The Fighter (2010) * * *

 

Directed by:  David O. Russell

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Sugar Ray Leonard, Amy Adams, Jack McGee

The Fighter is based on the true story of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) who managed to break free from the shackles of his dysfunctional family long enough to win several boxing titles after it seemed his career would languish in obscurity.  Micky's half-brother is Dicky Eklund (Bale), who once supposedly knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard but is now a crackhead who thinks HBO is filming a documentary on him about his boxing comeback.   He is surprised to learn it's a documentary only about the devastating effects of crack.  Dicky serves as Micky's trainer, since even on crack he can map out an effective strategy for Micky against any opponent.   

Micky's mother Alice (Leo) is Micky's chain-smoking manager whose seven daughters follow her around like the Seven Dwarves did for Snow White.   Alice isn't cut out to get Micky to the next level, but don't be the one to tell her that.   As far the family goes, Micky is trapped in Dicky's shadow, although in the boxing world, it's the other way around.  Micky soon meets local barmaid Charlene (Adams), who quickly realizes Micky would be better off without either Alice or Dicky in his corner.   Charlene courageously butts heads with Micky's family, but only because she wants what's best for him.   Suffice to say, she's outnumbered.

Micky is the least interesting character in The Fighter.   He seems more acted upon than anything else.  The Bale and Leo performances, both of which won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Oscars respectively, have the flashier roles and both are performed with authenticity and realism.  Wahlberg's take on Micky is as a fighter trying to desperately to please everyone but himself.  He is beaten down (in a figurative sense) as much by his family as by his opponents, but it is not intentional.  They also feel they are acting in Micky's best interest.   Everyone thinks they know what's best for Micky.

The best scenes in The Fighter involve Dicky's descent into hell and then trying to climb out of it.  The boxing scenes are technically sound but not terribly exciting.   The Fighter is a good movie with strong, smart performances in which the people on the periphery are more involving than the main character.  It's like enjoying the undercard more than the main event. 

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  John Landis

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Hector Elizondo, Timothy Carhart, John Saxon, Alan Young, Theresa Randle, Gil Hill, Bronson Pinchot, Stephen McHattie

Beverly Hills Cop III could almost pass for the original film which was supposed to star Sylvester Stallone and not Eddie Murphy.  Murphy is less the wisecracking cop from Detroit, but instead a full-blown action star and he's convincing enough being that.   As a comic action film, Beverly Hills Cop III is no better or worse than countless other films of its ilk.   It is on par with part II and less so than the original Beverly Hills Cop.  

In Cop III, Murphy's Axel Foley is heading up a raid on a Detroit chop shop.   When Foley knocks on the door, he asks the person who answers, "Is this the illegal chop shop?"  Shootings ensue and Foley's boss Inspector Todd (Hill, who was so memorable in the first two films) is killed by the cold, ruthless Ellis Dewald (Carhart).  Foley traces Dewald to Beverly Hills, where he works as the head of security for Wonder World, a Disneyland-like theme park.   Dewald isn't merely providing security, he is heading up an operation producing millions in counterfeit money.   Foley is on to him and enlists his buddy Billy Rosewood (Reinhold-the lone holdover from the first two films) to help take Dewald down.   Assisting Axel and Billy, though reluctantly at first, is Beverly Hills policeman Jon Flint (Elizondo) who works with Dewald at the park but soon sees through Dewald for the criminal he is.

Rosewood is a liaison for several local alphabet soup agencies and has a somewhat funny scene in which he calls in everyone but the CIA to surround an abandoned, empty truck left behind by the bad guys.  Nothing in Beverly Hills Cop III is funny per se, just mildly amusing, even when Axel dresses as a theme park character to infiltrate Dewald's operation.   Theresa Randle is on hand as a park employee who is the first love interest Axel Foley has had over the course of three Beverly Hills Cop movies.  Also appearing from the first film is Serge (Pinchot),who has moved on from making espressos at an art gallery to selling high-grade weaponry at gun shows.   He and Axel have a loooong, catch-up conversation which stops the movie dead in its tracks.

Cop III recovers and goes on to serve its purpose as an action comedy with more emphasis on action than comedy.   Foley indeed visits Beverly Hills in this sequel, but he could've followed Dewald to New York instead of California and no one would've noticed the difference.   It's filling in the temporary way a donut is filling, but soon you'll be hungrier for something more substantial in about an hour. 

