Y2K (2024) * *

Directed by:  Kyle Mooney

Starring:  Rachel Zegler, Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Fred Durst, Kyle Mooney

It's apt, and not by design, that I'm reviewing Y2K on the 25th anniversary of New Year's Eve 1999.  The fear, that is covered in this horror thriller, is that all of humanity would collapse because computers and machines weren't adequately adjusted to account for the change from 1999 to 2000.  Planes would fall from the sky, bank accounts would be erased, utilities would cease to function, etc.  I was working an overnight shift on New Year's Eve 1999 and it went without incident.  This movie fantasizes that the change to 2000 brings about machines taking over the Earth and a group of teens led by Rachel Zegler and Jaeden Martell attempt to stop them.

The movie was released earlier this month and I'm getting around to reviewing it.  It's a mostly forgettable film but it has a keen sense of time and place.  I liked seeing dial-up internet, CD's, VHS recorders, and you could still go to a Blockbuster store to rent out your favorite movies on New Year's Eve.  Our heroes attend a party where the machines start killing the guests, and the survivors flee to the woods to plot their next move as planes fall from the sky.  The center of the machines' operation is the local high school.  The only reason I can see why this is so is so the kids won't have to travel far to achieve their objective. 

Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit appears as himself and everyone who comes in contact with him refers to him as "Fred Durst", as if he were Charlie Brown.  It took me a minute to recall from which group Durst came.  Hey, I just referred to him as Durst, which is one more time in the entire Y2K movie.  

Cocktail (1988) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Roger Donaldson

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Lisa Manes, Gina Gershon, Ron Dean, Laurence Luckinbill, Kelly Lynch

Don't expect much depth from Cocktail, a slick, superficially entertaining movie chock full of hawking of materialism then interrupted by a typical love story.   The romantic angle is not a convincing display of redemption for our protagonist Brian Flanagan (Cruise).  His change of heart feels like a screenplay requirement, but still, Cocktail is worth a couple hours of your time.  

Brian is a former military man who travels to New York to join the world of marketing and make millions overnight.  He has no college degree, so he enrolls in business school while working as a bartender in a small bar run by Doug Coughlin (Brown), who dispenses cynical advice as much as drinks.  Doug teaches Brian the ropes of bartending and apparently how to perform a juggling act with glasses, tumblers, and alcohol.  The customers who pack the place watch in awe and cheer even though it takes several minutes to actually get their drinks.  

Brian and Doug soon graduate to the "big time" of bartending, a flashy disco in Manhattan.  This leads me to wonder:  Did Doug sell his place?  If so, didn't he make out pretty well financially?  Brian and Doug soon fight over a woman Brian falls for, and Brian lights out for Jamaica, where he runs a small bar and hooks up with tourist Jordan Mooney (Shue), who seems like a humble artist on vacation, but we later learn comes from a rich family.   On a dare from Doug, who visits on his honeymoon, Brian picks up another rich woman at the bar and the betrayed Jordan flees back to New York, with the remorseful Brian following and trying to win her back.  Jordan is also pregnant, and Brian has to convince her and her disapproving father (Luckinbill) that he's a changed man.  

If you don't know how this turns out, you've never seen a romantic drama before, but Cocktail isn't made to break any new ground.  There isn't much deep about the performances, but they work in their own way, especially Brown, who views the world with the sole focus of getting rich or appearing to be rich.  Cocktail isn't boring and although it never even attempts to become something great, it still clicks enough even if you're not fully buying the premise or the outcome. 

Babygirl (2024) * * *

Directed by:  Halina Reijn

Starring:  Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde

I'll play amateur psychologist for CEO Romy Mathis (Kidman) and say that she is less interested in success than the danger of losing that success.  She's turned on by the possibility of having the rug pulled out from under her.  As Babygirl opens, she is having sex with her husband Jacob (Banderas).  It appears to be satisfying for both, but Romy then retreats down the hall and watches porn where a woman submits to a dominant man.  Romy is rich and powerful with a loving husband and family, but she soon finds she is attracted to intern Samuel (Dickinson), whose instincts tell him that Romy wants to be told what to do, and he tells her so in their first meeting.

Romy acts appalled by Samuel's candor, but soon she is meeting him in hotel rooms and engaging in role play and masochistic sex with the enigmatic Samuel.   As Romy delves deeper into the affair, Samuel begins dropping by her home and pushing the situation into Fatal Attraction territory.  Romy is of course fearful of exposure, not just because of the effects it'll have on her marriage, but the possibility of losing her job due to potential sexual harassment suits.  Samuel basically blackmails Romy into continuing their affair by threatening to ask for a transfer, which will surely cause questions to be asked.   The rub is:  Romy is also aroused and titillated by this possibility.

Nicole Kidman is a fearless actress who takes on challenging roles such as this.  She finds a way to touch on our sympathies even as she's being amoral and selfish, mostly because we are now involved enough to feel the same self-inflicted pressure she's under.  The setup and the first two acts are so tense and absorbing that the final act proves to be an unsatisfying payoff.   We surely didn't need a Fatal Attraction type of ending, and thank goodness we didn't get that, but Babygirl teems with compelling performances.  Dickinson and Kidman have palpable chemistry, and Banderas earns our sympathy as the cheated-on husband.  The movie just couldn't quite finish what it started because the tension is released suddenly by the rug being pulled out from under us. 

A Complete Unknown (2024) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  James Mangold

Starring:  Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Edward Norton, Boyd Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, Monica Barbaro

A Complete Unknown tells Bob Dylan's story from when he was a complete unknown traveling from Minnesota to New York and dropping in unannounced on Woody Guthrie's hospital room.   Bob Dylan (Chalamet) sings a song he wrote about Woody to Woody with Pete Seeger (Norton) sitting bedside.  Both are impressed, and Pete takes Bob into his home.  Soon, Dylan is performing in the folk clubs in Greenwich Village and a superstar is born.  

A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold, is not a standard biopic.  It focuses on the first four years of Dylan's career, culminating in the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Dylan "went electric" to the shock and horror of the festival's arrangers and the fans.  This was only the tip of the iceberg of the unrest to come not just for Dylan but for American society.  We witness Dylan emerge creatively and find his voice as a singer and songwriter.   We also see him become a selfish, self-important prick to those who care for him.  The more he grew as an artist, the more insecure he became as a person.  Chalamet unabashedly captures this essence of Bob Dylan and fearlessly plunges forward.  He sings the songs and plays the instruments, and isn't merely a Dylan impersonator.  

Mangold, who also directed the great Walk the Line (2005) about Johnny Cash, also includes Cash (Holbrook) in A Complete Unknown as a Dylan admirer from afar who is fully supportive of Dylan's evolution from folk to electric rock.  Pete Seeger is not as gung-ho about the idea, and this causes a sad rift between he and Dylan.  The same goes with Joan Baez (Barbaro), whose fame is soon eclipsed by Dylan's as they begin an off-and-on, tempestuous personal and professional relationship.  Also present is Dylan's initial girlfriend Sylvie (Fanning), who confesses that she really knows nothing about her boyfriend.  

The movie isn't a Dylan concert, but there are plenty of performances of his famous early songs, and they serve to show a progression of Dylan's escalation in confidence, creativity, and popularity.  We see his character forming the more he performs.  Chalamet is an excellent singer, and so much so, we understand more from Dylan's music than even when he speaks, which is precisely how I imagine Dylan would like it. The movie sees much and sees through, and it's thoroughly engrossing. 

