Hustle (2022) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jeremiah Zagar

Starring:  Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Juancho Hernangomez, Kenny Smith, Maria Botto, Anthony Edwards, Jaleel White, Robert Duvall, Ben Foster, Heidi Gardner 

Hustle is, I'm sure, accurate in its portrayal of the NBA rookie combine and the training it takes to even earn a slot in it.   For Bo Cruz (played by real Utah Jazz player Hernangomez), an untapped raw talent who terrorizes the pickup games in his native Spain, it takes not only talent but an ability to cope with pressure which comes at you from all angles.   But, it is a dry story with a limited emotional arc.   We see enough training montages to make Rocky Balboa envious, but in the end we're left with a a competently made movie with good performances which plays more like an advertisement for the NBA than an actual flesh-and-blood story.

Hustle assembles quite a cast at the service of a lukewarm tale.  Stanley Sugerman (Sandler) is a longtime scout with the Philadelphia 76ers who is soon promoted by the team's owner Rex Merrick (Duvall) to an assistant coach position.   It is the break Stanley has dreamed of, but no sooner is Stanley celebrating with his wife Teresa (Latifah) that he learns of Rex's death which scuttles his promotion.    Merrick's son Vince (Foster), with whom Stanley has butted hands over the years, returns Stanley to his scouting position and sends him on a trip to Spain.   

It is here Stanley discovers Bo, a construction worker and father of a little girl, blocking shots in pickup games like nobody's business and draining three pointers.   Stanley believes Bo could be the next Dirk Nowitski (who appears in a funny cameo on FaceTime), and sets him up with a tryout with the Sixers.  Bo has the raw talent and the tools, but word leaks out about a previous aggravated assault charge and, following a disastrous tryout, Bo's future in the NBA is in doubt.   Stanley's longtime friend and former college teammate Leon (Smith) pulls strings to get Bo a spot in the combine.   The aforementioned, overlong training montages follow and Bo is soon attending the combine after video of him dominating on the playground goes viral. 

Hustle is not My Giant (1998), thank goodness, with Sandler in the Billy Crystal role mentoring a giant athlete.   It is not even a comedy, although there are amusing moments.   Sandler can easily handle the dramatic scenes and makes for a convincing basketball lifer.   His love of the game is evident, as if he's living a dream standing on the Wells Fargo Center court.   Hernangomez maintains a quiet, sometimes too quiet, screen presence, but he carries himself with authenticity.   I also liked Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards as an opponent of Bo's who knows how to get under his skin.  Queen Latifah's role is rather limited to supporting her husband, but she does what she can with it.  The trouble is:  The characters take a back seat to a larger NBA-centric milieu which engulfs the project.  

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) * *

 

Directed by:  Colin Treverrow

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Campbell Scott, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Isabella Sermon, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, B. D. Wong

Jurassic World: Dominion attempts to invoke the magic of Jurassic Park by bringing back three of its original cast members (Neill, Dern, and Goldblum) to reprise their roles here.   This leads to a case of overcrowding in the hero department as dinosaurs roam the Earth years after being cloned.   The idea of dinosaurs inhabiting the planet along with humans was an amusing aspect of The Flintstones.   Now, in the sixth installment of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise, let's face it:  This scenario is played out.  The fascination of having living, breathing dinosaurs around has been replaced with the complexity of a video game.   The dinosaurs are creatures to be shot at or avoided.   What a shame.

As the movie opens, the world isn't thrilled with having to share space with the free-roaming prehistoric creatures.   A billionaire (Scott) opens a sanctuary somewhere in Europe which will hold and study dinosaurs.   Soon, giant, genetically-enhanced locusts are destroying crops all over the world, except for those grown by the billionaire's company, Biosynth.   Hmmm.   Dr. Ellie Stadler (Dern) is on the case.  She recruits Dr. Alan Grant (Neill), who still carries a torch for her, to go with her to Biosynth, steal locust DNA, and then take it to Congress or the New York Times or something.   However, if it is obvious the locusts were trained not to eat Biosynth-produced crops, then it's obvious something is afoot and Dr. Stadler need not go out of her way.

Meanwhile, there is business of a cloned granddaughter of John Hammond, the creator of the original Jurassic Park, who is living with Owen (Pratt) and Claire (Howard) out in the desolate woods in hopes of protecting her.   I'll be honest.   I don't recall how the cloned girl Maisie came into being, but here she is to exist as someone to be kidnapped and studied by Biosynth.   This company has a lot of balls to juggle. 

Working for Biosynth is Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), who lectures on the premises about the ills of corporate greed and human interaction with other species which will soon cause the extinction of life on Earth.   As I recall, Goldblum appeared in the last film spouting off the same rhetoric, although it isn't clear why he is employed by Biosynth.   Many other things are not made clear in Jurassic World: Dominion, such as:

*  How does Owen sticking his palm up in a "talk to the hand" motion actually calm ferocious dinosaurs?

*  Why is it always raining when the dinosaurs are shown at night?  

*   How does Owen speed around Malta on a motorcycle avoiding villainous, trained raptors and know exactly where to turn to evade the creatures?   Thankfully, he knows where every escape route is.  Maybe he has been to Malta many times.   

