School Ties (1992) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Robert Mandel

Starring:  Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Cole Hauser, Randall Batinkoff, Amy Locane, Zeljko Ivanek, Chris O'Donnell, Anthony Rapp

School Ties tells a simplistic tale of a Catholic New England prep school (circa 1950's) which recruits Jewish quarterback David Greene (Fraser) to lead its football team to new heights while asking David to keep his religion a secret.  Being Jewish wouldn't go over well in these parts, you see, so David plays games on Rosh Hashanah while sneaking away at night to read from the Talmud.  His teammates and classmates make openly anti-Semitic jokes and remarks which David has to shrug off in order to play along.  

If there wasn't antisemitism amongst the staff and students, School Ties wouldn't have a conflict to resolve.  It's well-acted with a sturdy, yet conflicted Fraser as its center, and the movie takes its time to reach the pivotal scene in which David's background is inadvertently revealed to villain Charlie Dillon (Damon) and then David's world becomes a torrent of insults, threats, and violence against him.  Charlie is relegated to backup quarterback once David arrives, and he loses his girl Sally (Locane) to David also.  Then, David's Jewish heritage is made known, and Sally kicks him to the curb.

Aside from David's reasonable roommate Chris (O'Donnell), nearly everyone turns on David with gleeful ferocity.  Chris is hurt because David didn't trust him enough to confide in him, but the others see David like the Nazis did a decade or two earlier.   The prep school itself doesn't exactly distinguish itself from the schools depicted in movies like Dead Poets Society or Scent of a Woman.   The faculty is snooty, the kids are insufferable (except for a few nice ones), and the headmasters speak of tradition, honor, and duty while eschewing all of those when it suits them.  The only reason such places exist is because they are a springboard to Ivy League schools which is where David and everyone else wants to go.

I'm ambivalent about School Ties mostly because it is a one-dimensional story without much nuance.  Its central conflict is not only David vs. his WASP classmates, but within himself.  The school headmaster asks him if it's worth sacrificing traditions for a game.   David asks "yours or mine?"  Almost any college or school would sacrifice just about anything for wins and championships, until they are caught cheating or breaking the law and then we hear of honor, duty, and tradition.  The final thirty minutes of School Ties focuses on Charlie cheating on an exam and David witnessing it but not reporting it.  Because David is the hero, the movie contorts its way to an unconvincing ending in which he is exonerated although he technically didn't uphold the school's honor code.  School Ties has its moments, but overall not enough to transcend into greatness. 

Reacher (First Season-2022) * *

 

Starring:  Alan Ritchson, Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, Marc Bendavid, Kristin Kreuk, Bruce McGill, Christopher Webster, Willie C. Carpenter

The 2012 movie Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise did little to make we want to see any reiterations of the character, a military investigator who could make Hercule Poirot look incompetent by comparison.  We now have the first season of Reacher, based more closely on the novels by Lee Child and starring a hulk named Alan Ritchson as the title character.   Ritchson, from all indications, has the physical stature Child envisioned when writing the novels, but despite his superior intelligence and crime-solving acumen, he doesn't have much of a personality.  If you had Tom Cruise's charisma matched with Ritchson's physical presence, you'd really have something.

The opening two episodes of this series filled me with interest.  The mysterious Jack Reacher comes strolling into a small Georgia town, but is soon picked up on suspicion of a brutal murder.  Reacher is in the local jail when a meek accountant named Paul (Bendavid) confesses to the murder when questioned by the chief detective Oscar Finlay (Goodwin).  Reacher and Paul are soon transferred to country prison to await arraignment, but are thrown into general population where they are accosted by toughs whom Reacher thrashes within minutes.   

Reacher is soon released, but after finding out the victim is his brother Joe, he unofficially joins up with Finlay and deputy Roscoe Conklin (Fitzgerald) to solve the murder, which covers a vast conspiracy involving weapons, counterfeit money, crooked police, and Venezuelan drug cartels.  Roscoe is a woman, by the way, and a pretty and tough one at that.  She can handle herself during the series' more violent scenes.  