A Christmas Carol aka Scrooge (1951) * * * *

Directed by: Brian Desmond Hurst

Starring:  Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Michael Hordern, George Cole, Patrick Macnee, Jack Warner

A Christmas Carol has been adapted in all shapes, sizes, and forms over the years.  The 1951 version adds some extra insights and backstories which fill in the gaps on Scrooge's past, such as his introduction to Jacob Marley, their partnership which bought out the counting house which Scrooge ran, the night of Marley's passing, and even an explanation by Marley as to why he roams the earth as a ghost in purgatory.  These add depth and weight to a timeless classic.  

Scrooge as played by Alastair Sim is an angry miser indeed, but also full of regrets and sadness.   The moments of Christmases Past bring him to tears of shame.  How could he let his fiancee go?  We even see his sister dying in childbirth and why he resents his nephew Fred, who habitually invites his uncle to Christmas dinner and is forever rejected.  But Fred remains optimistic that his uncle will have a change of heart, much to the chagrin of his wife.  

Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's long-suffering clerk, also holds out some sort of hope that his boss will stop being a jerk, while his wife openly criticizes him at Christmas dinner.  Scrooge even has a maid he inherited after Marley's death, and in a vision from the Ghost of Christmas present, she steals his silverware and linens after he dies.  I don't recall her in any other version of A Christmas Carol I've seen.  Nonetheless, this version not only moves swiftly, but it is the most emotionally satisfying of the adaptations.   When Scrooge's transformation occurs, we fully believe it, and it is joyful. 

Werewolves (2024) * *

Directed by:  Steven C. Miller

Starring:  Frank Grillo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera

Werewolves, right down its credit titles, has the look and feel of an 80's B-movie I would've seen on late night cable around that time, and likely would've skipped over.   The plot is something from a movie Ed Wood would've conjured up.   Last year, a "super moon" turned millions into werewolves for one night and this year, it will happen again.   Dr. Aranda (Phillips) from the CDC is developing a serum to resist this transformation, and unfortunately it doesn't work, and now ripped scientist and former military man Dr. Wesley Marshall (Grillo) has to battle the werewolves with help from fellow scientist Dr. Amy Chen (Law).

Meanwhile, Wesley's sister-in-law and nephew barricade themselves into their home and what we have is The Purge crossed with your standard werewolf fare.  Frank Grillo is always a reliable action actor and Lou Diamond Phillips is a welcome presence, but most of Werewolves takes place in the dark where the werewolves themselves are hard to see.  How do you kill them?  We are long past the werewolves of yesteryear where you just shoot them with a silver bullet.   These evolved species take a lot more effort to dispatch. 

I saw Werewolves a few weeks ago and I'll be damned if I remember much about it.  It isn't a good film, but it isn't the worst either.  It lines up as one of those ultimately forgettable movies with a brief theatrical run that winds up a hit on streaming...maybe.  

Kraven the Hunter (2024) * * 1/2

Directed by:  J.C. Chandor

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe, Fred Hechinger, Ariana Debose, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott 

I confess I never heard of Kraven the Hunter before seeing the trailers for this movie.  He's a Marvel character, but on the B team.  As a movie, Kraven the Hunter is pretty good.  Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a sturdy, intense hero, but the movie sags too often for me to fully recommend it.  Kraven the Hunter leaves room open for a sequel, but based on the weak box office, I doubt there will be one.  

Kraven opens with our titular hero in a Siberian prison killing a fellow prisoner who is a mob boss.  Kraven escapes and then boards a spy plane to safety.  He was doing some mercenary work for a shadow organization, but after the opening scenes, this is never referred to again.  We learn in flashbacks that Kraven is Sergei Kravinoff, son of one of the most ruthless Russian mobsters on the planet.   His father is played by Russell Crowe, who at least adopts a better accent than he did in Thor: Love and Thunder, where he sounded like a Borscht-Belt comedian.   Kraven is attacked by a lion during a hunting trip and a local girl stumbles across the wounded Kraven and gives him a special potion which gives him animal-like powers. 

Kraven runs away from his father and feels guilty about leaving his younger brother Dimitri (Hechinger) behind.   Kraven learns not only how to hunt in the wild, but gains superpowers and animal instincts which serve him well in his new life.  However, Kraven is more of an animal protector than an animal hunter, and his ability to communicate telepathically with them reminds me of an athletic Dr. Dolittle.   Besides Kraven's father, another villain is rival mobster who can turn into a rhinoceros at the drop of a hat.  Alessandro Nivola is as reliable an actor as you can get, but Rhino is not an interesting villain.  The stronger and more dangerous villain is Foreigner (not the band) played by Christopher Abbott.   Foreigner is able to manipulate space and freeze time long enough to speedily move around, making him almost impossible to defeat.  Kraven goes one-on-one with Foreigner, and this payoff doesn't work.  Someone else dispatches Foreigner and that makes Kraven weaker.  The movie works better when Kraven has to battle his inner conflicts and his relationship to his father.  

Kraven the Hunter is among the middle of the road Marvel movies.  It has its moments, but as I recall, it has no scenes in which the sun shines.  It's drab under mostly overcast skies, and the pall is felt throughout the movie.  

A Real Pain (2024) * * *

Directed by:  Jesse Eisenberg

Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey

David Kaplan (Eisenberg) and his cousin Benji (Culkin) recently lost their grandmother and to honor her, they book a sightseeing tour of Poland which includes a tour of a concentration camp.  This doesn't sound like the setup for a thoughtful, emotional film, but A Real Pain is both of those.   When they meet up at the airport following many months of not seeing each other, we sense the differences in their personalities right away.

David is the more straight-laced family man with priorities.  Benji isn't exactly a free spirit, but arrives hours early to the airport and bounces around from place to place because he has nothing stopping him, including a job or responsibilities.   They fly to Warsaw, where Benji has a stash of weed he mailed to himself awaiting him at the hotel front desk.   They meet with the tour group and then proceed to visit the Warsaw ghetto where thousands of Jews were eradicated during World War II.  Benji attempts to be the guy pushing for David to let loose and have more fun, but this is a facade of a man at odds with himself and suffering.   

The film's title, A Real Pain, has a dual meaning.  It represents the overall pain caused by the Holocaust and Benji's private pain in which his beloved grandmother's death is merely the tip of the iceberg.  A Real Pain is basically a two-actor movie, with Eisenberg and Culkin playing very well off of each other.  Culkin's performance is deeper and more complex, because he is shouldering the most personal burden and is trying his mightiest to appear loose and carefree.  

Even at ninety minutes, A Real Pain has moments that drag in the middle, but the positive far outweighs the negative with Eisenberg, who wrote and directed A Real Pain with sensitivity, taking us on an offbeat tour of not just places, but souls.  

Gladiator II (2024) * *

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn, Derek Jacobi

Ever since the first Gladiator won five Oscars including Best Picture in 2000, rumors of a sequel were floated and soon languished in movie purgatory.   The sequel, unnecessary as it is, has arrived in theaters.  I enjoyed Gladiator on its intended level, but I never felt the story needed a continuation.   Ridley Scott had a differing opinion, and now we have the uneven Gladiator II, with a tepid main character and supporting performances by Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington which are far more lively and multi-dimensional.  Hanno (Mescal), who we learn is the son of the deceased Maximus from the first film and Lucilla (Nieslen), battles the Romans in the opening scene but after losing a key battle, is taken prisoner and sold into slavery.  He later becomes a beloved gladiator who wins the Roman Colosseum crowd over and threatens the stability of the reigning emperors (Quinn and Hechinger), while slave owner Macrinus (Washington) maneuvers to usurp power.

