Send Help

My View: Send Help  (2026) R  Send Help follows Linda (Rachel McAdams), who has the boss from hell in Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), who tells her she has one last chance to impress him on an upcoming trip, or she will be fired. When their plane crashes and the two find themselves stranded on a deserted island, things have changed. Linda is now in charge, and Bradley is in danger of being fired or killed. Director Sam Raimi (Spiderman trilogy, The Evil Dead series, Drag Me to Hell) must have had a blast directing this film, which is off-the-wall fun, with lots of blood and two characters who play a game of who can, quoting Linda’s favorite TV show Survivor, “outwit, outplay, and outlast’ the other. Rachel McAdams is a delight as the put-upon office worker who is now stranded with the one person she hates, her boss, Bradley. This is a horror film with a sense of humor, plenty of scares and thrills, and a plot that will keep you guessing. I loved this film, and McAdams and O’Brien are a blast to watch as they match wits, with Linda having the skills and Bradley the overconfidence of a man who has always gotten his way. This is a bloody, sometimes look the other way, physical romp where two people try not only to survive on an island but also to survive each other. Send Help is a tale that you think might become one of those Hallmark rom-coms where two people who can’t get along realize that they are in love with each other, but instead is as if they are on Survivor, but with swords and lots of blood flowing.  My Rating: Full Price  Send Help Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Shelter  (2026)  R   In Shelter, Mason (Jason Statham) is living a solitary life in a remote area by the sea when he rescues a young girl, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), from drowning. This act set off a chain reaction that soon brings violence his way, something Mason had hoped he had put behind him. Jason Statham is one of my favorite action stars. Like Keanu Reeves, he seems to know what works in his wheelhouse and then delivers exactly what you want and are expecting. That’s what you get in Shelter, a delightful tale of a man whose past has caught up with him, and he is going to do everything he can to ensure that the young girl he rescued will survive whatever the bad guys throw at them. What makes this such a fun ride is the chemistry between Statham, playing a man of few words, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach, who plays the headstrong young girl who has lost her last family member and now is all alone, unless she can convince Mason to take her along on his adventures. Breathnach is having a moment in cinema, in this role and in her role in the Academy Award-nominated Hamnet. She makes this film work because we understand how quickly Mason can develop feelings for Jessie through her performance. The action sequences are fun to watch, and Jason beats the crap out of a lot of bad guys. Adding to the fun, as the mastermind bad guy is the always enjoyable Bill Nighy, playing a man who is convinced he is the puppet master, but Mason has other ideas. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Shelter Website   Now playing in theaters

My View:  The Wrecking Crew  (2026)  R  The Wrecking Crew centers around two half-brothers, Jonny (Jason Momoa) and James (Dave Bautista), who have to work together to discover the reason for their father's murder in Hawaii. Long-buried secrets will be uncovered, which threaten to tear their family apart. I had a hard time with this film at the start, as we are thrown into the storyline without much backstory. However, because of the fun that Momoa and Bautista are having playing off each other as two brothers who can’t get along, the film is enjoyable to watch. There is even a very funny and thrilling chase sequence where even Morena Baccarin makes an appearance to have some fun. The film is a little too complicated for its own good, but watching Momoa play the brother who is always doing the wrong thing and Bautista, who is constantly judging Jonny, it’s an action film that works only because of the two leads.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Wrecking Crew Website  Now playing on Amazon Prime.