Father Stu (2022) * *

 

Directed by:  Rosalind Ross

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver, Teresa Ruiz, Malcolm McDowell

Stu Long (Wahlberg) is an outgoing optimist hoping to find a career to latch on to which will bring him fame and fortune.   As a child, he idolizes Elvis Presley by imitating his hip swiveling, but his enthusiasm is squelched by his verbally abusive alcoholic father Bill (Gibson).   Bill will do a lot of that throughout Stu's life.   As an adult, Stu starts out as a boxer with decent success until a life-threatening medical issue ends his boxing days.   Stu then lights out for Hollywood in hopes of becoming an actor.  He lands a couple of commercials, but with little other success.   He then meets a woman he falls hard for named Carmen (Ruiz), for whom he converts to Catholicism.  Following a terrible motorcycle accident which nearly claims his life, Stu decides to become a priest, much to the chagrin of Carmen who was hoping for a marriage proposal.

Despite the enthusiasm Mark Wahlberg applies to the role of Stu, Father Stu doesn't stir up much emotion in the viewer, even when Stu is diagnosed with a version of ALS which will cripple him physically but not spiritually.   Father Stu Long died in 2014 at age 50, but by then he had reconciled with his father and mother and forged a path of spirituality which fulfilled him.   I was happy for him, but not much moved.  Something is missing in the translation, or maybe we can't figure why this story needed to be told.   

Father Stu was a passion project for Wahlberg for years and finally got it to the big screen.  There is little doubting his admiration for Stu Long and his excitement to be playing him.  Gibson and Weaver are solid enough in their roles as Stu's divorced parents.   Ruiz handles the scene in which Stu announces he is going to be priest very well.   McDowell also delivers.   But the pacing is slow and Father Stu doesn't deliver in the moments in which it should be more powerful.   It is curiously muted, which may explain why it receives such a meh response. 

Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber (2022) * * *

 

Starring:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kyle Chandler, Uma Thurman, Elisabeth Shue, Kerry Bishe, Eva Victor, Babak Tafti

Uber CEO and founder Travis Kalanick (Gordon-Levitt) transforms from founding a company which revolutionized the way the world travels to being forced to resign amid bad press, a toxic workplace culture which harassed female employees, and Kalanick's monstrous ego spinning wildly out of control.  It takes a certain amount of ego and brass ones to start up a company and keep it humming.  In the opening scene of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, Kalanick asks a prospective employee in a job interview, "Are you an asshole?"  The follow-up question would likely be:  "Are you capable of being an asshole if needed?"   For Kalanick, he became an asshole and stayed one to his detriment.  I can't say demise, because even when Kalanick was shown the door, he was still a billionaire.   Hard to feel too sorry for him.

As Super Pumped opens, Kalanick's Uber is a small-time start-up company with visions of world domination.   However, Uber lacks the funds to spread across the United States and then the world.  Capital investor Bill Gurley (Chandler) provides the needed capital and sound advice in a futile attempt to keep Travis and Uber going in the right direction without controversy.   Soon, Travis and controversy find themselves in the same sentence much more often than to anyone's liking.   Travis' obsession with conflict, winning, and domination at all costs plasters Travis on the front page and all over the internet, much to the chagrin of Bill and Uber's board members, including the supportive Ariana Huffington (Thurman).

Travis is not above rallying his subordinates to perform subterfuge, sabotage, and deceitful acts to get ahead.   He has no fear of alienating Apple (which runs the Uber app), his board, or Bill Gurley.   Soon, he will have estranged all three.   Joseph Gordon-Levitt has teeth-gnashing fun with this role.   You can almost detect a sly grin as he pushes the envelope with what he can get away with.   Until of course, his plans backfire and he finds himself calling in favors to keep his job.   After a while, it is evident Travis doesn't want to win as much as he doesn't want to lose.   Super Pumped is a cautionary tale which no one in Silicon Valley or the business world will heed.   Bill, as played by Kyle Chandler, is as level-headed and wise as Travis is explosive and rash.  Bill attempts in vain to guide Travis through building Uber and later through trying to prevent him from imploding.  It doesn't work out like that.  

Other key elements in the mix include the harrowing experiences of Susan Fowler (Victor), a new employee harassed by her boss from day one who begins the chain of events which would lead to Travis' removal as well as his right-hand man Emil Michael (Tafti), who has his own list of compromising events which make him a liability.   Super Pumped takes us through a journey in which Travis transforms from bright founder with strong ties to his family, especially his mother (Shue) to a leader whose toxic masculinity threatens to tear apart everything he founded. 

