Death of a Unicorn (2025) * *

 

Directed by:  Alex Scharfman

Starring:  Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Richard E. Grant, Tea Leoni, Anthony Carrigan, Will Poulter

The act of writing a review for Death of a Unicorn presents a challenge for me.  I saw it upon its April release and haven't gotten around to reviewing it until now.  I confess I don't recall much about it, so I'll attempt to pull the details from my hazy memory.  

Attorney Elliot Kintner (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) are traveling in the Rockies to the estate of his client Odell Leopold (Grant), who has stage four cancer.   Elliot is putting together the plan to become legal liaison to the pharmaceutical company Odell runs.  On the way, however, Elliot accidentally runs over a unicorn with his car, and stuffs the dead unicorn in his trunk.  Ridley thinks the majestic creature should receive a proper burial.  Elliot just wants to get the paperwork signed so he can officially land Odell as a client.  

However, the unicorn is not dead and tries in vain to escape Elliot's car.  This is met not with kindness nor wonder, but I believe the poor thing is bashed in the head.  Odell's family discovers the unicorn and learns its blood has magical powers which cure Odell of his cancer.  Odell sees the gazillions that could be made from this potion.  Ridley strenuously objects while Elliot is caught in the middle: wanting to do the right thing while still maintaining Odell as a client.  The unicorn's parents arrive at the scene to take their deceased offspring back with them, and are none too happy with Odell's family. 

That's about what I can remember, with assistance from rogerebert.com on the plot mechanics.  Death of a Unicorn is a dark comedy with fancy action scenes and the amoral, greedy Leopold family getting their comeuppance.  This a solid crew of comic actors who do their best, but the material is all over the map tonally.  It wants to be a comedy, supernatural fantasy, and actioner all in one.  These elements can surely be put together in one movie and flow naturally.  However, Death of a Unicorn isn't that movie.  I watched it with apathy and soon after it was forgotten.  

Materialists (2025) * *

 

Directed by:  Celine Song

Starring:  Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Zoe Winter, Marin Ireland

The characters in Materialists are jaded and cold, even the guy who wants to win back our protagonist years after they broke up.  Because of this, our sympathies only go so far with the movie and its characters.  Materialists tells an age-old tale of a woman who chooses love over money, and does so in such a swerve that it isn't convincing.  

Lucy (Johnson) is a star matchmaker who may not believe in true love for herself, but is forever trying to match up lonely people with prospects whom she promises will be "the one".  In one such instance, the man of her client's dreams sexually assaulted her on a date, which sends Lucy into a crisis of conscience.  Prior to that, Lucy is attending the wedding of one of her clients when the groom's brother, the rich and smooth, but enigmatic Harry (Pascal) makes it his business to get to know Lucy.  She tells him that being rich is a prerequisite for any potential suitor.  Harry has no issues with money.

At the same wedding, Lucy runs into John (Evans), a late 30's struggling actor working as a waiter at the event.  He's a kind soul and clearly still in love with Lucy, even though she dumped him five years ago for not being rich.  He's still poor and lives in a dumpy apartment with two obnoxious roommates, but he still has hope that he and Lucy will reunite.  Will she dump Harry and go with John?  What do you think?

The outcome in romantic dramas or comedies is not in doubt.  What counts is the style and the characters.  Do we care for them?  We try, but we cannot fully embrace them.  Materialists keeps us at arm's length, never fully enveloping us in the proceedings.  Pascal's performance is the best in the film.  He's very good at not showing us all the cards, but also projecting tenderness and warmth.  Is he hiding something?  Yes, but not what you may think.   Evans, while doing what he can, is simply the true, earnest guy whom Lucy does not deserve.  At least we're spared the scene of the two men fighting over Lucy physically and/or emotionally.   Lucy's change of heart is not convincing either and her eventual breakup with Harry fails to register.  We don't believe she has chosen love over money.  We simply realize the screenplay told her to. 