My View: Arco  (2025)  PG  Arco is a ten-year-old boy who lives in the year 2932. Arco’s parents time-travel without him, and he decides to go out on his own. Arco travels back to 2075, but on the way, his time-travel device breaks, leaving him with no way to get back to his family. This is a beautiful and thrilling story about a boy who wanted to be included in his family's adventures and goes out on his own, only to realize that he may never see them again. What he finds in this new world is friendship and hope for a world that is quickly devouring itself. The animation is almost magical in its look and feel, and the storyline will captivate both young and old, making Arco worthy of its Academy Award nomination.  My Rating: Full Price  Arco Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest: Iron Lung  (2026)  R   The Iron Lung takes place in the near future, where an event known as ‘The Quiet Rapture’ causes all known planets and stars in the universe to disappear. A convict has been sent on a suicide mission using a small submarine to explore a moon that has an ocean of blood. One of the most anticipated movies of January is based on a video game and features filmmaker Mark Fischbach, who has an incredible number of social media followers. Fischbach wrote (with the help of the video game creator David Szymanski), directed, and stars in the film. The film has garnered over 7 million dollars in presales. I wish the over 2-hour movie was worth all that attention, but it’s not. The movie and game revolve around a person alone in a submersible with no windows, guided by a map and pictures taken by a camera every few moments. If that sounds like fun to you, then go right ahead. I was bored out of my mind and kept looking at my watch (always a bad sign) to see when this film would end. Half the time, you have no idea what is going on, why he is down there, and if what we are seeing is real or a figment of his imagination, something that you will not get an answer to, even by the end of the film. This is a mess of a film and wouldn’t even be a fun watch at a midnight film festival platform. Man, I hope the video game is more fun than this film. I have no intention of finding out.  My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again Iron Lung Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest:  A Private Life  (2025) R  A Private Life follows a renowned psychiatrist, Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster), as she investigates the death of a patient of hers. While others believe Lilian did nothing to prevent the suicide, Lilian believes that her patient might have been murdered. A Private Life only works because of Jodie Foster, who commands the screen with her presence and blends in perfectly with her command of the French language to make a mystery better than it should be. The plot is shaky as it is more about Lilian discovering more about herself and her faults than it is about solving a possible murder. We learn more about Lilian and her relationships than we do about her patient’s life in Lilian’s quest to find out if her patient committed suicide. I loved the back-and-forth between Lilian and her ex-husband, as we see there is still an attraction and draw between them, no matter what happened in the past. By the end of the film, I was sorry the mystery was solved and wouldn’t mind if Lilian went on to solve more mysteries.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  A Private Life Website  Now playing in select theaters 

Indiefest: Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)   Pavel “Pasha” is a teacher and event organizer who always has a video camera in hand to record his students' activities. Pasha lives in a small Russian town that was once famous as the world's most polluted city (tourists from all over used to visit). Pasha is well-liked by teachers and students and cares about his students. He recognizes he is a little strange, and sometimes his frankness gets him into trouble, but his office at school is a gathering place for students who also feel like they don’t belong. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine begins, and Pasha sees his school turn almost overnight from a fun, happy place to one where the students are force-fed government propaganda. A place where school has become a place not to learn about the world, but only about how great Putin is and how the rest of the world is inferior to the Russian way of life. So, our strange little teacher documents everything that is going on at the school, recording hundreds of hours of footage while doing some subversive things on his own, including playing Lady Gaga singing the American national anthem over the school’s loudspeakers. I loved this film, and you too will fall in love with Pasha. At one point, he decides to resign because he can’t stand what his school has become, but then rescinds his resignation so he can create a documentary to show the world what has become of his beloved school. This is a shocking look at how quickly the propaganda forces work and how some teachers quickly take advantage of the situation for their own greed and power. Throughout the film, you worry about Pasha getting caught, and through his own narration, he realizes that his time is quickly running out. The film, with Pasha as our guide, is funny, thoughtful, courageous, and shows how powerful a documentary can be in revealing to the world how wrong a government can be. Mr. Nobody Against Putin is worthy of its Academy Award nomination and is a must-see for documentary lovers. If there were more Mr. Nobodies in the world, it would be a better place. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Mr. Nobody Agains Putin Website   Now playing in select theaters and available to stream on the Kino Film Collection

Forgotten Film: The Anderson Tapes (1971) GP  Duke Anderson (Sean Connery) is a master thief and has just been released from jail after 10 years. His first stop is to see his girlfriend, Ingrid (Dyan Cannon), who lives in a posh apartment building courtesy of a sugar daddy. Duke realizes that Ingrid’s building is a gold mine full of rich people with lots of things to steal, so he contacts gangster Tommy(Alan King) to help plan the heist, and then puts together a crew to pull off the job, including an art expert (Martin Balsam) and a young safecracker (Christopher Walken). Connery is good in this post-007 role, but the fun of this film is the film debut of Christopher Walken, and it’s a blast to watch him perform on screen. Five-time Oscar-nominated Sidney Lumet directs the film, and you can see his steady hand throughout. The film falls apart a bit when the twist is revealed, but watching Walken on the screen makes up for it. My Rating: Bargain Matinee The Anderson Tapes Info Now available to rent on Amazon and Apple TV+.

Weird Credits: From the credits of Shelter: Chess Advisor

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: The Bride  (2026) R  This is a retelling of the story of the Bride of Frankenstein. In the 1930s, Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) had traveled to Chicago to seek the aid of Dr. Eupronius (Annette Bening) in creating a companion. Together, they revive a murdered woman, creating The Bride (Jessie Buckley), who is far more than expected. This sparks a romance, police attention, and more. Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed the film, and the cast includes Penelope Cruz, Julianne Hough, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Peter Sarsgaard.  The Bride Website  In theaters on Friday, March 6, 2026.