Following the first two episodes, Reacher becomes a slog through a labyrinthine plot and too many characters to account for.  When the crime is solved, we find it underwhelming.   Reacher himself is reduced to a walking, talking cliche.  He walks away from explosions as if there is no such thing as shrapnel, flying objects, or as if flames are aware of boundaries they aren't permitted to cross.  Reacher stays off the grid and doesn't believe in suitcases, backpacks, or even a change of clothes.   All of his shirts show off his chiseled physique and if I've seen one scene of him disrobing, I've seen five or six.  In the end, we see him confidently walking to whatever place will have the next injustice for him to rectify.  And he hitchhikes, which is a sure way to get into danger.  I would recommend an Uber, but it is difficult to determine how he gets money to pay for it. 

The General's Daughter (1999) * * *

 

Directed by:  Simon West

Starring:  John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Leslie Stefanson, Timothy Hutton, James Woods, Clarence Williams III

Experienced army warrant officers Paul Brunner (Travolta) and Sara Sundhill (Stowe) have never witnessed a murder scene like the one of Capt. Elisabeth Campbell (Stefanson)whose body was found staked to the ground, spread eagle, and strangled (possibly raped as well).  She is the daughter of General Joseph Campbell (Cromwell), who is on the shortlist for a vice-presidential run.  It is a harrowing scene and sets the tone for The General's Daughter in which the military sets its own rules for justice that promote the needs of the army over the needs of a brutalized soldier.  

Elisabeth had a grudge against her father, stemming from her days at West Point, and in recent years has taken on psychological warfare in which the enemy was "daddy".  You'll see why.  Her direct superior Col. Robert Moore (Woods) knows her story, but only hints at it when being interrogated and later jailed as a murder suspect by Brunner.   Woods is Elisabeth's mentor in psychological warfare tactics, and harbors secrets of his own.

There are numerous suspects since Elisabeth engaged in kinky sexual activities and used men as mere sex toys.  This was likely part of the war against her father, who surely disapproved of her social life.  The General's Daughter is a darker whodunit with a sense of outrage over the events of the past which changed both Elisabeth's and her father's life.  Watch Elisabeth's face when she is visited by her father in the hospital.  Her expression turns from gratitude and love to absolute heartbreak and even terror.  It is a powerful scene which delivers us an understanding of what will come after.   Paul and Sara are former lovers who hint at their past while trying to solve this heinous crime which could rock the foundations of the army, especially since the general has political aspirations.   I'm not certain why they needed to have a past, except to provide some levity from the movie's darker atmosphere.  

The General's Daughter is well-paced with performances which work within the genre.  When all is revealed and the consequences doled out, there is not exactly a catharsis because The General's Daughter almost functions on the level of tragedy.   How could it not?  

Next Goal Wins (2023) * *

 

Directed by:  Taika Waititi

Starring:  Michael Fassbender, Elisabeth Moss, Will Arnett, Frankie Adams, Oscar Kightley, Chris Alosio, Kaimana, Taika Waititi

Next Goal Wins is an underdog sports movie which doesn't distinguish itself from its betters and or even average ones.  It follows the cliches and the traditions, but lacks energy and passion, two things which Thomas Rongen (Fassbender), the new coach for the hapless American Samoa team, preaches when he bothers to show up or when he's sober.   The beginning of the movie shows American Samoa losing 31-0 to Australia in the 2001 World Cup.  Ten years later, Rongen was fired from his coaching position with the American squad and takes the American Samoa job at the behest of his ex-wife (Moss).  He has a well-deserved reputation as a hothead who could be considered soccer's Bobby Knight. 

Thomas finds the American Samoa players to be passionate, but lacking discipline and organization.  Many of the players hold down second jobs, including the federation president (Kightley) who runs a local restaurant with many players staffed there.  Thomas finds an ally in transgender player Jiayah (Kaimana), who assists him in trying to raise the team's skill level and spirits.  He only has four weeks until World Cup qualifying play against Tonga, a cocky bunch whose job is to play villain and be the superior squad American Samoa must overcome.   Thomas also recruits the 2001 goalkeeper who let in 31 goals and is looking for redemption.

