai dojo run by Johnny's former mentor Kreese (Kove).   As Season Four begins, Johnny and Daniel train the Miyagi-Do students with contrasting styles which don't mesh with the students and each other.   Meanwhile, as hinted at in the Vietnam flashbacks of Season Three, Kreese seeks out his former business partner Terry Silver (Griffith), whose long hair is now free-flowing instead of tied in a ponytail as he did in the dreadful Karate Kid, Part III.  Terry isn't keen on returning to the world of Cobra Kai.   He says something which I'm sure has at least popped into the minds of most viewers:  They're messing with kids!  

But Terry soon tires of his life of wealth and returns to Kreese's side, mostly because Kreese will play the "I saved your life in Vietnam" card whenever the opportunity arises.   Terry isn't just another sensei, but someone scheming from behind the scenes to wrest control of Cobra Kai from Kreese and settle his old score with Daniel.   Once Terry turns his hair up into the dreaded ponytail from Karate Kid, Part III, it's on!

Griffith relishes being the villain so much he can barely conceal the twinkle in his eye and his malicious grin.   He doesn't show us all the cards, which keeps us involved in his character arc.   When his final scene with Kreese plays out, we can't say we are all too surprised.   Meanwhile, Johnny and Daniel continue to behave as the frenemies they are, eventually agreeing to battle in a one-on-one battle to determine who will lead Miyagi-Do in the upcoming All-Valley Tournament, which undergoes changes to include an all-female bracket and skills competitions announced in a game-show format by a board member who should be hosting Jeopardy and not sitting on late-night meetings of the All-Valley Board.

Cobra Kai remains flashy fun told in broad strokes.   As both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai employ two senseis each instead of one, I'm reminded of the old football adage:  "If you have two quarterbacks, then you have none,"   These guys apparently never heard of that.  

Misery (1990) * * *

 

Directed by:  Rob Reiner

Starring:  Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen, Lauren Bacall

Is it a curse or a blessing that writer Paul Sheldon (Caan), after crashing his car during a blizzard, is rescued by his self-appointed "number one fan" Annie Wilkes (Bates)?   Annie nurses Paul back to health and seems kind enough, until she learns Paul killed off the title character in his latest "Misery" novel.  Paul was holed up in a quaint Colorado motel writing his first post-Misery novel prior to the accident and for Annie, this world without Misery won't do.   She forces Paul to burn his latest manuscript and then write another Misery novel in which her favorite character is resurrected.   The penalty for non-compliance?   Abuse, possibly death, and something called hobbling which involves a vicious attack on Paul's legs which means he won't be walking around anytime soon.

With the exception of scenes in which the local sheriff (Farnsworth) and his deputy/wife (Sternhagen) attempt in vain to locate the missing Sheldon, Misery is a back-and-forth byplay between Annie and Paul, who is now her prisoner instead of her patient.   Kathy Bates won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance and it is a Jekyll and Hyde personality transformation between the dutiful and folksy nurse and cruel scorned woman who we learn is more than capable of murder.   Caan is more than her foil with whom we sympathize.   He has to think his way out of a hopeless situation in which he can barely move from his bed.

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, Misery acquits itself as a thriller because of the Bates and Caan performances, while Farnsworth and Sternhagen provide comic relief as the sheriff and deputy who sometimes bicker like, well an old married couple.   Most of the action takes place within the Wilkes farm, in which Annie helpfully keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles which tell the full story about her to anyone who would stumble across it.   We know immediately there is more to the overly cheery Annie Wilkes than meets the eye, but we find out just how sadistic she can be when Misery figures into the equation.   With fans like these, who needs haters?  

Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke (1978) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Lou Adler

Starring:  Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Tom Skerritt, Edie Adams, Strother Martin, Stacy Keach 

Up in Smoke is Cheech and Chong's first feature-length film and while there are genuinely funny moments, their rhythm wasn't fully established yet.   The film plays like a series of self-contained sketches instead of a cohesive film.   As an introduction to the stoner pals, it works well enough, although many of the scenes drag on and overstay their welcome. 

Pedro (Marin) and Man (Chong) meet after Pedro picks up Man while hitchhiking.   Man introduces Pedro to a massively fat joint which is "part Maui wowie and part Labrador," according to Man.   "You mean we're smoking dog shit???" Pedro responds, although this doesn't stop him from taking another hit.   One thing leads to another and Pedro and Man find themselves driving a van back from Mexico made entirely out of marijuana.   This does not deter Sgt. Stedenko (Keach) from tracking the van in hopes of landing a huge bust which will boost his career.   Stedenko has run-ins with both Pedro and Man which result in his pants being urinated on in a bathroom.