Until Next Time!

Mickey 17

My View:  Mickey 17  (2025) R  Mickey 17 is about Mickey (Robert Pattinson), who is unhappy with his life, and so he signs up to be an ‘expendable’, a disposable crew member on a space mission. As an expendable, Mickey is given dangerous tasks because he can be ‘renewed’ if he dies. Two problems: He renews with his memories intact, and something has gone wrong, and now there are two Mickeys. I have been a fan of Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon Ho for quite a while. His films like The Host (2006), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017), and Parasite (2019) were imaginative, creative and always had a biting sense of humor that combined with a lot to say about the state of the world, politics, and class. So it’s no surprise that Mickey 17 combines all of those factors and more into a delightful film that goes on too long to keep the film from feeling bloated and a bit out of control. Pattinson is enjoyable in the role of the sad-sack Mickey, who, while he gets the girl, keeps getting killed in lots of horrible ways. It’s a brilliant performance that Pattinson milks for everything he can, especially when the 2nd Mickey shows up, giving us two different takes on what we might have thought would be the same person but aren’t. There are some hilarious moments, mostly because of Pattinson’s way of making Mickey go along with his fate, no matter how bad it’s going to be. The film takes too long to get to the end, and it seems that Bong seems to lose the focus of the film, throwing out too many ideas at us, including some retreads of subjects from his previous films like Okja and Snowpiercer. Still, I had fun watching Mickey keep dying, and while watching Naomi Ackie as Nasha, Mickey’s girlfriend, have a blast playing a woman who loves Mickey but wants a little bit more. I wish the film had kept its focus on the subject and gotten to a conclusion sooner.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Mickey 17 Website  Now playing in theaters.

My View: In the Lost Lands  (2025) R  In the Lost Lands, a powerful witch named Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) and a hunter named Boyce (Dave Bautista), who journey into a dangerous landscape known as the “Lost Lands” to retrieve a magical artifact for a queen. Gray is the only one who knows that every spell she casts has unimaginable consequences. I have become a big fan of Dave Bautista, and while I don’t think Milla Jovovich is a great actress, she has a charisma that bursts off the screen. Add in that this film isn’t based on a video game but a short story by George R.R. Martin, and it should have been at least watchable. However, it’s not. The dialogue is so bad that it is laughable, and while the action sequences are fun, there isn’t enough of them to make the film work on that level. Instead, we get a film with too many working parts, a couple of big scenes that end way too easily, and an ending that is pleading for a sequel or two. In the Lost Lands reminded me of those straight-to-video sword and sorcerer films of the 80s, and we have gone too far to go back to those days. My Rating: Cable    In the Lost Lands Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Familyfaire:  Plankton: The Movie (2025) TV-PG  In Plankton: The Movie, tired of being taken for granted, Karen the Computer is going to do what Plankton has failed to do over the past twenty-five years: Take over the world. Plankton now has to stop her with the help of a few friends, including one named SpongeBob. SpongeBob fans will have fun with this film, as two of the supporting characters, Plankton and his ‘wife’ Karen the Computer, are featured in this film about Karen quitting being in Plankton’s shadow and taking over the world herself. There are plenty of songs in the film, and small kids will love all the hijinks that Plankton and Karen get into. No fear, SpongeBob fans, as he will help defeat Karen’s attempt at taking over the world, and everything will return to normal.  Well, normal for the world of SpongeBob and his friends.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Plankton: The Movie Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest:  There’s Still Tomorrow  (2023)  There’s Still Tomorrow is set in postwar 1940s Italy, where Delia (Paola Cortellesi) is in an unhappy marriage and the mother of three. She sees that her oldest daughter is about to repeat the same mistake that Delia did by going into a bad marriage, and plots to stop the marriage in any way she can. There’s Still Tomorrow is a film about love lost, domestic violence, trying to make up for mistakes of the past, and sacrifice. Directed by Paola Cortellesi, she also stars as the film’s central character, a woman who is in an unhappy marriage with a man who hits her for any little mistake she makes, all the while she struggles to keep her family together in a post-WWII Italy. Cortellesi commands the screen, and we root for her character as we follow her on a quest to help her daughter get out of under the control of her husband. This is a usual film, as some scenes where Delia is abused are shown as musical dance numbers. It’s a surreal look at a serious subject and takes a bit of getting used to. Shot in beautiful black and white, as an homage to the films shot in Italy after the war, the film makes a case for Delia to leave and find happiness with an old love she broke up with long ago. The film is worth watching because of Cortellesi’s performance and for the last ten minutes of the film, which gives us an ending that you will not expect. There’s Still Tomorrow is an incredible film that covers a lot of subject that isn’t beautiful at all but has a character at its center that you will fall in love with.  My Rating: Full Price  There's Still Tomorrow Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