 

Good Night, and Good Luck (2025) * * *

 

(Broadway play broadcast live on CNN)

Directed by: David Cromer

Starring:  George Clooney, Ilana Glazer, Clark Gregg, Glenn Fleshler, Carter Hudson, Mac Brandt

Good Night, and Good Luck movie in 2005 chronicled Edward R. Murrow's crusade to confront McCarthyism and eventually bring it down.  It was very good, with allusions to modern-day issues involving the media and its role in the Iraq War.  Murrow (David Strathairn) was a steady, unflappable Murrow who risked CBS' standing and profits by taking on Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee which was attempted to "root out Communism".  The movie, directed by George Clooney, was effective and engrossing in many ways. 

The Broadway play, written by Clooney and Heslov and starring Clooney as Murrow, resonates differently through all of its business.  Good Night, and Good Luck captures the infancy of television and the smoke-filled newsroom and conference rooms where Murrow runs his weekly news show.  At the time, the news division was considered a separate entity at CBS because of its public good, but those days are long gone.  Good Night, and Good Luck showcases how the financial aspects of the business were encroaching on the news.  CBS head William Paley doesn't exactly tell Murrow to back off, but hints at it, which Murrow does not abide.  

Clooney played Fred Friendly in the film version, but now has evolved into Murrow with his usual authority and authenticity.  Friendly is played by Glenn Fleshler, who played Axe's lawyer on Billions, and runs a tight ship.  Two other major characters are Joe and Shirley Wershba (Hudson and Glazer) who are secretly married, but do not divulge this because their marriage violates CBS policy.  They are not communists, but they are forced to keep secrets for fear of losing their jobs, which is what any person brought in front of McCarthy also fears. 

The movie version is less busy than the stage version, mostly because the film medium has more time and room to be expansive, while the Broadway show has more moving parts production-wise.  However, the show creatively includes those and footage of Joe McCarthy burying himself with his own words.  The opening and closing monologue by Murrow discusses the need for a free press and footage of historical stories displayed on screen, some of which occurred after Murrow's death.   However, the public's perception of the media has changed in the past twenty years.  It is not as trusted as it once was according to recent polls.   "Legacy media", as it called on the right, is accused of presenting the news with bias.  Anyone who watches objectively will find it hard to disagree.  

Dangerous Animals (2025) * * *

 

Directed by:  Sean Byrne

Starring:  Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston

Dangerous Animals is the second Australian horror film I've seen in as many weeks (the other was Bring Her Back), and both are chillingly effective and suspenseful.  There isn't just focus on the gore, these movies both understand that suspense is more important to horror than just a blood-spattered screen.  We also learn to care about the people involved and what happens to them.  

The opening scenes of Dangerous Animals set the tone.  Two unsuspecting tourists hire boat captain Tucker (Courtney) to take them out to sea and let them swim with the sharks via a shark cage.  This goes without incident, until Tucker kills one of the tourists and takes the other hostage.  His plan is to feed the other tourist to the sharks at his convenience.  We then meet American surfer Zephyr (Harrison), who meets a handsome realtor named Moses (Heuston) when the van she lives in breaks down.  Zephyr and Moses hit it off, but when Zephyr drives to the beach before dawn to ride the waves, she is kidnapped by Tucker and made the second hostage on his vessel.  Her fate will be that of the other girl's unless she can figure out how to escape.

Dangerous Animals works due to the appealing Harrison performance and Courtney's menacing villain who once famously survived a shark attack as a kid, but is now endlessly and creepily fascinated by sharks.  Despite his sometimes friendly demeanor, he is as cold and heartless as the sharks.  He admires Zephyr's fighting spirit, but not enough to spare her.  Moses, in an attempt to track Zephyr's whereabouts, is also soon taken hostage by Tucker.  He's an equal-opportunity shark-loving psycho. 

The movie breaks no new ground.  Tucker probably should've disposed of Zephyr long before he tries to lower her into the water to be eaten.  How Zephyr avoids the same fate as other victims isn't entirely convincing, but by then Dangerous Animals had built up enough goodwill to keep us engaged.  

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) * * *

 

Directed by:  Howard Deutch

Starring:  Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson, Mary Stuart Masterson, John Ashton, Craig Sheffer, Molly Hagan, Elias Koteas, Candace Cameron, Maddie Corman

John Hughes scored another intelligent teen comedy with Some Kind of Wonderful (granted the teens are played by adults in their mid-20's in this movie), but while the story is not new, it's told in a fresh, touching way with smart, engaging performances by all three leads. 