Does Thomas at first dismiss the team as losers?  Does he find solace at the bottom of the bottle?  Does he Have A Past?  Does he whip them into shape?  Is there a training montage?  Does the team find themselves losing at halftime of the Big Game?  Do they come back?  If your answer to any of these questions is anything other than yes, then Next Goal Wins will seem like a fresh movie to you or you have never seen a sports movie before.  

There is nothing wrong with sports movies.  The best ones, even with conventions, can still be stirring or delightfully entertaining.  Next Goal Wins is content to be mediocre and likely will be forgotten not long after I've finished this review.  

 

Thanksgiving (2023) * *

 

Directed by:  Eli Roth

Starring:  Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, Milo Manheim, Addison Rae, Tim Dillon, Jenna Warren, Jalen Thomas Brooks

I was unaware Eli Roth created a fake trailer for Thanksgiving as part of Quentin Tarantino's/Robert Rodriguez's 2007 Grindhouse.  Now, we have the actual movie, and since nearly every other holiday has a horror saga attached to it, why not Thanksgiving?   For a while, I was enjoying Thanksgiving in a way I was entertained by the better Scream movies, but then gore and blood overtake the popcorn fun.  I allude to John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) as the tentpole for horror films, where suspense overrides everything and the killings themselves take on a certain restraint.  Now, the movies have become obsessed with the rising body counts and how gruesomely the killings can be depicted.   

Thanksgiving starts off almost satirically as an angry Black Friday mob waits impatiently for RiteMart, a Wal Mart knockoff superstore open Thanksgiving night, to open its doors.  Soon, the frothing consumers invade the store, causing mayhem and killing shoppers and innocent bystanders in manners which would be considered tame when compared to the rest of the movie's murders.  Cut to one year later, and the owner of RiteMart, Thomas Wright (Hoffman) fully intends to open again on Thanksgiving night despite last year's massacre.  Videos of the event leaked online and the town's sheriff (Dempsey) tries in vain to capture a serial killer who wears a John Carver (the first Massachusetts governor) mask and kills those associated with the previous year's violence one by one.  

One of the intended victims is Jessica (Verlaque), Wright's daughter whose former boyfriend Bobby (Brooks) left town after last year's events and is now a prime suspect because the killings started when he returned to Plymouth.  We naturally know he isn't the killer, and the movie teases plenty of potential suspects, including the store's former manager Mitch (Dillon), whose wife was among those killed last year by the mob of angry customers.  Why did they storm the store like the French stormed the Bastille?  The first 100 were to receive free waffle irons, if memory serves.  

However, as Thanksgiving moves toward its conclusion, the movie simply becomes a bloodbath and when a victim is baked inside of an oven and the killer stages a Thanksgiving feast in which the victim is the main course, I tapped out.  Was that the intent?  If it was, it worked, but why do we need movies that are simply trying to outdo the Saw series as torture porn and cringeworthy executions?  The only reason I'm awarding Thanksgiving two stars is because, for a while, it was working as a whodunit, but then it devolved into a bloody mess. 

  

 

Fear (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  James Foley

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Amy Brenneman, Alyssa Milano, Todd Caldecott

It is understandable how teenager Nicole (Witherspoon) would fall for a guy like David (Wahlberg).  He's good-looking, ripped, and has a quiet, unassuming way about him.   He says he loves Nicole, but her father Steven (Petersen) is wary of him from the start.  He seems off.  Nicole thinks he's just being an overprotective dad, but soon everyone sees the real David, a violent sociopath who was kicked out of a bunch of foster homes and engages in a life of crime with his friends.  

As per movies like this, it takes a while for Nicole to understand David's true nature, but she is no true believer and no pushover.  She may forgive him once, but don't cross her twice.  David is soon terrorizing Nicole and her family in the name of love, or is it his bruised ego doing the talking?  Wahlberg plays the role with smoldering intensity barely concealing his maladroit personality.  It doesn't take much to push him to violence, leading to a conclusion in which he and his buddies break into to Nicole's house which is barricaded by state-of-the-art security measures designed by Steven.