My View:  Picture This  (2025)   In Picture This, Pia (Simone Ashley) is a struggling photographer who receives a prediction: true love and career success await her on her next five dates. The only problem is her ex (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) has reappeared, throwing her love life and career into a big mess. Picture This is a rom-com that has more comedy than romance, mostly because the romance part doesn’t start until near the end of the film, in a very Hallmark way. The film works because of Simone Ashley, who has a knack for comedy, and the camera loves her. The film has our heroine trying to make a go of it as a portrait photographer while telling the world and her parents that she may never get married or have kids. We all know what will happen, but it’s fun to see Pia go on the four dates, all of which end in one disaster or another. Picture This is an enjoyable film that, while predictable, works because the lead is so funny and captivating. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Picture This Website  Now playing on Amazon Prime.

My View:  The Rule of Jenny Pen  (2025)  R  In The Rule of Jenny Pen, a former judge (Geoffrey Rush), after having a stroke, is sent to a secluded rest home, confined to a wheelchair. He becomes the target of a fellow resident (John Lithgow), who torments the residents at night with a child’s puppet, abusing them with deadly consequences. I had high hopes for this film due to the pairing of Lithgow and Rush, two actors who, when given just about anything, are at the top of their game. Unfortunately,, the two are let down by a script that starts strong but can’t sustain the suspense and takes itself into a corner it can’t escape. From the trailer, I was expecting a horror film mixed with a psychological thriller. I wanted a film where the two characters were in a war of wits, but instead, it was the strong taking advantage of the weak. Like the doll that Lithgow’s character carries around, the plot is hollow and short on any sort of scares. My Rating: Bargain Matinee   The Rule of Jenny Pen Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View: Becoming Katharine Graham  (2025)  This is a documentary on Katharine Graham, who went from being a housewife to running The Washington Post during a time when the Vietnam War and the dirty tricks of the Nixon administration were tearing the country apart. This is a brilliant documentary on an amazing woman who became CEO of a publishing company when women were seen as only secretaries in the workforce; Katherine worked for a few years until they could get married and then take care of the household, their bread-winning husband, and raise a few kids. We see that Graham, who took over the reins of the Post when her husband committed suicide, had to learn very quickly how to survive in a ‘man’s world,’ but she soon put her mark on the company. The film focuses on key moments in Graham’s life: her marriage that ended so tragically, the release of the Pentagon Papers, which cemented the opposition to the Vietnam War, the Watergate break-in and coverup, which to the Washington Post, ultimately brought down a President, and then a crippling union strike at the Post. It’s an amazing story, one that, when both the book and Oscar-winning movie All the President’s Men came out, ignored her courageous role in the continuing coverage of the Watergate break-in. I learned just how alone the Washington Post was when they started and continued the coverage of Watergate. Graham, even when Nixon and his associates tried to ruin Graham, stood fast and kept fighting. Becoming Katharine Graham is a film that needs to be seen in our current times, showing how important a free press is to democracy, keeping us safe from those who would rather only let one side of the story be told.  My Rating: Full Price   Becoming Katharine Graham Website Now playing on Amazon Prime. 

Forgotten Film:  Memphis Belle  (1990) PG-13  In 1943, a crew of a B-17 airplane based in the UK prepares for its 25 mission. If they come back from this bombing mission over Germany, they get to go back home to the US. It’s going to take all the skill and luck that the crew has to get back to base. Based loosely on a WWII documentary of the same name, the film shows us just how dangerous their bombing raids were and how it took the crew right to the edge to complete their mission. The cast is full of young actors from the late 80s and ‘90s who were either stars or about to be, including Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Tate Donovan, D. B. Sweeney, Billy Zane, and Sean Astin. This is a well-made war film that will keep you on the edge of your seat, with some outstanding performances.  My Rating: Full Price  Memphis Belle Info  Available to rent/buy on Apple TV and Amazon. 

Weird Credits: From the credits of Mickey 17:  Standby Property Hands

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: A Minecraft Movie  (2025) PG  Four misfits suddenly find themselves pulled through a mysterious portal, landing in a strange, cubic world that thrives on creativity and imagination. To get back home, they will need help from a peculiar resident to master this bizarre world. The cast includes Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Kate McKinnon, Jemaine Clement, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Hansen. In theaters on Friday, April 4, 2025. 