Does this sound at all familiar?  Gladiator II is merely the same story told again.  Imagine the odds that a father and son would both be military heroes and then made slaves and later fierce gladiators.  I liked how Lucilla's husband General Acacius (Pascal), the leader of the Roman armies, despises his emperors and plots with Lucilla to overthrow them.  He does not know that Hanno (whose real name is Lucius and was a child in the first film) is Lucilla's long-lost son, but when he does, his showdown with Hanno/Lucius takes on an interesting dynamic.  Pascal, unfortunately, isn't kept around long enough, but Washington picks up the slack and has an absolute ball as the treacherous Marcinus, who will use whatever means at his disposal to outflank the doofus emperors and gain control of the armies.   Lucius makes it his business to stop him.

The original film won a Best Visual Effects Oscar at a time when CGI was in its infancy.  Years later, the CGI in Gladiator II doesn't seem advanced.  It's downright cheesy in some scenes.   The battles the gladiators are involved in grow more and more ridiculous, with the battle inside a flooded Colosseum with sharks swimming around taking the cake.   I know, I know, it's only a movie, but let's say the Romans did figure out a way to turn the Colosseum into a swimming pool (they were pretty ingenious).   How did the sharks get there?  How were they transported?  Were glass aquariums invented then and were they filled with water and used to transport sharks over land to Rome?   How did they catch the sharks and lift the multi-ton sharks into the glass enclosures?  The mind boggles.  It makes little difference because the battles take on the sophistication of a video game.  

Mescal takes on essentially the Russell Crowe role without Crowe's charisma.  He tries to sound like Crowe, but occasionally musters a smile and a joke.  But he's not someone the audience can rally around.  It's telling we would rather watch Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington than the star.  The movie leaves open a chance for a third film.  It'll be as needed as this one.  

Only Murders in the Building (2024-season four) * *

Starring:  Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Meryl Streep, Melissa McCarthy, Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, Zach Galifianakis, Jane Lynch, Amy Ryan, Richard Kind, Molly Shannon, Griffin Dunne

Only Murders in the Building is a series that has clearly lost its legs.  The three leads continue to work with impeccable chemistry and with a degree of begrudging warmth, but one has to wonder why they or anyone continues to reside at the Arconia.  This season marks the fourth murder in the building to be solved by the podcasters/amateur sleuths, and next season's will be the fifth.  One murder would be sufficient to scare off residents and future tenants, but not in this show.   

The season three finale had Charles' (Martin) friend and former stunt double Sazz (Lynch) shot and killed in Charles' apartment.  Following this terrible murder, the Only Murders in the Building podcast is being made into a Hollywood movie with a frazzled producer (Shannon) in charge of the production and Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria, and Zach Galifiankis playing Charles, Oliver, and Mabel in the movie.  The three actors, playing themselves, also lend a hand in attempting to solve Sazz's death, in a season with too many subplots and tangents to begin with.  

The mystery of Sazz becomes a slog, especially when a group of squatters who reside on the floor of the Arconia from where the shots were fired are introduced.  It seems like their story takes forever to introduce and then resolve.   Meryl Streep returns as Oliver's love interest who is filming a movie while Oliver weighs whether to propose to her.   Paul Rudd, who played the victim the previous season, returns as a stunt double with an Irish accent.   But, his appearance is merely a stunt and a whoa, look it's...moment.   The fifth season promises another investigation, but Charles, Oliver, and Mabel should find another place to live.  

Wicked (2024) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jon M. Chu

Starring:  Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Jonathan Bailey

Wicked is based on the Tony-award winning musical depicting the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz.  It is astounding that, at a bloated 2 hours, 40 minutes, Wicked is only part one of this tale.  If I sat any longer in my seat, I was going to request to have my mail forwarded there. 

Despite its absurd length, Wicked boasts superior production values and keen performances with depth and passion.  As far as the songs, I couldn't hum any even only hours after seeing them.  Some of these are actual songs, while others are characters singing the dialogue.   Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are great singers and it's a pity to waste their voices on such forgettable tripe.  Erivo plays the green Elphaba, with the expressive Grande playing Galinda (later Glinda).  Elphaba is the unwanted daughter of an Oz governor, while Galinda is the spoiled rich girl, with both attending Shiz University, the training ground for future witches.  

Galinda and Elphaba are roomed together, but don't like each other.  They sing about loathing each other (I do recall that even if I can't recall the song).  Soon, they become friends, with Elphaba showing actual sorcery gifts under the tutelage of the esteemed Madame Morrible, the dean of Shiz University. Soon, both Elphaba and Glinda meet the Wizard (Goldblum), who is revealed to be part showman/part fraud early in the game.   The issue I have with Wicked is how long is takes to tell this story.  There isn't enough to span nearly 180 minutes and we still have an entire sequel to go.  I may have to start paying rent on my seat watching the next installment, since I can't imagine the next movie clocking in at under two hours.  

Anora (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Sean Baker

Starring:  Mikey Madison, Yuriy Borisov, Vache Tovmasyan, Karren Karagulian, Mark Eidelstein

Anora (Madison) is a New York sex worker so desperate for love and money that she believes it when her romance with a young Russian man named Ivan (Eidelstein), the son of an ogliarch with mob ties, whisks her away to Vegas to be married.  Has he done this before?  We don't know.   He likes to party like any rich young man would, but maybe he sees something in Anora that others don't.  Anora genuinely falls for Ivan.  Ivan maybe fell for her, but his behavior changes when word gets to his parents that he married a stripper.  

His parents come to America to have the marriage annulled.  Ivan suddenly takes off and the parents' thugs and attorney take Anora out into the New York night to find Ivan.  But, just when we think Anora has become a night odyssey, the movie throws up a welcome loop in the form of Igor (Borisov), one of the mostly silent thugs who has clearly fallen for Anora.  He isn't verbose, speaks only when spoken to, but the way he looks at her, the way he covers her with a blanket while she's sleeping, and the way he protects her is moving.  He's obviously the man for Anora, but she fights it tooth and nail because he's merely a bodyguard.  The Igor character turns Anora around and the Borisov performance is sensitive and touching, worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Sean Baker directed 2017's The Florida Project, which delved into the desperate and impoverished residents of a motel just a few miles from Disney World.  Some engaged in sex work, and Baker saw them without judgment.  Willem Dafoe played the motel manager who behaved as a father figure to his tenants.  In Anora, the title character has a family, but she is reticent to deal with them.  Madison, who was memorably set on fire by a flamethrower in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019), is a woman knocked around by life who has love pulled out from under her.  Does she find her true love in Igor?  They have sex, but then Anora breaks down crying.  Is she capable of love?  We know Igor is, and his character turns Anora into something more special than the first half would indicate. 

Cobra Kai (2024)- Season 6 Episodes 6-10 * *

 

Starring:  Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Martin Kove, Peyton List, Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Yuji Okumoto, Sean Kanan

Episodes 6-10 of the final season of the Karate Kid spinoff series takes place mostly in Barcelona, where a worldwide karate tournament with future lawsuit written all over it takes place.  Miyagi-do Karate and bitter enemies Cobra Kai are part of the festivities, with John Kreese (supposedly a fugitive) shows up unexpectedly.  His presence is briefly explained, "All the charges were dropped," and that closes that plot hole.  

These episodes have the dojos competing in exercises in which fighters battle on a tall platform and whomever is knocked off loses.  The losers conveniently land harmlessly on the mats below, but if one falls wrong and is paralyzed, the tourney organizers better whip out the checkbook.  The tournament isn't based on realism, much like most of Cobra Kai.  We've come a long way from the All-Valley Karate Championships circa 1984.  

Cobra Kai's second set of final season episodes was entertaining in its own way with subplots involving the mysterious past of Mr. Miyagi, but then just like the finales of seasons ago, Cobra Kai attempts to rectify everything with an all-out brawl during the finals of the tournament.  Fighting goes on for several minutes with no police in sight and the cameras keep rolling (I guess there is a worldwide television audience for this).  Then, a major character dies after falling on a knife, and the tournament director (who was knocked out earlier sparking the melee) finally yells to cease transmission.  This is a lazy resolution to all that has gone before, and I'll bet in the mercifully concluding episodes, we'll find out how all the charges were dismissed.   Cobra Kai reeks of a series that has long passed its sell-by date. 