Super Pumped is seven episodes which move along swiftly enough although at times the story arcs grow repetitive.   Yes, we know Travis is heading towards his breakup with Uber and he is unable and unwilling to change in order to prevent this.   However, in the end, Travis is still a billionaire even after he is ousted.  Super Pumped attempts to play as a tragedy, but most of us wish we had Travis' problems.  

Another 48 Hrs. (1990) * *

 

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Kevin Tighe, Bernie Casey, Ed O' Ross, Andrew Divoff

Another 48 Hrs. reunites Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, and director Walter Hill but forgets to bring along the magic which made the original 48 Hrs. so special.   Another 48 Hrs. reeks of unnecessary sequel.  While it's good for a few moments to see Murphy and Nolte respectively reprise their roles as a streetwise con and a frazzled cop, the plot then takes over and all is lost.   The movie even tries to evoke memories of Albert Ganz, the villain from the first film, by having his biker brother as the heavy seeking revenge.  That doesn't work either. 

Another 48 Hrs. takes place eight years after the original.  Jack Cates (Nolte) has cleaned up his act somewhat and stopped drinking.   He's a little less ornery than in 48 Hrs., but that changes when he's framed for murder while chasing after drug dealers at a race track.   Cates is on the trail of The Iceman, who is purportedly the most powerful drug lord in San Francisco and who Cates is getting close to nabbing.   Once Cates is suspended pending a legal review, he enlists the freshly paroled Reggie Hammond (Murphy), whose bus taking him to freedom is attacked by Cherry Ganz (Divoff) and his biker gang.  Reggie had six months left on his sentence back in 1982, but it seems he had eight years tacked on to his sentence by trying to rob the prison payroll.   This sounds like a contrivance created to explain why Reggie was just released from prison.   

Reggie and Jack squabble and punch each other.   It's as if they were back to square one with mutual distrust involved.   Meanwhile, as they pursue The Iceman, whom Reggie robbed of $500,000 before being tossed in prison, Jack and Reggie develop a lukewarm friendship at best.   We find ourselves not nearly as involved in what's happening and why.   Soon, everything becomes so bewildering that the guys return to Reggie's former prison to ask another inmate where they can find someone.   How does the inmate know?  Who knows?  Once The Iceman's identity is revealed, I asked myself:  Would the biggest drug dealer in the Bay Area have to keep a day job?   

Another 48 Hrs. lacks what made 48 Hrs. so strong.   It even revisits a country/western bar in a similar scene to the one which made Murphy a star in the first film.   The only similarities to that scene in 48 Hrs. is that it's a bar and Eddie Murphy is in the scene.   The entire enterprise is a misbegotten attempt to rekindle whatever spark was created in the first film.  

CODA (2021) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Sian Heder

Starring:  Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Durant, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Amy Forsyth

CODA on its surface is a movie we've seen before.  A teenage girl wishes to pursue her dreams and leave the nest of a family which loves her and depends on her.   Any decision will surely ruffle feathers; either her family's or her own.  But, CODA takes what could've been formulaic storytelling and transforms it into something magical and moving.   CODA is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults.  The child in question is Ruby Rossi (Jones), a high school senior who gets up at 3am each morning to help her deaf father Frank (Kotsur-in his Oscar-winning performance) and deaf brother Leo (Durant) on the family fishing boat before running off to school.   Sometimes she forgets to change or wash up, leading to ridicule from other students who make fun of her for smelling like fish.

Ruby loves 70's music and to sing it.   She has quite the voice, which is brought out in full force by her demanding, but caring choir teacher Bernard Villalobos (Derbez).  But poor Ruby is exhausted by juggling the demands of her family fishing business with her own desire to attend the Boston music school Berklee.  She is run ragged and soon will have to make a decision which would alter her life and her family's.   While Ruby is working through her situation, Frank and his loving wife Jackie (Matlin) plot a course to begin selling the fish they catch independently instead of being paid pennies on the dollar for their catch on the docks.

You think you know where CODA will take us as far as the plot is concerned.   However, what makes CODA special is its universality.   Ruby's parents and brother are deaf and feel isolated from the community.   There is a fall musical where Ruby performs in which the show is seen partly from the point of view of Frank, Jackie, and Leo.   They know music (Frank blasts hip hop in his truck because he enjoys the vibration of the beats), but they need to see how it lights Ruby up.   We know Ruby's family will object to her decision to study music because they've come to depend on her.   They're not being selfish as much as they're so used to Ruby being there that they're not sure how they could deal with life without her. 