Fear takes a story of a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks romancing a proper girl and tells it with skill.   You can understand why Nicole would like David and then why she would be terrified of him.  Perhaps this movie is a cautionary tale of why fathers like Steven are nervous when the guy from the other side of the tracks comes calling on your daughter.  It's not necessarily original, but it's well-told.  

Cadillac Man (1990) * *

 

Directed by:  Roger Donaldson

Starring:  Robin Williams, Tim Robbins, Fran Drescher, Lori Petty, Pamela Reed, Paul Herman, Annabella Sciorra, Zack Norman, Paul Guilfoyle, Lauren Tom, Judith Hoag, Eddie Jones, Anthony Powers

Cadillac Man is a tale of two movies.  The first one has bigger comic possibilities than the second one.  The first is a profile of hotshot car salesman Joey O'Brien (Williams), who has taken on more debt and more women than he can handle.  He owes $20,000 to a local gangster who begs him to pay it back so he won't have to have him whacked.   He has an ex-wife Tina (Reed) who still loves him but divorced him due to his womanizing ways.  His daughter stays out all night with a loser boyfriend.   He has two girlfriends:  Joy (Drescher) who is married to one of Joey's customers but wants to marry Joey, and Lila (Petty), a fledgling fashion designer who also loves Joey.   

Joey has been slumping at his job enough to earn an ultimatum from his boss Little Jackie (Guilfoyle):  Sell twelve cars tomorrow or be out of a job.  Joey lets Jackie use his apartment to conduct an affair with dealership secretary Donna (Sciorra), but hey business is business.   Little Jackie's trysts with Donna leads to the second half of the movie, which is Donna's husband Larry (Robbins) crashing through the dealership's window on his motorcycle and holding everyone hostage with an automatic weapon and a bomb strapped to his cycle. 

Larry knows someone is sleeping with Donna, but doesn't know whom.  Joey, in a bid to protect Little Jackie and save his job, tells Larry he is Donna's lover.  Larry isn't bright and his plan to take hostages wasn't well thought out.  But Robbins makes him sympathetic because, dammit, he loves his wife.  Joey becomes Larry's advisor and confidante while acting as a liaison between Larry and the police.  Larry is surprised when the police don't heed his warning to "go away"

This may be the best sales job Joey has ever performed, and this is a guy who in the beginning of the film is trying to sell a widow a car on the day of her husband's funeral when the hearse breaks down.  Williams is at home here as a man enduring too many self-inflicted pressures.  The hostage crisis may have been the best thing for Joey, because once each of his lovers finds out about the others, they all leave him.  "Thanks for simplifying my love life," he tells Larry.  

But Cadillac Man feels like two different stories fighting for the same screen.  I would've preferred to see if Joey could sell twelve vehicles in a day to save his job and whatever means he could use to make that happen.  Instead, we get a plot which wastes all of the buildup from the first half in order to give us a safer back half which doesn't work nearly as well.  

Cop and a Half (1993) * *

 

Directed by:  Henry Winkler

Starring:  Burt Reynolds, Norman D. Golden II, Ray Sharkey, Holland Taylor, Ruby Dee

Cop and a Half is not one meant to be shown at Burt Reynolds' career retrospectives.  It is a slight, cute comedy full of slapstick and no material that is expected to last more than a fleeting moment in your memory.   You will not hear anyone quote Cop and a Half.   The most noteworthy thing about it is that the late, great Roger Ebert was among the few notable film critics to give the movie a positive review.  I am not giving it praise, but I'm not going to crap all over it either.  Cop and a Half is a movie wanting to be liked, even if Reynolds plays a character who just wants to be left alone. 

That ship sails early in the movie.   Reynolds plays Nick McKenna, a Grizzled cop on the trail of a criminal gang led by Vinnie Fountain (Sharkey-in his final film role), who likes to sing like a 1960's crooner which gives him some color.  This is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, and one night, ten-year-old Devon (Golden), who loves cop shows and want to be a police officer when he grows up, witnesses a murder.   He wants to ride along with Nick in exchange for his testimony and to "be a cop" for one day.  The police captain (Taylor) agrees with this, despite Nick's objections to babysitting while on duty.  

