What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) * * *

Directed by:  Brian Gibson

Starring:  Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Jenifer Lewis

Tina Turner barely acknowledged her ex-husband Ike Turner's passing in 2007 and based on the evidence in this film, it's no wonder.   Tina endured years of physical and emotional abuse at Ike's hands before finally walking out for good and pleading with the owner of a local hotel to allow her to stay there even though she had no money.   She promised to pay for her stay once she got on her feet and made some money, and true to her word, Ms. Turner repaid the hotel every nickel.   When she divorced Ike, her only condition was that she wanted to retain her stage name of Tina Turner while foregoing any financial compensation from Ike.  Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939, Tina Turner explained that she earned the name and it was still a good one.   In 1984, she hit number one with "What's Love Got to Do with It" and the rest is music history.   Ike slid into obscurity and drugs before his death at age 76.  

What's Love Got to Do with It features two outstanding, riveting performances by Laurence Fishburne as Ike and Angela Bassett as Tina.  Both received deserved Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively as the famed duo who created some legendary music and a tenuous marriage ruined by Ike's drug use and beating on Tina.   Ike discovered Tina and employed her as a backup singer before promoting her to lead after beginning a relationship with her.   It wasn't hard for the impressionable Tina to be starstruck over Ike.  He was a talented guitarist and a smooth talker who was also jealous, insecure, and fueled by drugs and alcohol as Tina's star rose and he was forced to take a back seat to her in his own band.

What's Love Got to Do with It focuses sometimes repetitively on Ike's abuse, but the most rewarding scenes involve Tina learning to stand up to Ike and in the movie's most satisfying payoff, Tina backs Ike down when he threatens her with a gun backstage and goes on stage to belt out tunes like only she can.  

Knock at the Cabin (2023) * * *

Directed by:  M. Night Shyamalan

Starring:  Dave Bautista, Kristen Cui, Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn

Knock at the Cabin tells a chilling story simply and effectively.   Four ordinary people descend on a vacation cabin somewhere in a remote Pennsylvania forest.   These people explain they are haunted by visions of an imminent apocalypse.  Its leader Leonard (Bautista), a Chicago schoolteacher, befriends a little girl named Wen (Cui), who collects grasshoppers in a jar and is blissfully unaware of why Leonard and his friends are there.   The eerie foursome, after breaking into the cabin, lay out what Wen and her fathers Eric and Andrew (Groff and Aldridge) must do in order to avert the pending apocalypse: Eric and Andrew must sacrifice one of their family in order to stop the planet's population from being obliterated.   

The ground rules are as follows:   Neither Leonard or the other three home invaders, Redmond (Grint), Adriane (Quinn), and Sabrina (Amuka-Bird) cannot kill any of the family members and the more time elapses without a decision, more catastrophes killing millions will occur.   Eric and Andrew understandably presume Leonard and his followers to be insane or lying, but unlike many home invaders, Leonard and the others are haunted and tormented by what they've seen and what they must do.   "My heart is broken," Leonard tells Wen, and we believe him.   Eric and Andrew aren't the only ones who are put in a no-win position with this scenario.

Based on a novel, M. Night Shyamalan doesn't do the story a disservice with a trick ending or odd explanations of this frightening circumstance.   The Bautista performance is the best in the movie and the best of his career so far.   Leonard is a bespectacled hulk with tenderness and sympathy for the family for which he must force this ultimatum.   We find we identify with him as much as we do Eric and Andrew.  In every way, all of Knock at the Cabin's characters are forced to make a choice which they never thought in their wildest dreams would ever have to be made.  Who could ever imagine being told he or she has to kill a loved one in order to spare the rest of the world's population from extinction?   Knock at the Cabin deserves recognition for not only presenting this nightmarish sequence but by following cold logic to its inevitable conclusion with no way around the outcome.  

80 for Brady (2023) * * *

Directed by:  Kyle Marvin

Starring:  Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field, Tom Brady, Bob Balaban, Glynn Turman, Guy Fieri, Billy Porter, Rob Gronkowski, Harry Hamlin

There are a combined five Academy Awards between the four leading ladies of 80 for Brady and many more nominations on top of those.   Tom Brady has seven Superbowl championships, Billy Porter has an Emmy win, and Rob Gronkowski has four Superbowl rings himself.   While 80 for Brady won't net anyone associated with it any more awards season hardware, it is nonetheless a spirited film with its stars having a ball.   Their joy is infectious even as the material veers into occasional silliness.  