We also know the family will eventually support Ruby and the transitional scene in which Ruby sings to Frank is so powerful because he can finally understand where Ruby's passions lie.   Kotsur does this with empathy and understanding.   Kotsur's Frank is a scruffy salt-of-the-earth fisherman who loves his work and his family and isn't afraid to be human.  He, Jackie, and Leo make the best of their situation and don't cry out to be pitied.   CODA doesn't underline its characters' deafness.  It accepts the idea that, yes there are deaf people in the world and they have their own voices and language.  

CODA's climactic scenes involving Ruby's audition and her eventual leaving home are handled with sensitivity and a stirring rendition of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now.   CODA makes an old song feel new and fresh simply by giving us a family we just fall in love with.   I fell in love with the movie too.  

ot one for hyperbole but CODA is among the best films in recent memory.  

Ambulance (2022) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Michael Bay

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza Gonzalez, Garrett Hedlund, Keir O'Donnell, A Martinez

Ambulance is a long slog through a plot which stops making sense at about the thirty-minute mark.  Plots with holes in them aren't necessarily fatal and Ambulance could've been escapist fun, but instead we get a movie full of explosions, chases, crashes, gunfire, and otherwise mindless sequences which drag it out to an interminable length.   A better Michael Bay film, such as The Rock, gives us a silly plot which nonetheless makes us care.   In Ambulance, we long stopped caring about anything except when the movie will end.  

The movie begins with Afghanistan War veteran Will Sharp (Abdul-Mateen II) fruitlessly trying to deal with an uncaring insurance company over lack of coverage for an experimental procedure which might help her treat her cancer.   The desperate Will contacts his estranged brother, criminal mastermind Danny (Gyllenhaal) on the very day Danny is about to execute a bank heist in downtown Los Angeles.  Wouldn't you know it?  Danny is short a driver and Will is coerced into driving the getaway vehicle.   It isn't exactly awesome planning to be short a getaway driver on the morning of the heist, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.   What if Will hadn't shown up?   Danny would've been in a bind and forced to postpone.  

The robbery itself doesn't go as planned either.   A cop with a crush on the teller stops by to ask out the teller, who along with the rest of the staff is in the process of being held up.   Will's truck stalls out around the corner from the bank, causing the cop's partner to help fix it, not knowing of course the truck is meant as a getaway vehicle.   Things go ka-blooey, and soon an ambulance with a cynical, jaded EMT (Gonzalez) finds itself in the garage basement with a shot cop on board (yes, the one who asked out the teller) which Will and Danny soon hijack and lead the LAPD and FBI on a chase so lengthy and protracted that you wonder when the ambulance will run out of gas.

Ambulance runs out of gas long before the ambulance in the movie does.   The EMT has to perform emergency surgery on the cop before he bleeds to death via a zoom call with her ex-boyfriend and two other prominent surgeons who talk her through the procedure.   A former friend of Danny's, FBI agent Anson Clark (O'Donnell) and eccentric police captain Monroe (Hedlund) are trying to talk Danny into surrendering without further loss of life or damage, but soon an entire subplot involving diversions created by Danny's crime associates also causes more deaths and additional running time.

Bay's film is a loud assault on the senses which isn't exciting or even sweeps us up in the moment. Once everything is over, there is an extended epilogue in which the EMT learns to be caring instead of jaded and everyone is trying to convince authorities that Will is, what, a good guy at heart who should be given a break even though he was involved in a theft, kidnapping, and eventually murder and mayhem.  Give us a break.  

And Just Like That (2021) * * * (on HBO Max)

 

Starring:  Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Evan Handler, Sara Ramirez, David Eigenberg, Chris Noth, Cathy Ang, Alexa Swinton, Niall Cunningham, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Karen Pittman

Three of the four original stars of Sex and the City are back in And Just Like That..., an HBO Max series picking up the stories of Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Nixon), and Charlotte (Davis).  Conspicuously absent is Samantha, not surprising since Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker engaged in an ugly, very public feud.   Samantha was not written totally out of the series.   Her absence is explained as she is living in London and communication between she and the rest of the group has mostly ceased.