Pedro and Man soon find themselves in a Battle of the Bands at the famed Roxy (not coincidentally co-owned by Up in Smoke's director Lou Adler) in which Pedro wears a tutu and belts out the Cheech and Chong standard "Earache My Eye".   Within these sequences, there are some laughs and many gags which wouldn't be featured in today's climate.   Up in Smoke, however, doesn't proceed as heedlessly and confidently as Next Movie or Nice Dreams.   Cheech and Chong seem to tread slowly while establishing their characters for the big screen.   Up in Smoke isn't bad for a first film and subsequent movies proved Cheech and Chong are an inimitable comic duo.  

Big (1988) * * *

Directed by:  Penny Marshall

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Jared Rushton, Mercedes Ruehl, Robert Loggia, Jon Lovitz

Big overcomes its formula plot to establish something more special.   Twelve-year-old Josh Baskin, after being humiliated in front of his crush after being denied an amusement ride entry due to his height, drops a quarter in an old fortune teller machine and wishes to be big.   The next morning, Josh awakes in an adult body in the form of Tom Hanks.   His mother doesn't believe him when he says he's her son, and he lights out for New York City with his best friend Billy (Rushton), who does believe the adult is really Josh.

While researching where to find the machine which turned him into an adult so he can reverse the process, Josh nabs a job at a toy manufacturing company and a promotion after he plays a duet with his friendly boss (Loggia) on the FAO Schwartz floor piano (in a famous scene, see the picture above).   Josh makes an enemy of longtime company executive Paul (Heard) and a friend in Susan (Perkins), who would like to become something more,

Big is able to sidestep a potential ick factor with the burgeoning romance involving Susan and Josh.   She doesn't think much of it that Josh's midtown loft is full of toys and a bunk bed.   When Josh tells Susan he gets to be on top, it isn't in the manner you would think.   The Oscar-nominated Hanks performance depends on Hanks' body language and mannerisms to convince us there is always a twelve-year-old inside the adult body.   It's an adept comic performance which is both sympathetic and touching.   

Above all, Big is warmly funny while not recycling gags about a kid in an adult body.   It is written with wit and the understanding that the adults may not know everything about being a kid, even though they were all once one. 

American Underdog (2021) * * *

Directed by:  Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin

Starring:  Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, Hayden Zaller, Dennis Quaid, Chance Kelly, Bruce McGill

The story of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner may remind you of Rocky, but it is based on a real quarterback who was undrafted out of college working at a grocery store to a backup who led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title.   I am sure not all of American Underdog is 100% accurate and like all "true stories" takes the infamous "dramatic license", but at its core is a heartfelt and inspiring story of a man who never gave up on his dream even when the rest of the world told him he should.  More than that, it is also a love story in which Kurt (Levi) falls for a military veteran mom of two named Brenda (Paquin) and how they were able to juggle his dreams with near poverty and trials of their own which test their faith in God.   

It wouldn't be an Erwin Brothers movie without at least a mention of the Almighty, but in American Underdog, faith is part of Kurt's and Brenda's nuclei as a couple and family.   It is ingrained in who they are.  Thankfully, American Underdog doesn't feel the need to underline their faith in every scene.  Instead, it focuses on how it provides the Warners strength to push on against overwhelming odds against them.  Kurt meets Brenda during the mid-90's when he was a quarterback at Northern Iowa sending videotapes out to agents and scouts in hopes of being drafted.   Brenda is a divorced single mom of two with one of her children a legally blind young boy.   

Kurt isn't drafted by the NFL, takes a job supporting his new family, and later gains fame as an arena league quarterback which catches the attention of St. Louis Rams' head coach Dick Vermeil (Quaid), who Sees Something In Him, much to the chagrin of his offensive coordinator Mike Martz (Kelly), who doesn't See Something In Him.   For a while, Martz is set up as the unconvincing villain of the movie, much like Dan Devine was unfairly portrayed as a villain in Rudy.   But there is a plan which is made clear later to toughen up Warner in the event he would have to start.   The Rams' starting quarterback Trent Green went down with a season-ending injury in preseason, Warner took the reins and the rest is NFL history.

Levi and Paquin are a naturally endearing couple whom we can root for easily.   The actors are a tad old to play people in their 20's, but we forget about that and just roll with it.   While American Underdog tells a story many football fans are already familiar with, it succeeds because it also tells a story of the people who lived it and made them interesting.   When you do that, the rest falls into line.  