In Some Kind of Wonderful, working-class high schooler Keith (Stoltz) pines for Amanda Jones (Thompson), who isn't rich, but runs with the popular crowd.  Keith's best friend is Watts (Masterson), who is in love with Keith.  The only thing she hasn't done to make this obvious is to wear an "I'm In Love with You, Keith" t-shirt.  Watts, who is otherwise well-spoken and smart, doesn't tell Keith how she feels and gnashes her teeth as Keith asks Amanda out after she breaks up with her jerk boyfriend Hardy (Sheffer).  

Keith works at a local gas station and his father Cliff (Ashton) rides him relentlessly about going to college even though Keith would rather attend art school.  Keith and Amanda eventually go on a date after some tense days leading up to it, mostly because Amanda's friends abandon her for agreeing to go out with someone beneath their stature.  Watts, perhaps masochistically, agrees to drive Keith and Amanda around in a limo for their date, where Keith and Amanda's tension increases further while Watts sits and stews in her jealousy. 

There are no points for guessing who Keith winds up with in the end, but we expect that.  Some Kind of Wonderful takes an old romantic tale and makes it not only involving, but one in which the characters challenge their own views on happiness and whether they could achieve it without having a ton of friends and sticking by long-forgotten principles.  In high school, when everything is in black and white, these people can say they can stand by their ethics and know who they are and what they want.  Check back in ten years and see how they feel then.  

The Ritual (2025) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Danny Midell

Starring:  Dan Stevens, Al Pacino, Abigail Cohen, Patricia Heaton

The Ritual is a lifeless exorcism movie.  You can't help but compare it to The Exorcist (the original, not its lame sequels).  Instead of having the exorcism occur in one night, The Ritual drags out the process over several nights, thus furthering the subject's (and our) pain.  Unlike The Exorcist, which allowed us to sympathize with the possessed young girl and her terrified mother, The Ritual drops the suffering Emma Schmidt (Cohen) into the mix quickly and we're off and running.

Emma is sent to a small Iowa parish circa 1928 run by Father Joseph Steiger (Stevens), who is still mourning the recent loss of his brother when he is given Emma's file and told an exorcism will take place on the grounds by Father Theophilus Reisinger (Pacino).  Father Joseph questions whether an exorcism will help, while Father Theophilus tells Joseph repeatedly to have faith and be strong.  The only thing Emma doesn't do is have her head spin, but she vomits up black chunks and climbs the walls.  The idea that Father Joseph thinks psychiatry will somehow cure Emma is hilarious.  

The movie follows the same tiresome pattern:  A part of the exorcism is done, a shocked and shaken Father Joseph objects to the treatment of Emma, Father Theophilus reassures him they are doing right by her, and then the next night it all happens again.   Pacino, still lumbering around with the same accent he carried in Hunters, does what he can, but the movie itself is a low-energy affair which doesn't engage us.  I find exorcisms to be amusing in one respect.  A demon is powerful enough to possess someone, but flees the body its occupying after a few readings from the Bible and demands from the priest.  What would happen to the demon if he decides to stick around a little longer?  And how do we truly know the exorcism worked?  

The Ritual provides an epilogue which states Emma turned out fine after the exorcists did their thing, as did the priests in question.  I guess no one involved suffered PTSD, thank goodness.  

The Phoenician Scheme (2025) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Wes Anderson

Starring:  Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Almaric, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Cera

Wes Anderson's movies used to be quirky, but still retained their humanity.  Now, Anderson's actors behave like aliens have taken over their bodies and turned them into pod people.  I used that description for Anderson's last disaster Asteroid City and the same applies with The Phoenician Scheme, a dreary Anderson comedy which reveals the emperor having no clothes.  Nor any laughs.