*   How does Owen not freeze to death after emerging from a plane crash with no layers except a shirt which exhibits his new physique?  And then plunging into a freezing cold lake to avoid a dinosaur?  

I could go on.  But, why bother?  Jurassic World: Dominion has all the trappings of a franchise which has lost any sense of wonder and surprise.   The dinosaurs are simply excuses in which to have more chases, fights, and destruction.   It's all rather ho-hum by now, and it actually pretty much was after the initial Steven Spielberg blockbuster almost thirty years ago. 

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Thorsten Schutte

"He is anti-music," said a fan of Frank Zappa's when interviewed following a concert.  This is a phrase which stuck with me as I try in vain to describe Zappa's music.   It is amusing to hear him referred to over and over as a rock musician and composer, but I'm not sure Zappa himself would agree with that.  His works legendarily defy description and pigeonholing into any genre.   At times, it is pointed satire while other times it is made of dissonant chords which sounds like the band is hitting a record number of clunkers.   

Your mileage may vary as to your enjoyment of Zappa's music.   What is not in dispute was his ability as a maverick to write, record, and release it.   His music was such an eclectic hodgepodge of styles that you would think a Zappa interview would reveal an off-the-wall madman.   Eat That Question is composed entirely of music and interview clips which show Zappa as a thoughtful man with a disdain for music convention and a champion of expression.   Zappa had a burning cigarette in his hand in almost every interview, but was not a drug user.   His rule for the members of this band, The Mothers of Invention:  Do what you will when they're not touring, but stay away from drugs while touring.  The last thing Zappa wants is to wonder why his drummer was thrown in jail when he should be on stage performing.   

This is not an interview with talking heads engaging in their views of Zappa.   In a unique setup, Eat That Question focuses entirely on Zappa himself.   His wife and children are briefly mentioned in an interview, but they are not seen nor heard from.   I found this style refreshing and doesn't dilute its subject.   Zappa's only U.S. top 40 hit, Valley Girl, is only mentioned once and not performed in the movie.   Eat That Question is interested in the artist himself and showing us how a misunderstood musician created music in which the word unique may not be sufficient enough to describe it.   

Eat That Question doesn't beg you to like Zappa.   His music doesn't resonate with me, although I can appreciate its contribution to pop culture.   Instead, Eat That Question, without slipping into hagiography, presents us a musician and composer who was silenced by prostate cancer in 1993 at age 52 and the likes of whom may never come again.   If I were to describe Zappa, I'd say he was to music as Andy Kaufman was to comedy.   They were mostly interested in pressing the limits of what music or comedy could be.   Whether you liked what they produced came a distant second.  

The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) * *

 

Directed by:  Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman

Voices of:  H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, John Roberts, Kevin Kline, Zach Galifianakis, David Wain, Kristen Schaal, Eugene Mirman

The Bob's Burgers Movie, based on the popular Fox series, wasn't made for neophytes like me.   I may have seen one episode many years ago, but that's it.   Nothing about the movie makes me want to start binging the show's previous episodes.   The Belchers, who run a small burger joint, are nice enough people, but not compelling.   I approached the movie with eyes wide open, but it's meh.

The Belchers run their burger establishment every day until a sinkhole opens up in front of their store causing the entrance to be blocked.   It doesn't help the Belchers were turned down for an extension on their loan payment and must fork over the entire balance in ten days or the bank will foreclose.   They may be able to swing this if their crusty landlord would extend his rent deadline, but soon the landlord is charged with the murder of a man whose body was discovered in the sinkhole.   The Belchers must help prove their landlord's innocence, otherwise the rent will come due and the Belchers are up the creek.

From what I was able to surmise, Bob's Burgers teeters on the edge of the bawdy humor made famous by Family Guy and The Simpsons, two other animated shows which are well past their sell-by dates.   There are musical numbers which are as forgettable as the movie itself.   I didn't find myself much engaged in the proceedings and I'll leave the Bob's Burgers world to those who may appreciate it more than I.  

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Joseph Kosinski

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis

Top Gun: Maverick is an emotionally involving and visually spectacular sequel; miles ahead of its iconic, but superficial predecessor from 1986.   I wasn't crazy about Top Gun, but its second installment moves at a quicker pace with higher human stakes involved.   Cruise's Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell remains a daring, resourceful pilot with a habit of pissing off his superiors, but we sense he has learned a few things since the first film and is allowed to be haunted and complex.   The dogfighting scenes in the sky aren't bogged down by CGI, but are realistic and easy to follow.   We know who is where and why.   

Top Gun: Maverick gives us an early sequence as to why Mitchell has earned his handle of Maverick.  Mitchell, who should've been promoted to admiral like his former rival turned best friend Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Kilmer), is heading up a test piloting of a new Navy plane which could hit mach-10 speed.  Maverick's superior (Harris) will be putting Maverick's program on ice in favor of drones, but that won't stop Maverick from conducting his own test defying his admiral's orders, but giving us a breathtaking flight.