The King's Man (2021) * * *

Directed by:  Matthew Vaughn

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Tom Hollander, Gemma Arterton, Harris Dickinson, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Daniel Bruhl

The King's Man, the prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, is unlike its predecessors (or is it successors?) in that it isn't just mind-numbing, over-the-top violence, but finds a way to creatively weave its way into historical events and occasionally pause to reflect on the ramifications of its violence.

"Pause to reflect" is not a phrase synonymous with The Kingsman series, but this one has such an attribute.  The King's Man centers around Orlando Oxford (Fiennes), a British duke who founds the secret organization during World War I which uses maids and butlers as spies in order to gather intelligence on Kaiser Wilhelm, (Hollander), Tsar Nicholas II (Hollander), and the evil, creepy Rasputin (Ifans) as they plot their way to defeat the British and keep the United States out of the war.   Oxford made a deathbed promise to his wife years earlier to keep their son Conrad (Oxford) out of harm's way.  As World War I marches on, Conrad implores his father to let him join the British Army, not knowing of the hell that awaits him which his father knows all too well.

If The King's Man is to be believed, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the start of World War I, and the intervention of the U.S. into the war was due to the machinations of a secret group of evildoers led by a bald man who remains in the shadows with his face concealed from the camera.   Of course, this leads the audience to wonder who this character is, and the answer follows Roger Ebert's Law of Unnecessary Characters.   It's up to Oxford and his group of hired help (some of which are well-trained in fighting and weapons) to thwart these devious plans.

Fiennes is, of course, more than up to the task of behaving as an action hero and as a smart, loving father who understands the horrors of war in ways he son doesn't understand.    This wouldn't be the Kingsman series without occasional flashes of gratuitous shots of heads exploding after being shot, but overall this Kingsman dials down the violence and pauses to reflect on the effect such violence has on others and the world as it turns out.   I was pleasantly shocked by this development and this chapter in the series. 

Dead Man Walking (1995) * * * *

Directed by:  Tim Robbins

Starring:  Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Jack Black, R. Lee Ermey, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry

It is difficult to tell a story about a complex issue as the death penalty and even more so to see it from all angles.   Dead Man Walking does not take sides.   It sees the upcoming execution of convicted murderer as not a reason to celebrate justice being done, but as a sad extension of a society that would cheer at such an event.   Even with the murderer executed, the ramifications remain for others.   This is what makes Dead Man Walking eminently powerful and at times had me teary-eyed.  

Dead Man Walking is based on the true story of Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon), a Louisiana nun who works with poor inner-city children.   One day, she receives a letter from death row inmate Matthew Poncelet (Penn), who wishes for her counsel as his days dwindle to their inexorable conclusion by lethal injection.  He insists he's innocent and asks for Helen to serve as his spiritual advisor.  Helen agrees, much to the anger of the families of his two victims, a young man and woman who were parked in the middle of the woods and then brutalized, raped, and murdered by Poncelet and his accomplice. 

Helen meets with the loved ones of the deceased, including the man's father (Barry), whose inability to move on results in a divorce, and the girl's parents who wish for nothing more than to see Poncelet dead.  Both families believe, to an extent, that if Helen is Poncelet's spiritual adviser that she favors him and doesn't care about the victims.    Helen, like the movie itself, feels the anguish from all sides and doesn't judge anyone for how they feel.   How would we react if we were in Poncelet's or the families' shoes?  

Poncelet attempts in vain to appeal his sentence and as the witching hour approaches, he is firmly rejected by courts and the governor.   His recent regrettable white supremacist rants detailed in a news report do not help him.   All Helen can do is point Matthew in the right direction as far as admitting his sins and asking for forgiveness.   Such absolution may not come from the victims' families, but maybe he could make his peace before his death.

Susan Sarandon won the Best Actress Oscar for her quiet, stirring performance as a woman who not only can quote the Bible but understands its implications.   There is nothing flashy about Sister Helen Prejean or Sarandon's performance.   No acting flourishes or overly dramatic touches.   She only wants to do the right thing by everyone and finds in this matter that this will be unlikely.    Penn's performance of an ugly soul who isn't easy to like nonetheless draws sympathy and even compassion from the viewer.   He committed a heinous act and must pay for it, but thanks for Helen's own compassion, he is able to fully understand how his actions have destroyed others.   When he is meeting with his family for the last time only hours before his execution, I couldn't help but believe that such knowledge that you will not be around tomorrow must be crushing.   After all, even the guilty have loved ones and this evokes a sense of sympathy for men like Matthew Poncelet who did not have said sympathy for his victims.