One character who is killed off (from a heart attack) is Carrie's husband Mr. Big (Noth), who succumbs following a Pelaton bike workout.  (Not good publicity for Pelaton on television these days, coupled with another Billions' character also suffering a non-fatal heart attack following a workout).   The rest of Carrie's season arc deals with her grief and her attempts to move on all the while wearing outfits which would be considered ostentatious on any red carpet.   Miranda falls in love with a non-binary comedian (Ramirez) as her marriage to Steve slips into the routine.   Charlotte and her husband Harry (Handler) are faced with their daughter Rose growing into a transgender identity.   If nothing else, And Just Like That can't be faulted for lack of representation of minority groups, something which was a base of criticism of the previous series.   The original Sex and the City covered sexuality from all different angles.  Its sequel series follows in that tradition.  

Minus Carrie's voiceover narration, except for a line or two at the end of each episode, And Just Like That flows in the same fashion as its predecessor which makes it entertaining if not terribly deep.  That's fine.  Like Sex and the City, And Just Like That handles its topics in a lighter manner which makes it accessible to the viewer, even if the clothing ensembles are not.   

 

Morbius (2022) * 1/2

Directed by:  Daniel Espinosa

Starring:  Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Jared Harris, Adria Arjona, Tyrese Gibson, Al Madrigal, Michael Keaton

Morbius is a hybrid of more interesting Marvel heroes such as Blade and other literary icons as The Werewolf and Bat Boy from the old Weekly World News.   The photo above is not from Morbius, but of Bat Boy and there are times watching Morbius that I wished I was watching a Bat Boy origin story.  

Morbius gives us a blah hero and a blah villain in an ultimately blah story.  A highlight is that it runs under two hours, which these days gives us cause for celebration and adds a half-star to the review.   It's a shame because Morbius gives us a more subdued Jared Leto than we're used to.   He plays Dr. Michael Morbius straight as a doctor working on a cure for a blood disease which has plagued him and his best friend Milo (Smith) since birth.   Milo's real name isn't Milo, but Michael calls him Milo for reasons I think were briefly explained.   

Dr. Morbius has already invented a blood product which has cured others of fatal diseases but hasn't worked for him.  He rejects the Nobel Prize for this discovery (again, I think he explained why but I'm not sure) and sets out to capture South American vampire bats in hopes of intertwining his DNA with that of the bats to cure himself and Milo.   The cure works in restoring Morbius' physical health, but also has a nasty side effect of turning him into a human vampire bat (complete with sonar) capable of draining all of the blood out of his victims' bodies.   Morbius is frightened by this power and as he attempts to create an antidote to curb his bloodlust, Milo steals the cure and happens to enjoy his newfound powers.    This results in supernatural clashes and confusing fight sequences with CGI run amok and an inability on the viewer's part to discern what is happening.  

A better film would explore the inner conflict between Milo and Morbius as lifelong friends forced to battle each other.   A better film would also make it harder for Morbius, who is now a multiple murder suspect, to slink around New York concealing his identity by flipping up the hood on his hoodie.   He sits in restaurants with the hood down as if no one is looking for him.   Two detectives (Gibson and Madrigal) are on Morbius' trail, but don't realize they are dealing with forces beyond their comprehension.  And ours. 

The post-credit sequences are bewildering as well.  They are intended to enter Morbius into the Spider-Man universe with appearances by Vulture/Adrian Toomes (Keaton), who is released from prison for reasons not clear to us.   That keeps in lockstep with the rest of Morbius. 

Billions Season 6 (2022) * * *

 

Starring:  Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, Asia Kate Dillon, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dan Soder, Kelly AuCoin, Condola Rashad, Daniel K. Isaac, Daniel Breaker

Season six of Billions features a new boss at the old Axe Capital, Mike Prince (Stoll), who bought Bobby Axelrod's firm at the end of season five.   Bobby fled to Switzerland and this accounts for Damian Lewis' decision to leave the show.   Prince places his own stamp on Axe Capital, molding his money-thirsty brokers into more moralistic versions of himself.   He wants to make money, but wants it done the right way.   Is this even possible anymore?   Prince thinks it is, but no matter what, Chuck Rhoads (Giamatti) wants revenge on Prince for denying him his moment of glory and handcuffing Bobby Axelrod. 

Rhoads still thinks of himself as a moral crusader whose mission is to rid the world of billionaires like Prince and Axelrod.   That morality ship sailed a long time ago, but he justifies his underhanded tactics as being in service of a greater good.   Prince isn't exactly a kinder, gentler version of Axelrod.   He channels his energies differently and at least deludes himself into thinking he has a conscience.   Things are unsettled and shaken up, not just with Prince and Axe Capital, but with Rhoads as well.