Lou (Tomlin), Betty (Field), Trish (Fonda), and Maura (Moreno) are longtime friends who became instant Tom Brady devotees after leading the Patriots to their first of six Superbowl titles in 2002.   That season's title aided Lou in her battle with cancer by providing hope and something to look forward to for her.   Fast forward to Superbowl LI (51 for those Roman numerically challenged), with Lou proposing they actually attend the game in Houston in person.   No one can afford it, but Lou and company enter a podcast contest trying to win free tickets.

Lou announces the four have won the tickets and head to Houston for a weekend of NFL Experience, Superbowl parties, and Betty entering a spicy food eating contest hosted by famed chef Guy Fieri.   80 for Brady is based on a true story, although I strongly doubt the subplots which occur here actually happened.  Such as Betty losing the tickets, causing she and the others to have to pretend to be in a dance troupe in order to enter the stadium.   Or what happens when they actually sit down to watch the game.  I won't dream of giving away what happens with the foursome, although the game itself contains the biggest Superbowl comeback with the Patriots overcoming a 28-3 deficit (or the Falcons choking away a 28-3 lead, depending on how you look at it).  If the movie is to be believed, Lou played a huge part in inspiring Brady and the Pats come back.  

80 for Brady isn't a movie that is meant to be believed.  It provides us with entertaining performances in a lightweight movie that puts smiles on people's faces and not a lot of analysis is necessary, although I give you some anyway.   You're welcome. 

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022) * *

Directed by:  Kasi Lemmons

Starring:  Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, Clarke Peters, Ashton Sanders

This is not a documentary about the legendary, tragic singer Whitney Houston, but a superficial biopic which features a game Naomi Ackie as Houston and an always engaging Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, who serves as not just the owner of Whitney's record label, but as a mentor and collaborator.   The movie manages to touch on the highlights and lowlights of Houston's career and life with style but not a lot of insight.   There is plenty to process, including the singer's little-known lesbian relationship with Robyn Crawford (Williams) which was forced to end by Houston's father John (Peters), who runs her business affairs like his own personal cash register.   John believes Whitney should maintain a wholesome image and be interested in men.   How exactly did this all turn out?  The movie sidesteps it and never truly explains Whitney's relationship with Robyn going forward.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody begins in 1983 Newark with Whitney as a backup singer to her famed mother Cissy's (Tunie) band.   Her voice soared above the others in the church choir and soon Whitney is performing with Clive Davis in the audience (after Cissy faked a sore throat).   Faster than you can say "Whitney Houston", Whitney is signed to a contract and her career was born.   The best scenes in the movie involve the quiet discussions between Clive and Whitney.   Whitney wasn't just a commodity, but someone Clive cared about.   When Whitney descended into drugs, Clive pulls her aside in an attempt to help her kick the habit.   The movie touches on, but doesn't dive deep into Whitney's rise to her record-breaking run on the charts, The Bodyguard, her relationship and subsequent destructive marriage to Bobby Brown, and the live performance on the 1994 American Music Awards (which opens and closes the film) which would be the zenith of her career.

Ackie sings the songs and has a wonderful voice.   The performances work, but the movie itself doesn't fully delve into Whitney's story with any depth.   A lot happened to Whitney in her 48 years before her sad end in a bathtub in Los Angeles.   A deep, engrossing biopic can be made about the legendary singer, but I Wanna Dance with Somebody isn't it. 

Made (2001) * * *

 

Directed by:  Jon Favreau   

Starring:  Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Sean Combs, Peter Falk, Famke Janssen, Mackenzie Vega, Vincent Pastore, Paddy Considine

The poster says it all.  Made is a study of opposites who are longtime friends and sent on what sounds like a simple mission to New York which goes kablooey on them.   Things actually went kablooey in Los Angeles first, and crime boss Max (Falk) sends the buddies to New York to redeem themselves after Bobby (Favreau), acting as "manager" for his stripper girlfriend Jess (Janssen), beats up on clients at a party who get too friendly with her.   Bobby hits a guy he shouldn't be hitting, forcing Max to pay $8,000 in damages, and sending Bobby and his best friend Ricky (Vaughn) to New York to perform a cash transaction with an associate named Ruiz (Combs), which isn't nearly as simple as it sounds.

Bobby is quiet, thoughtful, and wants only to do his job and go home.   Motormouth Ricky sees the opportunity to fly first class and enjoy the New York nightlife.   Ricky acts like a man who learned all of these cool catchphrases watching television and is ecstatic that he gets to use them in front of Ruiz, who at times looks at these two as aliens.   Bobby and Ricky spend a lot of time bickering because of their differing approaches to the task at hand.   Bobby plays it cool, Ricky can't read a room and learn when to shut up.  One senses this the most fun Ricky has had in years.  