The Phoenician Scheme is all odd behavior and offbeat production design.  It begins with billionaire con artist Zsa Zsa Korda (del Toro) surviving a sixth plane crash which was likely one of many assassination attempts on his life.  Korda takes this in stride as the price of doing his shady business practices.  A conglomerate seated around a conference table wants to disrupt his business.  We learn Korda has one biological child, a nun named Liesl (Threapleton), to whom he wants to leave his fortune.  He has eight other children, all adopted, who live across the street from him.  

Korda and Liesl travel to various places to put Korda's "Phoenician Scheme" together, trying to cover financing with people just as shady and strange as him.  The actors all recite their lines deadpan with occasional screaming at each other.  The sets upstage the actors, and we're talking a top-notch cast.  Like Woody Allen in his prime, Anderson is able to assemble A-list casts.  However, unlike Allen, Anderson doesn't provide a project worthy of their talents.  

Anderson needs to return to movies which are off-kilter but still have a plot and characters we care about.  The Phoenician Scheme doesn't provide any payoff, just boredom.  

Bring Her Back (2025) * * *

 

Directed by:  Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

Starring:  Sally Hawkins, Billy Barratt, Jonah-Wren Phillips, Mischa Heywood, Sora Wong

Bring Her Back is a creepy, effective thriller which manages to maintain interest and a keen sense of dread.  Its villain commits evil acts in the hopes of resurrecting her dead daughter.  She is insane, yes, but desperate enough to sacrifice another child so she can have her daughter back.  The other children involved are all cogs in her plot.  If Laura (Hawkins) weren't unreasonable and committed to a ritual in which one person is made to be a conduit suck up someone's soul and pass it along to the deceased, we could ask her if this entire scenario is worth it.  She would say yes. We all know better.

Such elements add an eerie dimension to Bring Her Back.  Everything Laura does is designed to bring her deceased daughter back from the dead.  To do this, she...well, I'll recap.  The movie begins with siblings Andy (Barratt) and blind Piper (Wong) coming home to discover their father dead on the shower floor.  With no other living relatives, the two are sent to Laura, who agrees to take them in as a foster parent.  Originally, Laura only wanted Piper, but Andy and Piper are a package deal, so Laura reluctantly accepts both.

Laura sets into a motion a plan to make Andy, who turns 18 soon and at that time wants to become Piper's legal guardian, look incompetent and possibly abusive.  She makes Andy believe he wets his bed at night and taps into his torment over his father's passing and past abuse.  Laura's other child is a mute named Oliver (Phillips), who is going through an even worse hell.  He decides to try and eat a sword in a brutal scene.  While Bring Her Back is bloody and gruesome, it also holds the viewer's curiosity.  What appears to be a snuff film plays a huge role in explaining what Laura is up to and why.  Does it actually work?  Bring Her Back suggests that it does.  The moral question is whether someone would want to find out and how badly they want to find out if it does. 

The Great Outdoors (1988) * * *

 

Directed by:  Howard Deutch

Starring:  John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Annette Bening, Stephanie Faracy, Chris Young, Robert Prosky, Lucy Deakins

Chet Ripley (Candy) is an average family man who only wants to take a summer vacation in the woods where he vacationed as a kid.  The serenity is about to be ruined by his obnoxious brother-in-law Roman Craig (Aykroyd), who drops in with his family uninvited to Chet's cabin and decides to stay awhile.  Roman is a rich trader who is forever pitching get-rich-quick schemes to whomever would listen, and even some, like Chet, who won't.

Chet barely tolerates Roman.  He only wants quiet time with his family, while Roman upends any hope of peace with his abrasive demeanor.  Roman may be forward know-it-all with no respect for boundaries and a backslap that can kill, but as played by Dan Aykroyd, he provides the most laughs.  Candy is more or less the straight man to whom unfortunate things happen, some of which is routine slapstick, but other times like when he is challenged to eat a 96-oz. steak in order for his family to eat a free dinner, it's more inspired.

The Great Outdoors, despite its formula, has a heart and sweetness about it which works.  Aykroyd and Candy make a strong team, but you wouldn't expect anything less.  Although Dan Aykroyd's Nothing but Trouble was a few years away, and the casting of these two plus other megastars couldn't save that one.  