A huge subplot involves Prince's attempts to bring the 2028 Olympics to New York and Rhoads' attempts to thwart Prince simply as a way of gaining revenge.   Prince may be more merciful than his predecessor, but he isn't above getting his hands dirty when the time is right.   He's just less of a bulldog about it.   The upheaval caused by Prince's arrival actually makes Billions a bit more unpredictable, which is a good thing for a show in its sixth season.   We are on shaky ground with wild cards at play and it keeps us watching.   They may go a bit overboard on the pop culture references, especially since it seems they are dropped in so the writers can show off their knowledge, but that is a trend the show has taken the last few years.   

Death Becomes Her (1992) * *

 

Directed by:  Robert Zemeckis

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini, Sydney Pollack

Writer Helen Sharp (Hawn) makes a fundamental error in introducing her boyfriend, famed plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Willis) to her best friend, famed actress Madeline Ashton (Streep).   Madeline takes a liking to Ernest and within two months has stolen him away from Helen and marries him.  Helen gains one hundred or so pounds and has to be forcibly removed from her apartment for non-payment of rent.   She's obsessed with Madeline to the point she has to be institutionalized.   

Years later, Ernest is no longer a plastic surgeon but a lowly mortician, having lost his license to perform plastic surgery.   He and Madeline are miserable, with Madeline carrying on affairs with hunks just to remind herself she's desirable.  The hunky guy winds up dumping her.   Madeline is obsessed with trying to thwart the aging process and stumbles across the rich, powerful Lisle (Rossellini) who carries a potion containing the secret to eternal life in a tiny vial.  Madeline drinks it and soon her face and body look years younger.   She will never grow any older, but there's a catch (as always) and it's this:  You may look younger, but you'll be dead.   If you maim or harm yourself, you won't be able to fix it and not even Ernest's skill can help.   Helen soon shows up at Madeline's doorstep looking like a million bucks and wanting to steal Ernest back, having taken the potion herself.   Does she really want Ernest or does she want Ernest as revenge?   

It's at this point Death Becomes Her becomes a slapstick fest, with characters falling down steps and mangling their bodies in gruesome ways.   Heads are twisted, bones broken, and one character even walks around with a hole in her.   The visual effects, which won the Academy Award in 1992, take over and soon the characters scheme and plot against each other as if we cared that much about them in the first place.  The question I have is:  Why is Ernest such a prize that these women would put themselves through this for him?   He's a wreck and an alcoholic.   He is played by Bruce Willis but without the Bruce Willis charm.   Streep and Hawn try their best to be pathetic people we can at least sympathize with somewhat, but the effects overshadow them.   Even with everyone trying desperately to have fun, Death Becomes Her is mired in a dark pall and visuals run amok. 

Infinite Storm (2022) * *

 

Directed by:  Malgorzata Szumowska

Starring:  Naomi Watts, Billy Howle

Based on a true story, Infinite Storm is less riveting than we would expect from a story of a hiker who saves another while trapped in the New Hampshire mountains during a vicious winter storm.   I didn't dislike the film as much as I was indifferent towards it.   Naomi Watts is a determined Pam Bales, who comes across a freezing, stranded hiker she calls John (Howle) at a mountaintop and struggles to help him back down to safety.   At times, John doesn't even seem like he wants to be rescued.   Is he possibly suicidal?  

Because we've seen rescue movies like this before, such as 2017's The Mountain Between Us in which two plane crash survivors make their way to safety in frigid, snow-covered mountains, Infinite Storm seems like same old, same old even though it's based on a true story.   I even thought of Robin Wright's 2021 Land, where she survives a miserable winter or two in a remote mountain cabin.  Pam has a Past and is Haunted, of course, involving her two children who died due to asphyxiation from a gas leak.   Does this provide her the necessary impetus to save John's life?   Is Pam on a path to Redemption?   Are there stars in the sky?

Naomi Watts portrayed a determined survivor in 2012's The Impossible and carries on with the same pluck grit, and patience here as in the former film.   Even with glimpses of her past, there isn't much character for Watts to play, so we have to rely on our universal fear of being stuck in a similar situation to empathize fully.   The best advice I can give anyone watching Infinite Storm is:  Try your best not to chastise them aloud about going hiking with a winter storm pending.