Both Bobby and Ricky are likable as the differing friends who we know will be there for each other when the chips are down.   They can't trust anyone else, and Bobby especially can't trust Jess, who is falling dangerously into her cocaine habit again while neglecting her daughter Chloe (Vega), who Bobby adores and feels deserves a better fate than to have Jess as her mother.  How that situation resolves itself is among the treasures of Made, which is quiet study of a mismatched pair looking for a way out of the life they've put themselves in.   Favreau, who also wrote and directed Made, would go on to direct Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and launch the Marvel Universe, but movies like Made and Chef showcase his ability to write and direct with a gentle, mannered hand.   Other directors and writers may go over the top with the crime elements of Made, but Favreau plays it steady and smart.  Like Bobby himself.  

Missing (2022) * * *

 

Directed by:  Will Merrick and Nicholas D. Johnson

Starring:  Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung, Daniel Henney, Joaquim de Almeida, Tim Griffin, Megan Suri, Amy Landecker

Missing is told in the same narrative style as Searching (2018), in which the action is seen solely through computer screens, FaceTime, cameras, and other sometimes contrived methods which still manage to flow smoothly enough for us to be caught up in the suspense of a missing woman named Grace (Long).   In Searching, a father was frantically searching for his missing daughter.   In Missing, the roles are reversed, and the daughter is trying desperately to find her mother who was expected to return home from Colombia with her new boyfriend Kevin (Leung) and neither showed up when the plane landed in Los Angeles.

Like Searching, one of June's parents is met in the beginning of the film and then we learn has died.  Missing picks up years later with Grace and June now relocated to Los Angeles.  Grace puts herself out there on a dating site and meets Kevin, who seems like Mr. Right but June nurtures suspicions about him.  Slowly, June discovers why she had trepidations about him.   The way June maneuvers her way through and around websites, passwords, firewalls, cameras, and the latest technology with expert ease, we sense this eighteen year-old has a job as a CIA hacker in her future.   She could teach the NSA a thing or two. We grant this so the story can unfold.

I wouldn't dream of giving away any myriad plot twists which may or may stand up to scrutiny, but as they're happening we go with it because Missing is suspenseful and energetically told, with a sometimes satirical look at media blitz coverage of the missing couple and conspiracy theorists who are no longer on the fringes, but whose views are spouted on numerous upstart podcasts and are sometimes taken as gospel by the public.  If you don't believe me, you would be surprised to learn how many people take Alex Jones' side when it comes to the horror of the Sandy Hook shootings. 

Reservoir Dogs (1992) * * *

 

Directed by:  Quentin Tarantino

Starring:  Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, Steven Wright (voice), Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino's first feature film has achieved near-iconic status in the film world.  It is not a perfect film, but it is made with nerve, confidence, and with sharp dialogue spoken by actors who inhabit this gritty world as if they were born into it.  Reservoir Dogs is about a jewel heist gone wrong, but that's only describing the plot.  The movie lives and breathes with its characters, who desperately try to survive without being nabbed by the police.

The one who makes out the worst is Mr. Orange (Roth), who was shot while trying to steal a getaway car by the vehicle owner.   He bleeds profusely and lies in a puddle of his own blood at the gang's hideout.  When I first saw Reservoir Dogs, I wondered how the poor guy didn't go into shock or die from blood loss, but I learned Tarantino employed a medic on set whose job was to watch how much blood was lost and make it realistic.   With that being said, I was able to remove this obstacle from my mind and enjoy the Roth performance...when he's awake anyway.  

Why the names Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink (Buscemi), Mr. White (Keitel), etc.?  This is the idea of mob boss Joe Cabot (Tierney-always fearsome), who figures if the gang members don't know each other's real names that they can't rat on them if they're caught.   Besides Joe, the most lethal of the gang is Mr. Blonde (Madsen), who rejoins Joe's gang after a prison stretch.  He is bone-chillingly psychopathic; the kind of man who rips off people's ears and lights them on fire for the fun of it.   

The famed opening sequence involves an amusing conversation about Madonna and then tipping which exhibits Tarantino's natural flair for dialogue (even if it's sometimes extraneous) and serves us the undercard to the main event.   Perhaps talking about Like A Virgin is their way of hammering out the pre-heist jitters.  Reservoir Dogs moves at a briskly paced 99 minutes with comedian Steven Wright's droll monotone narrating a radio countdown of 70's hits which mark the soundtrack.  This is by far Tarantino's shortest film, but it's assured writing and filmmaking which only increased with future films.  Two years later, Pulp Fiction was made, and a legend was born.