 

Friendship (2025) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Andrew DeYoung

Starring:  Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer

The opening scene of Friendship features Craig Waterman (Robinson) attending a cancer survivor support group with his wife Tami (Mara).  She's grateful to have beaten cancer a year ago.  He is happy about that, but not thrilled when Tami confesses to the group that cancer has robbed her of her ability to orgasm.  Craig retorts that he has no problem reaching climax, which he means maybe as a joke, but as we see throughout Friendship, Craig is a socially awkward guy who makes all the wrong moves.  He doesn't read the room well, and when he befriends his neighbor Austin (Rudd), he behaves with irrepressible neediness.  I've heard Friendship referred to as the Fatal Attraction of male-bonding comedies.  There aren't any rabbits boiled alive in a pot, but sometimes we wonder if Craig will go in that direction.

Craig meets Austin, who is new to the neighborhood and is the local TV weatherman.  Austin is friendly and invites Craig to activities which stretch his boundaries, like gathering mushrooms in the wild and using the sewer system to infiltrate City Hall.  The movie never says in which state the action takes place, but we can figure the Midwest.  The weather seems forever fall and winterlike.  For a stretch, Craig and Austin are best buds, and we have an "I Love You, Man" vibe (which also co-starred Rudd) going.  Then, after Austin moves from nights to mornings and is forced to deal with all new job pressures, he is unable to devote the time to Craig that Craig suddenly craves, and Craig becomes obsessive.  When Austin sets boundaries and tells Craig that he doesn't wish to continue their friendship, Craig declares, "You accepted me too early," as if it were somehow Austin's fault that they became quick friends.

Craig's life falls apart.  It was hanging on by a thread anyway.  His wife is often having drinks with her ex-boyfriend and acts like she's ready to bolt the marriage at any second.  Craig's son loves his mother but detests Craig.  They see through Craig and it took Austin longer to catch on.  Craig on the surface is awkward but seemingly normal, but add some pressure and setback and you have a whole other animal.  Friendship is like watching a fascinating disaster unfold.  Situations occur in which Craig thinks he is making things better, but due to his inability to read people, he only makes them worse for himself.  The rest of the world seems fine to move on without him.  

Robinson, whose work I was not familiar with before this movie, is a study in desperation run amok.  He, like the movie, is compelling to watch.  You think Rudd's Austin will be the guy to snap since he comes on strong, but he is relatively normal compared to Craig.  Everyone in Friendship is, but Craig's curse is he thinks he's the victim.  Craig is not an appalling figure, just one who causes you to shake your head in an odd mix of pity and amazement that he's gotten this far in life. 

Karate Kid: Legends (2025) * * *

Directed by:  Jonathan Entwistle

Starring:  Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Jonathan Jackson, Ming-Na Wen, Sadie Stanley, Aramis Knight

Karate Kid: Legends may seem on its surface like a money grab to capitalize on the success of Cobra Kai, but in its taut 94 minutes (including a ending credits sequence), it's engaging and fun.  The movie follows the formula of The Karate Kid (both the 1984 and 2010 versions) with the hero moving with his single mom far away (this time from China to New York) and being bullied by the former boyfriend of his new girlfriend.  He is then trained by not only Mr. Han (Chan-reprising his 2010 role), but Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) in preparation for a huge "5 Boroughs" tournament in which the finale takes place inexplicably atop a Manhattan skyscraper.

No points for guessing that Li Fong (Wang) and the baddie Connor Day (Knight) will meet in the finals, with Li having been beat up by Connor once before at school.  Karate Kid: Legends does throw in an interesting curveball by having Li train his girlfriend Mia's (Stanley) father Victor (Jackson) for a boxing comeback match.  Victor also happens to owe Connor's trainer a lot of money, and nearest I can recall, this story arc was never fully resolved.  

Nonetheless, Wang is an engaging presence and the characters are likable.  Even Ming-Na Wen, as Li's mother who forbids him from fighting as both process the beating death of Li's brother after a tournament back home, is sympathetic if underdeveloped.  She stays out of the way as Li figures out, with Mr. Han and Daniel training him, how to defeat Connor in the upcoming tournament.  Karate Kid: Legends isn't deep entertainment, but it works on its intended level without belaboring its points.