Nick is salty indeed.  He doesn't like kids much, although of course Devon begins to grow on him, and he's still haunted by the death of his partner which is why he wants to work alone.   Cop and a Half is chock full of chase scenes, juvenile humor, and Burt Reynolds in a very bad mood.  It turns out it wasn't just the character.  Reynolds, from the trivia I read on Imdb.com,  wasn't happy with the movie while filming and it showed.  He also wanted to fire his agent during the filming of Boogie Nights, which netted him his only Oscar nomination, so there you go.  

The Holdovers (2023) * * *

 

Directed by: Alexander Payne

Starring:  Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Brady Hepner, Carrie Preston

Winter break 1970.  Most of the students of a New England prep school are headed home for the holidays.  However, a few remain due to a variety of reasons, and the task of babysitting them falls on Paul Hunham (Giamatti), who is naturally less than enthusiastic about the job.  His headmaster assigned Paul this ignominious duty because Paul did not pass a senator's son in one of his classes.   Paul doesn't understand or care to understand that the senator is a wealthy donor to the school.  In his mind, senator's son or not, the kid didn't earn the grade.  He wears his inflexibility as a badge of honor, allowing him to think he is somehow morally superior to students and faculty members alike.

Paul gets along well with Mary Lamb (Randolph), the school cook who feeds Paul and the holdovers three square meals a day while navigating her grief at losing her son in Vietnam.  Soon, only Angus (Sessa) is left on campus to spend Christmas with Paul and Mary.   The Holdovers is about how the frosty relationship with Angus and Paul thaws into friendship.  What The Holdovers lacks in originality it makes up for in subtle, but powerful moments which define Angus and Paul.  Both men undergo changes and learn to understand one another.  We see the epitome of wasted potential in Paul and the possibility of such in Angus, and both find ways to reverse that.  

Giamatti last teamed with director Payne in Sideways (2004), a great romantic comedy about wine lovers and their relationships with the women in their lives.   Paul has no women in his life, but he has his eye on a fellow staffer (Preston) who seems to like him too.  The Holdovers is the sum of its pitch-perfect performances and tender scenes in which we see two men at different ages and stages of their lives learning to connect and even change.  Mary is someone they both admire and respect.  Her son went to the school and was a standout student, only to die in Vietnam before his 20th birthday.  

The best Alexander Payne films contain social satire (Election) and flawed, but fully-developed characters (Sideways) who can't help but mess up when in reach of the brass ring or the ideal woman.  In The Holdovers, the brass ring either showed up a long time ago or has yet to show itself.  The question is whether Paul or Angus can snatch it before it goes away.  

What Happens Later (2023) * * 1/2

 

Directed by: Meg Ryan

Starring:  Meg Ryan, David Duchovny, Hal Liggett

Meg Ryan's second feature film (her first was 2015's Ithaca, unseen by me) returns her to familiar ground in this romantic comedy.  She plays Willa, who runs into her former college boyfriend Bill (Duchovny) at a snowbound unnamed airport.   Her flight to Boston and his flight to Austin are grounded, giving them plenty of time to catch up, argue, reconcile, and plot a course for the future.  Their last names are Davis, which leads to potential miscommunications when the airport announcer (Liggett-a pseudonym) asks for a "W Davis" to report to the gate.  

The announcer takes on an omnipotent presence.  He doesn't just make announcements, he acts as the characters' conscience or guide.  This is a cutesy device which grows old quickly.  Willa is a fiftyish free spirit who claims to be making a fortune in the healing arts, while Bill is a corporate type with an estranged wife and a fifteen-year-old daughter who is angry with him for not being able to attend her dance recital.  He is also having problems relating to his much-younger boss who speaks in a language he doesn't understand.  