Red One (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Jake Kasdan

Starring:  Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, JK Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju

Red One feels like Blue Christmas.  It has a gray pall hanging over it even in the scenes where the sun shines.  Dwayne Johnson plays Callum, Santa Claus' head of security who plans to leave his post after several hundred years of service to Saint Nick (JK Simmons).  Callum has lost faith in humanity as he realizes the naughty list seems to grow longer each year.  Santa asks for Callum to believe in people, but glum Callum insists on tapping out.  However, the night before Christmas Eve, Santa is kidnapped by a witch named Gryla (Shipka), who also believes humanity is irredeemable and wants to imprison every person on the naughty list.  She holds him hostage and slowly saps his strength, which is considerable if you take into account how he's able to deliver billions of presents in one night.  

Simmons gives us a buff Santa Claus who needs to stay in shape to complete his duty on Christmas Eve.  No plump Santa in this movie.  Johnson, however, plays Callum as taciturn and gloomy when he should be having more fun.  The movie itself sets the same tone.  The heavily CGI-laden action scenes take up several minutes at a time, but the stakes just aren't there.  When Callum recruits expert hacker Jack O'Malley (Evans), who unwittingly gave the coordinates of the North Pole compound to Gryla, they go through the cop-buddy movie routine of dislike turning into like.  Neither actor seems to be enjoying himself.  They're going through the motions. 

Red One is not going to establish itself as a holiday classic anytime soon.  It's an action comedy with emphasis on action and not comedy, but soon we grow tired of both.  I enjoyed Simmons playing Santa not as a world-weary man, but as an ambassador of hope who just keeps plugging away until people's better nature takes over.  The rest of the movie feels very much defeated.  

Heretic (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

Starring:  Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East

The opening scenes of Heretic are riveting, but when the plot mechanics set in and the mystery lifts, Heretic morphs into an average thriller where characters miraculously survive lethal stab wounds.  Heretic takes place mostly within the home of Mr. Reed (Grant), a seemingly genial man who welcomes two Mormons who knock on his front door into his home.  The women are Sister Barnes (Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (East), who came to the house because Mr. Reed filled out a card expressing interest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  

Mr. Reed is welcoming, awkwardly charming, and is baking a blueberry pie, as the aroma of the house would indicate.  The sisters state a woman must be present, and Mr. Reed assures them his wife is in the other room but shy about coming out to the living room.  The sisters take that explanation at face value, but soon find Mr. Reed isn't what he seems.  He engages them in a conversation about religion, but he clearly has an issue with the concept of religion and faith.  He says he has found "the one true religion", which the women discover to their horror later.  

Hugh Grant began his career as a romantic lead, but he is also an expert cad and villain.  He gives a fascinating performance here as a man who is angered by the idea of believing in a God who would allow these kind women to be fed to wolves like him.  In his mind, God has abandoned us.  The women try not to believe that, but it's hard to doubt the mounting evidence.  No matter whether Sisters Barnes and Paxton agree with Mr. Reed or not, their fate is sealed.  East and Thatcher provide effective counterpoints as two young missionaries who are naive and entirely too polite to protest and try to escape when it's clear early that Mr. Reed is deranged.   

Heretic's setup is so effective that the payoff can't possibly match it.  The final act morphs into the typical, which is a pity because the early atmosphere is suspenseful and creepy.  Heretic is a movie which can't quite grab the greatness within its grasp. 

City of Lies (2021) * *

 

Directed by: Brad Furman

Starring:  Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Shea Whigham, Neil Brown, Jr., Dayton Callie

Brad Furman's City of Lies delves into the unsolved murder of Chris Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.), the famous rapper shot and killed in the wee hours of the morning of March 9, 1997.  This was nearly six months after Tupac Shakur's slaying on the Las Vegas strip.  The media speculated an "East Coast/West Coast" feud between rivaling artists.  Detective Russell Poole (Depp) is assigned to the case and finds he is stonewalled because some LAPD cops moonlight for Death Row executive Marion "Suge" Knight and Notorious B.I.G.'s death opens a Pandora's Box of LAPD corruption.

City of Lies opens nearly twenty years after Wallace's shooting, with Poole still trying to piece together who shot Wallace.  He kept a promise to Wallace's mother Voletta (playing herself) to solve the murder, even after he was kicked off the case and forced to retire.  Poole teams up with journalist Jack Jackson (Whitaker), who is writing a historical article on Wallace and finds himself trying to solve the murder as well.   Was Poole ousted because he was coming too close to the truth which would blow the lid off of the department's corruption?  They've already taken a hit with Rodney King, OJ Simpson, and the Rampart investigations.  Being implicated in Wallace's death would be one more turn of the screw.

Despite the strong performance by Depp as a dogged, but world-weary former detective, and some solid supporting work, City of Lies buckles under its own weight.  It doesn't crackle with intensity like a superb police procedural should.  It never lifts off, even though the public remains interested in the high-profile unsolved murder.  How is it Wallace's killing is still not solved nearly thirty years later?  City of Lies believes it has the answer, but it scarcely brings those answers to life.  

Here (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Robert Zemeckis

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Paul Bettany, Robin Wright, Kelly Reilly

Robert Zemeckis' Here is an experiment in which a camera is planted in a spot and documents what happened in that spot throughout history.  The movie starts with the dinosaurs up to the present day, with multiple stories zig-zagging through time.  The bulk of Here takes place in a living room in a suburban Pennsylvania house.  Across the street is an old colonial home once owned by Benjamin Franklin, and the land on which these homes are built are ancient Native American tribal lands.  We meet the owners from the 1910's through the 2020 COVID pandemic.   My girlfriend told me that the movie reminded her of Disney World's Carousel of Progress only with sad parts.  It is an astute observation, and Here manages to be more than that.  Some parts are hokey, but others earn the audience's emotional response.

Here's main storyline focuses on the Young family, with WWII veteran Al Young (Bettany) and his wife Rose (Reilly) buying the home shortly after the end of the Second World War.  They settle into suburban life, raising three children with the oldest being Richard, who will grow up to be played by Tom Hanks.  Hanks is a gifted artist, but at eighteen knocks up his high-school sweetheart Margaret (Wright) and marries her.  Richard abandons his plans at an art career to raise his daughter in his father's home.  Meanwhile, Margaret laments the sacrifices she made for her family and verbalizes them at her 50th surprise birthday party. 

After a shaky start, I began to appreciate Here's sweep through time.  Zemeckis' style doesn't dominate the story and the characters.   Hanks and Wright, even de-aged, are still effective while harkening back to their pairing in Forrest Gump.  Could I have done without the time-jumping aspect?  Yes, a linear story framing would've worked well, but I was still moved by what's presented in the film.                                   

The Old Man (Season Two on FX) * *

 

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman, Joel Grey, Navid Negahban

The first season of The Old Man was terrific.  It told the story of former CIA operative Dan Chase (Bridges), who is forced out of hiding by assassins working for an Afghan warlord Faraz Hamzad (Neghban) looking for personal payback.  It turns out Dan fled Afghanistan with the warlord's wife and baby daughter Parwana, who grew up believing she was Dan's biological child.  The mother passed away and Parwana (Shawkat) goes by the name Abby Chase but also Angela Adams when she is working for the FBI under Harold Harper (Lithgow), who aided Chase in smuggling Hamzad's family out.  