As we learn, Maverick's butt is saved yet again by Iceman, who calls in another favor and places Maverick back at Top Gun, where the Navy's best pilots are trained and seasoned, and calls for Maverick to train a group of the Navy's best pilots to undergo a secret, deadly bombing mission.  Maverick's presence is none too welcomed by Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (Hamm), who makes his disdain for Maverick well-known.   Hamm has carved quite a niche for himself playing authoritarians who revel in just plain being a dick to the hero.   We learn in a few sentences and one tearful meeting just how close Maverick's and Iceman's friendship has grown over the years.   

Cruise, of course, maintains his movie star smile and swagger, but the Maverick of Top Gun: Maverick is more mature and insightful.   The son of Maverick's late buddy Goose (who was killed in the first film) is one of the pilots Maverick must train.   He is Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Teller), who resents Maverick for past issues.   One thing that weighs heavily on Maverick's mind is the possibility of Rooster perishing like his father did, something that Maverick may not be able to live with.   Maverick also romances local bar owner Penny (Connelly), a romance that isn't as empty as the one he pursued with Kelly McGillis in the first film.

Besides a few minor quibbles, such as the pilots Maverick must train, never really developing into individuals, Top Gun: Maverick is a deeper action film which flies by as fast as an F-18.   It has a mind, a heart, and wasn't made to sell a soundtrack.   Imagine that.  

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Gabriele Muccino

Starring:  Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandiwe Newton, James Karen, Brian Howe

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, a salesman who in 1981 San Francisco was homeless for a time while working as an unpaid intern for Dean Witter trying to land a coveted broker position.   If it weren't for bad luck, Chris would have no luck at all.   He invests his life savings in buying bone density scanners which he attempts to sell to doctors as an upgrade to x-rays.   His inability to sell them all in a timely manner causes financial strain which causes his wife Linda (Newton) to leave him and his five-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith-Will's real-life son) high and dry.   

Unable to pay the rent, Chris moves himself and Christopher out of their apartment and into a motel.  Fortunately for Chris, he runs into Jay Twistle (Howe), a partner at Dean Witter impressed by Chris' sales skills and his ability to solve a Rubik's Cube.   He offers Chris an internship spot which will lead to a permanent broker position if he's able to impress Jay and his partners enough.   Things don't start smoothly, as a paint-covered Chris shows up to the interview in a t-shirt.   This was the day Linda moved out.  

Chris is barely making ends meet.   At one point, he is evicted from the motel and forced to spend a night in the bathroom of a subway station.   Other nights, if he's fortunate, there is a bed available at a local homeless shelter.  Through it all, Chris never lets this trauma deter his determination.   He gains whatever edge he can, including not drinking water so he takes fewer bathroom breaks and not placing the receiver down in between sales calls.   This saves seconds which turn into minutes and allow him to place more calls than the other interns.  

The Pursuit of Happyness is moving without resorting to corniness.   When Chris finally receives a stroke of good fortune, his joy is earned.   Smith, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role, disappears into the role, forgoing his natural exuberance and replacing it with determination and resourcefulness.   It is heartbreaking as he tries to protect his son from the gravity of their situation as the pressures mount within him.   Chris is never less than sympathetic and The Pursuit of Happyness succeeds because of it.   We learn after earning the broker position, Chris became rich enough to eventually form his own brokerage firm.   We can't say he didn't fight and scratch for it.  

Independence Day (1996) * * *

 

Directed by:  Roland Emmerich

Starring:  Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Margaret Colin, Will Smith, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Randy Quaid, Mary McDonnell, Brent Spiner, Adam Baldwin, Vivica A. Fox

Independence Day works because it engages the emotions while also being reminiscent of sci-fi movies from long ago when alien visits were never friendly.   The gargantuan spacecrafts which hover over Earth's major cities poised to annihilate them are frightening images.   They don't attack right away, which leads world leaders to hope their visit may be peaceful.   Not so says former NASA scientist David Levinson (Goldblum), who was able to intercept the ships' transmissions from Earth's own satellite system.   A clock counting down to Doomsday appears on David's screen, which leads him to head to Washington to warn the president (Pullman) of an impending attack.   David and President Whitmore aren't on great terms for reasons which I think were explained, but this is no time for petty squabbles.

Also in the mix are fighter pilot Capt. Steven Hiller (Smith), whose July 4 leave was cancelled thanks to the invasion and plays a major role in David's plan to thwart the aliens, Hiller's stripper girlfriend (Fox), Russell Casse (Quaid), a former pilot who claims to be once abducted by aliens, and First Lady Marilyn Whitmore (McDonnell) who is trapped in Los Angeles once the attacks commence.   The Oscar-winning visual effects seem primitive today, but back then were groundbreaking.  Such is the way with technology.   Still, these effects don't detract from the action. 

What makes Independence Day such a crowd-pleaser even today is the universal joy we exude when a seemingly unbeatable enemy is defeated and when David discovers the way to weaken the mother ship's security systems, it is still a fun "eureka" moment.  The aliens are intergalactic bullies who need to be taken down a notch.   Earthlings respond accordingly and we feel pretty damn good afterward.  Independence Day is not all explosions, chases, and effects.   There is a heart here.