We learn not everything is as they seem with these people.  Secrets are revealed later which alter their destinies as they are stranded overnight in the airport in which they seem to be the only two people there.  There are a few extras walking around who later disappear so Willa and Bill can have the place to themselves.   Even the airport bar and restaurant, which should be mobbed, doesn't even have a bartender staffed so Willa and Bill can easily help themselves to booze.  I know, I know, What Happens Later is not meant to be realistic, but a flight of fancy.  

Ryan and Duchovny have undeniable chemistry and play kind, thoughtful people who had plenty of curveballs thrown their way.  The movie is primarily Ryan and Duchovny talking, which is enjoyable for a while, but the movie rolls past its sell-by date.  After a while, we just want these two nice folks to get on their planes, go where they need to go, and we can all move on with our lives.  

Billions (Final Season-2023) * * *

 

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon, Damian Lewis, Kelly AuCoin, Condola Rashad, Toby Leonard Moore, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dan Soder, Daniel K. Isaac, Louis Cancelmi, Ben Shenkman, Daniel Breaker, John Malkovich

Mike Prince must be some kind of threat to humankind to make allies out of prosecutor Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti) and hedge-fund billionaire Bobby Axelrod (Lewis) in their attempt to thwart Prince's presidential bid.  He's ruthless and amoral, but so is just about everyone in Billions.  Why Prince deserves such special mistreatment is the subject of debate, but it adds a juicy element to a show that has been waning in recent years and is now in its final season.  The show ends on a happy note for most of its cast, which is not par for the course for such a cynical show, but we'll take it.  

Prince (Stoll), as you may recall, bought out Axe Capital and sent its owner Bobby Axelrod into exile in a castle in London.  (We should all have his problems).  At now Mike Prince Capital, the underlings Prince inherited from Axe Capital: Wendy Rhoades (Siff), Mike "Wags" Wagner (Costabile), and Taylor Mason (Dillon) hatch a plot to undermine and destroy Prince's ego-driven presidential run.  I guess his brand of greed is simply too much for even these people to handle.  Chuck, who regains his position as the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, is looking for revenge against Prince for screwing him out of his chance to put Axe behind bars.  Chuck will soon find his mutual goal of Prince's destruction makes for strange bedfellows, including his ex-wife Wendy.  

Axe returns in a limited capacity after spending all of season six on the sidelines.  He is hesitant to take on Prince because Prince can buy him eight times over, but he eventually joins the fight after Chuck assists him in aiding a Russian oligarch frenemy (Malkovich).  Prince is a formidable opponent, able to sniff out deception and exact his revenge ruthlessly but also with political savvy.   The plot hatched by his enemies is handled with such precision that they could have a future in espionage.   There are more double-crosses and triple-crosses than you can keep track of, so you wind up going with the flow.  

Billions is still at its core soap-opera fun taking place in the financial milieu.  Terms and phrases are thrown around known by a select few, but we get something of an idea of what's happening.   The dialogue still contains too many cutesy pop culture references which serve to show off the writers' knowledge, but we don't allow it to ruin our good time, or the characters'.  It's not like there will be an eighth season to correct this, so we'll be satisfied with what's here. 

Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) * 1/2

Directed by:  Emma Tammi

Starring:  Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Matthew Lillard, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson

I'm a stranger in a strange land when it comes to Five Nights at Freddy's, a horror film based on a popular video game.  The younger audience at the screening I attended cheered various characters including a seemingly inconsequential cab driver who makes a brief appearance.  You had to be in the know, I suppose, which I confess I wasn't. 

I came into Five Nights at Freddy's cold and with no knowledge of its plot except that it involves a nighttime security guard at a closed and abandoned Chuck E. Cheese knockoff called Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria who experiences freaky goings-on.   The guard, named Mike Schmidt (perhaps after the Hall of Fame Phillies' third baseman or perhaps not), is a man still traumatized by the kidnapping and death of his brother when he was younger.  He is seeking to retain full custody of his younger sister (Rubio) and keep her out of the hands of their money-grubbing aunt (Masterson), who only wants to receive checks from the state for having her niece in her care. 