The finale of season one saw Parwana/Angela/Abby kidnapped successfully by Hamzad and brought to his village where he controls a lucrative lithium mine in Afghanistan.  Parwana doesn't put up much of a fight in her acceptance of the villainous Hamzad and her family she never met.  Soon, Parwana's concern for her family outweighs her loyalty to Dan and Harold as they travel to Afghanistan to rescue her.   The first season's complicated history between Dan and Harold was in the forefront and it crackled.  In the second season, they bicker like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men, but that is the depth of their relationship. 

Season two meanders often, with Dan and Harold trying to save Parwana (who isn't exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of being saved), and then uncovering a conspiracy involving Russians trying to usurp control of the mine and wipe out the villagers.   This involves a visit to their mentor Morgan Bote (Grey), who is pulling the strings behind the scenes, although how he is doing so isn't fully explained.  Morgan has Dan's lady friend Zoe (Brennaman) with him when Dan and Harold drop in.  Was she kidnapped?  Did she go willingly?  There is no explanation on that either. 

Bridges and Lithgow shine even if the plot and subplots weigh them down.  I feel Lithgow is the heart of the show, acting as Dan's conscience while seemingly one step behind the plot as we are.  Harper halfway still believes in institutions like the FBI and CIA, even while seeing their handiwork firsthand.  The first three episodes drag, with endless dialogue and Parwana's monologues about how she found what was missing from her in Afghanistan.   Things perk up occasionally after that, and who knew being kidnapped could be such a positive experience?  

 

Conclave (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Edward Berger

Starring:  Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Carlos Diehz, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msamati

You wouldn't expect the conclave to elect a new pope would be the backdrop for a suspenseful thriller, but Conclave operates quite well within those parameters.  In the opening scenes of Conclave, the pope is on his deathbed and surrounded by the cardinals who aspire to take his place.  Among them is Dean Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes), who is put in charge of the conclave which will elect a successor.  

Lawrence himself is not campaigning to be pope, but he has his supporters.  He is as close to saintly as one could be, perhaps naively believing everyone in the Vatican is there to serve God and only God.  He will learn the hard way that this isn't the way things are.  Various cardinals jockey for position to win the title of Pope.  Among them are Cardinal Tremblay (Lithgow), the last cardinal to meet with the pontiff when he was alive, and may or may not be involved in a financial scheme while also allegedly trying to besmirch Cardinal Adeyemi (Msamati) with issues from his past.  Tremblay fervently denies wrongdoing, but we know better than to take him at face value.

Also in the running is Cardinal Tedesco (Castellitto), a conservative cardinal who laments the direction the church has taken and wishes to restore more traditional values, Cardinal Bellini (Tucci), who is against all of Tedesco's ideas and is Lawrence's best friend, and the newest member of the conclave, Cardinal Benitez (Diehz), who arrives secretly at the behest of the late pope.  As the daily voting takes place, candidates gain and lose ground, while others steadily climb.  Lawrence uncovers each cardinal's secrets, and navigates the territory while trying to keep his faith in the system.  Fiennes, a brilliant actor, is a sympathetic lead we can most identify with.  

The cast, of course, is stellar and how could it not be?  They could make reading a phone book compelling (if there are any of those anymore).  Conclave operates on the level of suspense and behind-the-scenes negotiating, bickering, and politics which make up this process.  Is it realistic or accurate?  I have no clue, but what's here is compelling.  The ending may appear to be a swerve for swerve's sake, but it raises questions about not only the direction of the Catholic Church, but about how many strings the late pope was pulling even from beyond the grave.  Would Catholics dismiss the movie out of hand for being "anti-Vatican" or would they follow it and be entertained?  I found myself siding with the latter point of view.  

Venom: The Last Dance (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Kelly Marcel

Starring:  Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Stephen Graham, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Andy Serkis, Clark Backo

Venom: The Last Dance is the third in this Marvel trilogy of a symbiote from another planet which co-inhabits the body of Eddie Brock (Hardy).  After three films, the two have a funny chemistry which isn't explored enough.  Instead, the movie concentrates more on an alien invasion which had to be explained and from what I could see, they're here to take over the world somehow and the symbiotes that are being studied in a lab below Area 51 can stop them.  The plot itself is a mess, but Hardy redeems the movie somewhat. 

I don't know if studied is the correct word.  They hang in suspended animation in large jars with doctors marveling at them, while another is inside a prisoner (Graham) who tells the doctors and military commander Rex Strickland (Ejiofor) of an imminent invasion.  Meanwhile, Eddie and Venom are on the run from the government for events from the second film which I can't remember to save my life.  I gave Venom: Let There Be Carnage a positive review, mostly because of the solidified relationship between Eddie and Venom.   This third and tired installment doesn't even choose to fall back on that positive development.  

Hardy is up to the task of giving us a sympathetic Brock who has learned to how to co-exist with Venom and vice versa.  There is even a scene in which he dons a tuxedo to get into a Vegas casino with a strict dress code.  This is likely a tip of the cap to the persistent rumors that Hardy is running to play the next James Bond.  He looks the part, although, like Venom, the Bond series should rest in peace.  

We Live in Time (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  John Crowley

Starring:  Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Adam James, Grace Delaney

We Live in Time takes us on an unconventional romance between Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh) after Almut hits Tobias with a car.  It sure was a violent, shocking strike, but all is forgiven and the two engage in a years-long relationship in which Almut battles cancer twice.  The second diagnosis causes Almut to ask Tobias a question with no correct answer.   Do they put Almut through one year of chemo hell with no certainty that the cancer will remit?   Or live the rest of her life treatment-free and try to enjoy the moments, which may last roughly six months?  Tobias surely had to think long and hard about this, and who could blame him?

Tobias and Almut are nice enough people, but not memorable like Oliver and Jenny from Love Story, which is similar in story arc to We Live in Time, but more impactful.  Garfield and Pugh invest as much into these people as they can, and it's their performances that almost carry the movie over the finish line.  However, I watched We Live in Time and didn't feel there was much conflict or much to play against.  There is a brief interlude in which the two break up temporarily over Tobias' desire to have children, but that feels tacked on, and the reunion seems just as arbitrary.

Almut, a restaurant owner, also secretly engages in rehearsals for a prestigious European chef competition in place of her treatments, which also lacks a satisfying emotional payoff, even though it really tries to have one.  The entire movie is an exercise in a near-miss emotional experience.  

Smile 2 (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Parker Finn

Starring:  Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Drew Barrymore, Peter Jacobson, Raul Castillo, Dylan Gelula

Smile 2 is the follow-up to 2022's Smile, a horror tale of an invisible parasite which takes over your mind and drives you insane to the point that, when it's time to die, your mouth upturns into a malicious smile and you kill yourself.  If you happen to die in front of someone else, that person will now carry the parasite.  

I recall nothing about the original Smile.  I looked back and saw I applied a negative review, but I couldn't pass a quiz on it.  Smile 2, however, starts out with promise and Naomi Scott's performance is indeed terrific, but the horror aspects kick in and turns the movie into a mess.  Scott is Skye Riley, a pop superstar on the comeback trail one year after nearly dying in a car accident which killed her boyfriend.   Skye is recovering from substance dependency and is planning a nationwide tour kicked off on The Drew Barrymore Show.   However, the psychological and physical scars remain, and one night after a painful rehearsal, Skye visits her former drug dealer (Gage) in hopes of scoring painkillers. 

The dealer, though, acts erratically and is soon wearing the telltale smile before staring into Skye's eyes and smashing his own face with a barbell.  Skye leaves the scene and is haunted by troublesome visions which question her own reality.  Her mother (DeWitt) manages her career down to her sleep schedule, but soon is worried about Skye's erratic behavior which alienates her fans, her record label, and her best friend Gemma (Gelula), whom Skye hasn't spoken to in a long time.  Skye attempts to rekindle her friendship with Gemma, but soon we have to question what's even real. 

