Capone

My View:  Capone (2020) R   47-year-old Al Capone (Tom Hardy) has been released from prison after ten years and is back with his wife at his home in Florida. Al is suffering from dementia and other ailments, causing him to relive his past while at the same time, being watched by the FBI, hoping to find money that Al has tucked away. I love Tom Hardy. His performance in Locke (2013) is one of my favorite of all time. Unfortunately, this film is not Hardy at his best; in fact, it might be one of his worst performances. Heavy with prosthetics and an accent that I have no clue what it is, Hardy gives us a bubbling, stumbling Capone who is on his last legs. The film uses Capone’s perspective quite a bit, so you never know where the fantasy starts and reality ends. If you are thinking about watching this film, hoping for gunfights and bombastic performances, you will be sorely disappointed. The film is frustratingly slow and other than watching Hardy’s Capone waste away, not much happens. I will warn you that it got its R rating for a few very violent scenes, mostly due to Capone’s dementia. Frankly, I was just waiting for Capone to die so that this film would end.   My Rating: Cable    Capone Website       Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

Indiefest:  CRSHD (2019)   On the last night of her college freshman year, Izzy (Isabelle Barbier) tries to finally lose her virginity. Still, her only hope is if she and her two best friends can get her into the exclusive, invite-only ‘Crush Party.’ I wanted to like this film, but it felt like a first film from a recent college graduate, which it is. The cast is a little green, though I did like Sadie Scott as the wild child best friend of Izzy, who has a flair for comedy. The film feels like it would be a big hit on a college campus at a university film fest, but it just seems a little shallow and slow in the big world. The film relies too much on gadgets such as a video-game-like map to show the girl's travels and a three-way split of the screen to show when the girls or texting to each other. The production values are excellent, and for a first-time film of such a young filmmaker, it’s a fine-looking film but just never quite gets going.   My Rating: Cable    CRSHD Website       Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

Indiefest:  Straight Up (2019)   Todd (James Sweeney) is gay and hasn’t had any luck finding love. Rory (Katie Findlay) is an actress who is just looking for a roommate. Rory and Todd discover that they might not be your typical couple, but they might be great at being together. I enjoyed this quirky film about a couple that are perfect for each other, except for the fact that Todd is gay. James Sweeney, who plays Todd, also wrote and directed the film, but he gave the best part in the movie to Katie Findlay, who shines in the role of Rory. Findlay delivers her lines with great comedic timing and dominates every scene she is in. I was reminded of a young Lauren Graham watching Findlay on the screen as her Rory plays off the reserved and ever nervous Todd. The film doesn’t always work, but with Findlay’s performance, you are willing to see it through to the end.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Straight Up Website        Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

My View:  The Wrong Missy (2020)   Tim (David Spade) goes on a blind date from hell with Missy (Lauren Lapkus). Lucky to end the disaster date, three months later, Tim meets a woman, Melissa (Molly Sims), by chance in an airport, and she is everything he could ever want in a woman. He decides to ask Melissa to a corporate retreat and, by mistake, invites Missy instead, and Tim’s life will never be the same. Thank goodness I didn’t see this in a theatre and could stop it every ten minutes to do something, anything else to get my mind off how bad this film is. Please, please Netflix, quit giving Adam Sandler money to finance his friends to make movies. I beg you, stop the madness. I felt terrible for some of the actors in this film, like Lauren Lapkus, who I like as a comedy actress and Sarah Chalke, who I hoped enjoyed the week she got in Hawaii (where they shot the film). David Spade does show some restraint in his part, but the jokes are horrible, the plot is stupid, and watching Rob Schneider mug his way through is performance as a boat captain is painful to watch. Stay away from this one!   My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again    The Wrong Missy Website    The film is currently available on Netflix.

Forgotten Film: The Last Run (1971) GP   Harry (George C. Scott) is a retired getaway driver living in a small Portuguese fishing village. Harry has become bored with his life and decides to take on one last job, a job that won’t turn out the way Harry planned to go out. Scott, hot off his Oscar for Patton, wanted to do a ‘Humphrey Bogart’ type role, and he carries it off with style. The film uses incredible locations in Europe, fantastic driving sequences (wait until you see the opening sequence on a tiny mountain road) and a brilliant cast, including Trish Van Devere, who plays a woman who is being used as bait by her boyfriend to get Harry to take the job. Scott is masterful as a man who hasn’t much to live for other than the thrill of driving as fast as he can.   My Rating: Full Price    The Last Run Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Capone: Chef Driver

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Military Wives (2019) PG-13   With their partners away serving in Afghanistan, two headstrong women (Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan) form a choir on a military base. The women in the choir form a bond that transforms their lives and gives them a way to deal with the reality of the everyday fear that their loved ones won’t return from the war. From two-time Oscar-nominated director Peter Cattaneo, this film just might be the uplifting film we need at this time.     The Military Wives Info

Until Next Time!