Why a night security guard is needed for the long-closed Freddy's is lost on me.  I think it was explained, but even that didn't make sense.  The animatronic puppets which perform Talking in Your Sleep by the Romantics come alive at night and haunt the place.   When Mike (Hutcherson) takes his sister to work with him at night, the puppets take to her and seemingly protect her.   A pretty police officer (Lail) drops by nightly to give Mike tips on how to watch the place.   You may remember Lail as the comely Beck from the first season of You.  Or you may not.  I sure did.  

Once the plot is explained and the truth behind the robots is revealed, it boggles the mind.  Apparently some children went missing and Freddy's was searched but no evidence of wrongdoing was found.   The pizzeria closed shortly afterward (not suspicious in the least), but I gather there is no such thing as bodies decaying even if they were hidden in an ingenious place at Freddy's.   None of this would matter if Five Nights at Freddy's were at all watchable, but it's a clumsy horror film with killings (although thankfully not a lot of blood) and characters we couldn't care less about fumbling around in the dark trying to avoid singing, maniacal robots.  If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is and not in a positive way.  

Priscilla (2023) * *

Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Starring:  Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Tim Post, Dagmara Dominczyk, Emily Mitchell, Ari Cohen

Writer-director Sofia Coppola makes film about lonely people who feel lonelier because they are trapped or isolated from the world.   Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003) is a disquieting film about two people who are totally alone in Tokyo, a city of millions.  This is what drew her to Priscilla, based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 autobiography Elvis and Me.  She was fourteen when she met Elvis Presley (Elordi) while he was stationed with the army in West Germany.  They connect despite their ten-year age difference.  Elvis is vulnerable and grieving the recent loss of his beloved mother.   Priscilla (Spaeny) is a shoulder to cry on and to her, the idea of Elvis Presley courting her is surreal and something out of a dream. 

Priscilla eventually, after many dates and meetings with Elvis even after he is discharged from the army, moves into Graceland under the watchful eye of Elvis' father Vernon (Post), Elvis' grandmother, and other family members.   Or is it more like imprisoned?  Priscilla isn't allowed to be seen on the grounds because such a sight would disappoint the female fans camped outside Graceland's gates.   Elvis goes away on movie shoots in which his dalliances with his female co-stars make gossip column news.  Elvis denies to Priscilla that anything is going on, but where there's smoke, there's fire.  Priscilla wants to visit Elvis on set.  He denies the request, stating that he wants her at home and at his beck and call.  The Memphis Mafia hangs around waiting to act on the boss' demands.  

Even after Lisa Marie's birth, Elvis remains controlling, insecure, and soon subtly abusive.   Spaeny reflects Priscilla's awkwardness and insecurity because, let's face it, she's barely a high school graduate when she marries the King of Rock and Roll.   Trying to process this emotional roller coaster must have been difficult.  Elordi is an extremely tall 6' 5" and towers over Priscilla, which has its distractions, but the Elordi performance is not flashy, but effective nonetheless.  However, he is no one's idea of how Elvis looked, but it is a role of subtlety instead of pizzazz.   The performances aren't the problem with Priscilla as much as an overly quiet tone.   It is a muted film, with scenes meant to be more dramatic coming off as dull as dishwater.   When Priscilla eventually drives away from Graceland with Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You playing on the soundtrack, we are left unmoved even though I suppose we should be happy for her. 

I haven't read the book, so I'm sure there may have been parts left out which didn't fit Coppola's vision, but while other biopics and true stories sometimes are guilty of taking too much dramatic license, I fear Priscilla didn't take nearly enough to make it compelling.  

Elor

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) * * *

 

Directed by:  William Friedkin

Starring:  Jason Clarke, Jake Lacy, Kiefer Sutherland, Lance Reddick, Monica Raymund, Lewis Pullman, Tom Riley

Unlike the 1954 film The Caine Mutiny starring Humphrey Bogart, the bulk of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial mostly takes place within a hearing room.  When you think movie court-martials, you think A Few Good Men (1992).  The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial does not have the thrills of A Few Good Men's last-minute confessions or colorful characters like Col. Jessep, but it has a lean effectiveness which keeps our interest.  This was the last film of director Friedkin and actor Lance Reddick, who presides over the proceedings efficiently and intelligently.  