If Smile 2 were a drama about the life of a troubled pop star, it would've been compelling, but Smile 2 wasn't made to document Skye's life.  It was meant to be a horror film with gotcha moments and jump scares.  There are plenty of these to go around and would satisfy those who attended for scary moments, but soon Smile 2 flies off the rails to its inevitable ending, wiping out whatever goodwill the first half provided.  But, it's surely an improvement over the first film, for what that's worth. 

Jimmy Hollywood (1994) * *

 

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Joe Pesci, Christian Slater, Victoria Abril, Jason Beghe, John Cothran

Jimmy Alto (Pesci) is getting a late start on becoming an actor in Hollywood, but he doesn't lack confidence.  Like so many before and after Jimmy, he believes superstardom is one call away.  He even takes out a trade ad on a bus stop bench advertising himself.  When the phone rings, however, Jimmy is usually found hanging out by the pool of his apartment complex with his best friend William (Slater).  William is as quiet as Jimmy is loud and loquacious.  Most of Jimmy's dialogue is in fact a monologue, with William nearby just to lend his ears.   If William weren't around, Jimmy would be seen as someone who talks to himself or an actor reciting dialogue.  Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.

Jimmy Hollywood, written and directed by the usually top-notch Barry Levinson, has such a strong setup, but it is sad when it degenerates into a crime story where Jimmy becomes a vigilante in order to gain fame and stop crime (in that order).  One night, Jimmy learns his live-in girlfriend (Abril) was mugged and later his car broken into.  He decides to wait for the thieves to come back and then have William videotape what happens.  The thief returns and Jimmy throws him into the trunk, depositing him in front of a police station with a note signed "S.O.S." which William thought was the initials for Steven O. Selznick, who he thinks was producer of Gone with the Wind.  It was David O. Selznick, but close enough.  Jimmy then names his vigilante "group" Save Our Streets, and because he can't resist the spotlight, he sends videotaped messages to the police as Jericho, the shadowy leader of the S.O.S. 

The first thirty minutes of Jimmy Hollywood are full of vibrant energy, mostly due to the wired Pesci performance.   Abril and Slater are much quieter and provide balance, especially Slater as Jimmy's disciple who hangs on Jimmy's every word.  But, then the plot kicks in, and the performances are lost in the shuffle.  However, the end credit sequences featuring Harrison Ford are not only funny, but an insider's view of moviemaking that would've served Jimmy Hollywood better than the vigilante plot. 

To Die For (1995) * * * 1/2

 

 

Directed by: Gus Van Sant

Starring:  Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Dan Hedaya, Illeana Douglas, Casey Affleck, Alison Folland, Maria Tucci, Buck Henry, George Segal, Wayne Knight

Suzanne Stone (Kidman) is destined for bigger and better things than being married to a regular guy like Larry Maretto (Dillon)...in her own mind.   She begins to resent her husband, who does nothing wrong except maybe only wanting to open his own restaurant while working long hours at his family's establishment.   Her resentment and ambition turns to a murder plot where she recruits three teenage losers to stage a home invasion and murder Larry.  One of them, Jimmy (Phoenix) has an affair with Suzanne and is convinced they are in love.  Suzanne's only love is herself, as if we really had to be told that.

To Die For is a study and satire of a quest for fame run amok.  Suzanne is a looker and works as the weatherperson for a local New Hampshire station.  But her dreams include a network role someday, and she believes with all of her heart that a documentary on high schooler opinions on various topics will be just the ticket.  The station manager (Knight) is astounded by her work ethic and even more by her overly ambitious nature.  She won't take no for an answer.  

It is obvious in social settings that Suzanne and Larry aren't a match.  His family thinks something is off about her.  She speaks like she just attended a self-fulfillment seminar and uses all the buzz words associated with it.  Her mind is always on work or her own narcissistic needs.  Everyone else is a means to an end.  Her most important relationship is with her dog, Walter.   Written by Buck Henry and directed by Gus Van Sant, To Die For is funny and challenging.  Most of the characters aren't especially likable, except Larry, played by Dillon with a regular-guy quality.   They operate for their own ends.   

The movie's tone is satirically based on a true story in which an overly ambitious femme fatale like Suzanne hires her teenage lover to kill her husband.  You might think people like Suzanne don't exist in the real world, but To Die For recognized this personality type long before Instagram and Facebook.  Could you imagine what Suzanne would be like on those platforms?   I shudder to think about it.  

Saturday Night (2024) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jason Reitman

Starring:  Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Dylan O' Brien, Matt Wood, Nicholas Braun, Robert Wuhl, Matthew Rhys

Saturday Night could have benefited in the early going with an onscreen introduction to the numerous writers, producers, production team members, and assorted people running around backstage ninety minutes before the first Saturday Night Live episode was set to air on October 11, 1975.  Creator Lorne Michaels (LaBelle) puts out one fire after another in his quest to ensure the show aired, while NBC executives led by Dave Tebet (Dafoe), who is not shy about telling Michaels a Tonight Show rerun is ready to be played in Saturday Night's place if Michaels can't get the show's act together.

Saturday Night jumps from one problem to another for the ambitious Michaels to solve at a frenetic pace which is sometimes difficult to keep up with.  Having an insider's knowledge of the early days of the show doesn't hurt either.  The actors playing the Not Ready for Primetime Players are spot-on and not merely impersonators.  We sense the angst that the erratic John Belushi (Wood) causes everyone, and he refuses to sign his contract to boot.  Michaels is forever trying to talk him off the ledge, and we get the feeling he would have to do this numerous more times in the ensuing years.   Chevy Chase (Smith) is already seeing himself as the next big Hollywood star and SNL will be a stepping stone for that.  Host George Carlin (Rhys), high on cocaine, is not thrilled with the writing and sees hosting the show as a step backward for his career.  

There is so much more and it's impossible to recap, but LaBelle is a steadying influence with whom we sympathize.  He has a lot to carry on his shoulders and most members of the audience wouldn't want his job for all of the tea in China.  Michaels' boss, executive Dick Ebersol (Hoffman), supports Michaels but like everyone else wonders if the show will ever make it to air and if it does, what will it look like?  How will it play with audiences?  As SNL begins its fiftieth season, history has told the tale.  The movie Saturday Night has a correct sense of time and place.  It feels like the era of post-Vietnam 70's and even more about a period when late night television was all the rage, but the overall effect is one of good moments that don't make up a satisfying whole.  

Mr. McMahon (2024) * * * (Streaming on Netflix)

 

Directed by:  Chris Smith

Starring:  Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque, Dwayne Johnson, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shane McMahon, Mark Calaway (The Undertaker), Tony Atlas, Bruce Prichard, Eric Bischoff

It was a curious move for former WWE head Vince McMahon to ask viewers to "keep an open mind" when watching Netflix's new documentary series, Mr. McMahon.  The documentary itself consists of interviews with Vince McMahon, colleagues, family members, friends, and enemies recorded beginning in 2021 before Vince's ouster from WWE due to lawsuits and sexual allegations with former employees.  

Mr. McMahon takes us through the billionaire wrestling promoter's life from an abusive childhood which he doesn't talk much about to his rise to power in the WWF (which later became WWE following a lawsuit by the World Wildlife Fund).  McMahon did not meet his biological father, Vincent J. McMahon, then-owner of WWF until he was twelve years old.  Vince then followed his dad into the business and after buying him out circa 1983, he set his sights on nationwide expansion in an era dominated by territorial wrestling organizations.  It was a gentleman's agreement between promoters that they would not run shows in other areas, but Vince wasn't interested in being a gentleman.  As he states more than once, "I don't fight fair,"

Hulk Hogan was essential in aiding the WWF in becoming a worldwide phenomenon and he features heavily throughout many of the episodes, including being a witness at Vince's federal steroid distribution trial in which McMahon was found not guilty.  There is also extensive time devoted to New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick, who has it in for McMahon and the WWF for reasons not made clear, but whose steroid accusations paved the way for the government to file charges.   McMahon is no stranger to lawsuits, indictments, or accusations.  