The court-martial charge of mutiny levied against Lt. Stephen Maryk (Lacy) is handled by attorney Barney Greenwald (Clarke), who hasn't tried a case in many a moon.  Barney was only assigned the client days before the trial.  He isn't sure he can win an acquittal and he isn't sure about Maryk, who snatched command of the Caine from Captain Phillip Francis Queeg (Sutherland) during a violent sea storm.  Queeg insisted his strategy to survive the storm was sound.  Maryk felt the opposite course was necessary and with help from Lt. Thomas Keefer (Pullman), seized control of Queeg's boat.  

Barney's inner conflict stems from the idea that he must show Queeg to be incompetent, while also admiring his many unblemished years of military service.  He must destroy Queeg's career to save his client's, which gives him understandable pause.  Those expecting Kiefer Sutherland to channel Lt. Kendrick from A Few Good Men will be sorely disappointed, but this is a great Sutherland performance.  Yes, Queeg may be somewhat off his rocker, but he's also a Navy lifer known for running a tight ship and serving his country honorably.  When Queeg starts to ramble, we feel for him, because despite his shortcomings, his positive qualities outshine them.   But Barney, in a sense, has to put Queeg on trial and we have to remind ourselves that Queeg isn't the defendant.  

In the 1954 The Caine Mutiny, we see the events leading up to the mutiny for ourselves.  In this version, which runs like the stage play on which Herman Wouk based his book, we have to decide for ourselves who is right.   This has its dramatic limitations, but the courtroom drama trappings work well enough here.  We don't see the outcome, although we learn of it later, and Barney's speech at the end gathering (one of the few scenes which don't take place in the courtroom) takes on resonance to current events and the generation gap which has created two very different types of soldiers. 

The Pledge (2001) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Sean Penn

Starring:  Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Aaron Eckhart, Benicio del Toro, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton, Helen Mirren, Tom Noonan, Mickey Rourke, Sam Shepard, Vanessa Redgrave

Sean Penn's The Pledge begins as a murder mystery, but then turns into an examination of obsession.  Retiring detective Jerry Black (Nicholson) is attending his own retirement party when a call comes in.  A young girl was found brutally murdered on the side of the road.  Jerry decides to go along to investigate since he is not officially retired yet.  He and his counterparts find a bloodied mess in the snow.  No one has informed the parents, so Jerry does it.  The murdered girl's mother (Clarkson) has Jerry swear on the Bible that he will find out who killed the girl.   

Shortly after, a mentally challenged trucker (del Toro) is brought in for questioning.  Detective Stan Krolak (Eckhart) coerces and gently coaxes a confession, but soon the trucker kills himself and the case is closed.  Jerry knows the killer is still out there, and after retiring, he begins his own investigation which leads to a remote town in the Nevada mountains where Jerry buys the local gas station and begins a relationship with younger single mother Lori (Wright).  Jerry hopes the killer, whom he believes lives in the area, will stumble across him.  Lori has a young daughter who we know Jerry will use as bait when the time is right.  His obsessive quest will defer to no one.  

The Pledge contains one of Jack Nicholson's best performances.  Gone is the devilish smile and charm which lets us know he is getting away with something.   This Nicholson doesn't smile at all as nearly as I can remember.  He is driven by the promise he made the mother to the point that he cannot enjoy anything else.   He was supposed to retire and enjoy fishing in Mexico, but his mind is only on the case.  When he is finding romance with Lori, the pall of the unsolved murder hangs in the balance.  

Director Penn also made The Crossing Guard with Nicholson, which contained another of Nicholson's best performances as a father looking to kill the drunk driver who killed his daughter.  Both of these Nicholson characters have lost the capacity to feel joy because of their obsessions.  Both The Crossing Guard and The Pledge generate sympathy for these people and not judgment.  This is how they are tragically wired.   The conclusion of The Pledge does not provide a payoff to Jerry, although it does for us to a point.  It is a sad, merciless twist in which fate is coldly playing with a man who only wanted to do the right thing and will never have the chance to do that.