Mr. McMahon serves the target audience, those who grew up enjoying professional wrestling, very well.  As a history of WWE, covering the famed "Montreal Screwjob", Wrestlemania, and the Monday Night Wars with WCW which nearly put WWE out of business, Mr. McMahon is well-crafted and thorough.  However, those wanting to learn the inner workings of Vince McMahon won't find much here that they don't already know.  McMahon is cagey in how he protects himself, like the magician who is reticent to reveal the secrets to his tricks.  We learn how he feels about certain things, but only superficially.  But, it's fun to take a look back in history anyway.  Then, the scandalous lawsuits happened, and McMahon cancelled the remainder of his interviews.  Mr. McMahon could've been renamed History of WWE and no one would've noticed any difference.  Anyone expecting insight into the wrestling mogul has come to the wrong place, but Mr. McMahon is a comprehensive look at the palace that he built. 

The Bear (Season Three) * * 1/2

 

Starring:  Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Oliver Platt, Olivia Colman, Matty Matheson, Jon Bernthal, Abby Elliott, L-Boy, Liza Colon-Zayas, Molly Gordon, Jamie Lee Curtis

The Bear sizzles when it depicts the grind of running a top-flight restaurant.  "Every second counts" is the mantra and a few lost moments can be the difference between a happy customer and a bad review.  The pressure to produce great food is intense, and the pressure to earn a profit even more so.  Chef Carmen Berzatto (White) orders the most expensive butter around to make his dishes stand out, but Uncle Jimmy (Platt) sees his investment and any chance of recouping his money flying out the window.  Is something wrong with Land-O-Lakes?  

Then, there is the other side of The Bear, in which characters engage in looooong conversations which certainly cause this viewer's attention to wane.  The episode in which Natalie (Elliott) is in labor is one extended conversation between her and her estranged mother (Curtis).  The acting is superb, but the incessant talking is not.  A balance between the two would bring The Bear back to the quality of the excellent first season.  The last two seasons, while they've had their moments, have not been able to match season one.  

The Bear is now open for business.  The first episode consists mostly of elliptical flashbacks and Carmen beating himself up for being locked accidentally in the walk-in refrigerator during opening night.  Usually, you have to wait until mid-season to see the filler episode, but The Bear gets it out of the way early.  Carmen has two expressions:  Mopey and more mopey.  He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, triggered by past trauma and verbal abuse by the head chef (a terrific Joel McHale) of the New York restaurant where he worked.  When Carmen has a chance in the season finale to confront this demon, it doesn't disappoint.   

We also witness the continuing evolution of Richie (Moss-Bachrach), who in season two learned under Chef Andrea (Colman) how to become a maitre-d and under his steely, shifting gaze, sees all in the restaurant and of course finds himself wanting to strangle Carmen more than once.   In the middle is Sydney, whom Carmen wants to make a partner but receives a tempting offer to be head chef at a friend's upstart restaurant.  She is tormented by the decision and the internalized pressure.  

Despite its strengths, The Bear's third season is a mixed bag.  The strong aspects are very strong, but then we have whole sequences of talk-a-thon conversations which lull us into boredom.   When we think they're over, they drag on.  I like these people and their camaraderie is infectious, but look out when they start expounding on things. 

My Old Ass (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Megan Park

Starring: Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Maddie Ziegler, Percy Hynes White, Kerrice Brooks, Carter Trozollo, Seth Isaac Johnson, Maria Dizzia

Eighteen-year-old Elliot (Stella) is spending her last days at home before going off to college.  She finally lands the girl she always wanted to sleep with, and life seems pretty good.  One night, while high on mushrooms with her friends, her 39-year-old self (Plaza) appears next to her and tells her to avoid a guy named Chad.  Elliot thinks she's hallucinating, of course, but her older self is real.  Through some miracle, Elliot is also able to communicate via text and calls after her older version disappears.  

The next day while swimming in a lake, she meets the gangly Chad (White), a very sweet guy whom she takes a liking to despite the warnings.  He's seems perfect, and he'll even be going to the same school, so why should she stay away from him?  Does he have a dark, abusive side?  Is a drug addict or a criminal? Is he not who he says he is?  Elliot tries to contact her 39-year-old self to no avail.  She's going to have to figure this one out on her own.  

Elliot is not only confused by her feelings for Chad, but by her feelings for a man in general.  She always thought she was gay, until she met Chad.  But, what lies ahead?  My Old Ass is a time-bending drama which doesn't have the fun with the time travel elements like Back to the Future does.  The 39-year-old version of Elliot isn't on screen much.  When she does return, she reveals why she should've never met Chad, and it does pack some power, but if you're looking for a movie where Elliot tries to mess with the timeline to evoke a different outcome, you've come to the wrong movie.

There isn't anything wrong with a time-bending or time travel movie avoiding the pitfalls and cliches of the genre, but My Old Ass doesn't exploit the plot for all it's worth.  It's just kind of...there, and the movie follows itself to its destination solemnly.  You question why the older self showed up in the first place, since it doesn't change the trajectory much.  

A Time to Kill (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  Joel Schumacher

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Cooper, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Brenda Fricker, Patrick McGoohan, Oliver Platt

A Time to Kill is one of John Grisham's first novels and studies the complexities of a Mississippi black man (Jackson), who kills his daughter's rapists and is now on trial for murder.  What would you have done in a similar situation?  The movie understands that such an act is justified, but there are still laws against murder.  Carl Lee Hailey (Jackson) hires local lawyer Jake Brigance (McConaughey) to represent him, partially because he is a family friend and also because Jake sympathizes with Carl.  Jake proposes a temporary insanity defense, which isn't preposterous and could be the difference between life and death.  

Jake's opponent is the experienced DA Rufus Buckley (Spacey), who thinks he has an open-and-shut case.  Jake is aided by liberal law student Ellen Roark (Bullock), who may be able to find a psychologist that will testify as to Carl's temporary insanity.  However, the case brings about unwanted scrutiny from protestors, the NAACP (who wants Carl to have a black lawyer), and the KKK, one of whom is the brother of one of the rapists Carl Lee killed.  There are attempts on Jake's life and more issues which are snugly fit into a 2 1/2 hour movie.  

A Time to Kill is propped up by impressive performances from the all-star cast.  The courtroom scenes provide the needed suspense and drama, with plenty of attention paid to racially-charged subplots.  McConaughey is confident and at-home in his breakthrough role.  He would go on to play attorneys so often that he could probably pass a bar exam.  However, I still scratch my head at his closing argument speech in which he appealed to the jury's inherent racism by saying "now imagine she's white".  Carl is then found "not guilty", but how so?  I'm no attorney, like Grisham, so he could enlighten us.  Until that point, though, A Time to Kill worked as a proficient courtroom drama which provokes the question, "What would you do?" if you were Carl Lee Hailey.  

Never Let Go (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Alexandre Aja

Starring:  Halle Berry, Percy Daggs IV, Anthony Jenkins

Never Let Go is a post-apocalyptic tale of a woman who lives in the forest with her two sons and is forever trying to keep them safe from "the evil".  They live in a log cabin with no electricity or running water and the three tether themselves with rope to the cabin so they can't stray far.  However, one of the boys starts to doubt whether the evil monsters which tormented their mother even exist.  

Halle Berry plays the mother as a haunted, tortured woman who is either mentally unstable or terrified because she's telling the truth.  The performances are effective even if the movie eventually crumbles under the heavy-handed plot.  The ending reveals the reality of their unfortunate situation, or part of it anyway.  Like many movies in which the protagonist is seemingly insane, it is unlikely that the surprise ending will confirm that notion.  Until that point, Never Let Go plods along like it is fighting against the fog which envelops the forest. 

Never Let Go is not exciting, but sleepy.  Director Aja tries his best to invoke a chilly atmosphere, but the movie never lifts off.   It's not poorly made, but the story doesn't match the production values. 

Speak No Evil (2024) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  James Watkins

Starring:  James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Scoot McNairy, Dan Hough, Alix West Lefler

Speak No Evil remains grounded and suspenseful when a lesser film would go off the rails.  The villains aren't invincible demons who rise time and again from certain death to keep coming after the heroes.  We know that something is definitely up with Patrick (McAvoy), who claims to be a retired doctor, and his family, which includes a son who was born with a tongue too small and thus cannot speak.  This will all be revealed to be bull, but Speak No Evil operates at its best in the buildup, where Patrick and his wife Ciara (Franciosi) take full advantage of their newfound friends' desire to be polite even in the face of unacceptable behavior.

Patrick and Ciara (along with son Ant (Hough)) meet the Daltons during a vacation in Italy.  Ben (McNairy) and Louise (Davis) are struggling in their marriage because of Louise's emotional infidelity with another man.  They live in London, mostly following a recent movie trend of Americans living abroad because the countries in which they're being filmed give tax breaks.   Patrick sends an invitation to the Daltons, who have a teenage daughter named Agnes (Lefler), to spend a weekend at their rustic country home.  The house is underwhelming and dirty, complete with stained bed linens.  As the weekend goes on, Patrick and Ciara participate in increasingly bizarre behavior which unnerves the Daltons, but they timidly keep their mouths shut.  

Patrick is an uber-masculine guy who engages in the sort of activities one would expect from him.  He hunts, he fishes, he smacks Ant around when he is unable to keep rhythm while dancing, and does scream therapy.  The McAvoy performance is the key to the movie.  If he is anything less than convincingly despicable, then Speak No Evil will fail.  McAvoy clearly relishes his villainhood, and we then root for him to be crushed when the time comes.  The arc of Speak No Evil is predictable, but that's why we went to see it.  We know what we'll get.  McNairy and Davis provide the opposite characterizations of nice people who stay polite to avoid confrontation, which is what Patrick is counting on to allow his scheme to work.  Ant's story plays a huge part in unveiling Patrick's real self in a creative and eerie way. 

I think of Neighbors (1981), John Belushi's final theatrical film in which he plays a polite stick in the mud who barely finds the strength to protest the behavior of his obnoxious new neighbors.  That was a comedy.  Speak No Evil is the dramatic side of that coin, and covers many of the same dark areas while keeping it thrilling for the audience. 

The Front Room (2024) *

 

Directed by:  Sam Eggers and Max Eggers

Starring:  Brandy Norwood, Kathryn Hunter, Andrew Burnap

The Front Room is a "from hell" movie, where the mother-in-law from hell moves into an otherwise happy home and turns it upside down.  The Front Room, however, is not a comedy, but a dull, serious attempt at horror, or is it suspense?  Who knows, but it doesn't operate on its intended level or any level.  It runs until the end credits and you would be fortunate to recall anything about it by the time you walk to the parking lot.  

Brandy Norwood stars as Belinda, a professor in the late stages of pregnancy.  She and her husband Norman (Burnap) eagerly await the baby and turn the front bottom-floor room into the baby's room.  These happy plans are upended by the death of Norman's father, who was married for many years to a manipulative shrill named Solange (Hunter) who disapproves of Norman's marriage and even more so that they're having a baby.  Solange, thanks to Norman's father requests in his will, moves into Norman's house and takes up residency in the baby's room of the house.

In a likely homage to Rosemary's Baby, Solange has strange visitors over to act creepily towards the baby and the family.  She also induces incontinence in order to focus the attention on herself.  What is Solange's endgame in all of this?  She doesn't seem to possess supernatural powers.  She's just mean, spiteful, and vicious.  Hunter gives a nervy performance of a character with very few redeeming qualities, but Solange and this movie should've been shown the front door a long time ago. 

1992 (2024) * *

 

Directed by:  Ariel Vromen

Starring:  Tyrese Gibson, Ray Liotta, Scott Eastwood, Dylan Arnold, Michael Beasley, Christopher Ammanuel

1992 captures the atmosphere of the Los Angeles Rodney King riots but then it dissolves into a formulaic crime drama where the hero dispatches the villains like Rambo.  Mercer (Gibson) is a recently released felon trying to go the straight and narrow while raising his son Antoine (Ammanuel) and working at a catalytic converter plant targeted by thieves led by Bigby (Liotta).  Once the riots ensue, Bigby and company decide to break in and steal a safe's worth of platinum because the plant owners send everyone home for the day.

Mercer, after finding his son among the rioters, plans to hide out at the plant until the event calms down, but soon has to protect Antoine against the thieves.  Bigby is a cold-hearted SOB, but his son Riggin (Eastwood), who resents his father, has a soft spot in his heart for the African-American community.  His dialogue stating his support sounds more like a modern-day take than one that might be uttered in 1992.  This means Riggin can be Redeemed, even though he's trying to steal a shitload of platinum. 

Tyrese Gibson brings intensity as the moral center of 1992, but soon he transforms into an unstoppable action hero thwarting Bigby and his goons.  We know he can handle a gun as an ex-gang member, but realism flies out the window as 1992 goes into action movie mode.  The riots soon feel like a distant memory by the movie's conclusion.  1992 marks the final film appearance of the late Ray Liotta, who plays slimy villains with the best of them.  He will be missed.  The movie itself, not so much.   

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Tim Burton

Starring:  Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Monica Belluci, Willem Dafoe, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has too many characters, too many subplots, and is an overstuffed, bloated movie even at 100 minutes.   It's the sequel no one asked for, but here it is anyway in all its glory.  

I saw the original film only once when it was released in 1988.  I wasn't much thrilled by it and I haven't seen it since.  Fortunately, the sequel doesn't require a revisit to the original.  Michael Keaton returns to the title role as a devious ghost exorcist who is both friend and foe to Lydia Deetz (Ryder), who now hosts a television show about ghosts.  She receives word from her artist stepmother (O' Hara) that her father was killed by a shark following a plane crash.  The father wanders around the underworld with the top half of his body missing.  

Meanwhile, Lydia is being romanced and proposed to by her oily, sneaky producer/manager (Theroux), who clearly has a bigger agenda.  Lydia's daughter Astrid (Ortega) resents her mother, but comes home from college following her father's passing.  She and Lydia have a Past to contend with, but not so much that Astrid doesn't begin a potential romance with a good-looking young man who hangs out in a tree fort.  

Beetlejuice, meanwhile, has to avoid his ex-wife Delores (Bellucci), who somehow has returned from another afterlife, I suppose, and has designs on revenge.  Beetlejuice tells his story of how Delores came to be his ex-wife and how he wound up a ghost.   There are long stretches where we forget she's even in the movie.  Other unnecessary characters like Willem Dafoe's Wolf Jackson, an afterlife detective who was an actor when he was alive.  We wait for his arc to develop and it never does.  

Beetlejuice himself is a mystery.  He's a hero one moment and a villain the next.  We can't keep track of him.  It's telling that the character everyone loves the most is Bob, the guy with the shrunken head and bulging eyes who can't speak and meets a terrible end at the hands of Delores.  Bob doesn't deserve that ending.  What we're left with is a movie with people we don't care about carrying about subplots we have no interest in.  I'd love to know more about Bob, though.  Maybe he can get his own movie.