Until Next Time!

Better Man

My View:  Better Man  (2024) R    Better Man tells the true story of Robbie Williams, who dreamed at a young age that he would become a world-famous pop star. We follow Robbie as his meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and then dramatic resurgence as a British pop superstar plays out before our eyes. So, looking at the poster from the film, you can see that Robbie Williams is portrayed by a chimpanzee, done with CGI and using actor Jonno Davies in the role, including speaking the lines, with Williams doing most of the voice-over narration. Yes, it takes a few minutes to get used to this take on a musical (humans portray all the other characters), but I enjoyed it after a while. It helped with Robbie becoming part of a boy band, and I didn’t have to keep searching for him among all the other guys that looked like him. There are a couple of breathtaking songs in the film, including a spectacular musical number that takes place on Regent Street, one of the most famous streets in all of England. The film was problematic for me in two ways. One is here in the States; Williams isn’t very well known, except for his song Millennium (the video was a take-off of James Bond films); he never became the big star that he is in England and Europe. So, I never knew if a song was an original song made for the film or if it was one of his hits. Secondly, the film becomes overindulgent, with Robbie constantly fighting himself and always being confronted by images of himself telling him that he is not good enough to be a star. Better Man all comes to a head near the end of the film, in a sequence that should have been the big triumphant scene, but instead, Robbie fights all his past selves. It takes a long time to get to that point, and you would think that would be the end, but instead, we get a last song that, while fans of Willams will know is part of his repertoire; it just doesn’t fit the rest of the film. Better Man is a film that starts with a gimmick that you forget is there for a bit but keeps hitting you over the head with it, and that is just too much for someone who isn’t a Robbie Williams fan like me.  My Rating; Bargain Matinee  Better Man Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Last Showgirl  (2024)  R   In The Last Showgirl, Shelly (Pamela Anderson) has been a part of a Las Vegas revue show for over 20 years. Shelly has given up everything to be a part of the show; it is part of her life, and suddenly, she is told that in two weeks, the show will close forever. Director Gia Coppola knew what she had in Pamela Anderson, someone we all love but who has a limited dramatic range. So Coppola went out and got a powerful supporting cast, including Dave Bautista, as the stage manager and former lover of Shelly, Brenda Strong, and Kiernan Shipka as two of Shelly’s showgirl pals, Billie Lourd as Shelly’s daughter, and Jamie Lee Curtis as an over the hill showgirl, now waitress, who is Shelly’s best friend. Coppola often lets the supporting cast do the heavy lifting in scenes and lets Anderson sit back and react. The Last Showgirl is a movie that probably would have been a successful short film because the storyline is incredibly weak and has a hard time even filling its short 85-minute run time. We get a lot of scenes of Anderson on Vegas casino rooftops looking out over the Las Vegas skyline or practicing her dance moves for her attempt to get a job in another Vegas show. Every scene where Anderson is asked to create emotion on screen seems forced. It’s telling that the scene that I came away remembering the most from this film was when Jamie Lee Curtis decides to quit another waitress job and dance on the casino floor for herself and no one else. Jamie Lee gives us a magical and memorable scene. It’s too bad it wasn’t Anderson doing the scene.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Last Showgirl Website  Now playing in the theaters. 

Indiefest:  Nickel Boys  (2024) PG-13   Nickel Boys tells the story of Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), two Black teenagers sent to the Nickel Academy in Florida after being accused of crimes they did not commit. To survive the horrors of school in the Jim Crow era South, the boys will need to rely on their friendship. Nickel Boys is an amazing film where we see the world through the eyes of Elwood in the first half of the film. The camera shows us what he is seeing, whether it is the curtains that Elwood’s grandmother is ironing, seen from the floor up as Elwood is under the ironing board, or as an adult when Elwood hitches a ride in a car that turns out is stolen. Elwood is sent to Nickel Academy deep in the Jim Crow South, where his life will depend on his wits and the friend that he makes in Turner, a fellow teen stuck in this horrible place like Elwood. For some, this film will confound you with its point of view, camera work, and editing, where we go back and forth to different time periods in Elwood’s life, often making you feel unsettled. About halfway through the film, this point of view shifts, but I won’t ruin the reason for you. It’s an amazing part in the film and makes the second half take off. Part thriller, part mystery, Nickel Boys is a groundbreaking film that creates a unique look at how to tell a story. If you can make it through the first 30 minutes of the film and feel comfortable going on, you will be rewarded with a film that will make you wonder how director RaMell Ross was able to create such a powerful and moving film that breaks a lot of conventional filmmaking rules.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Nickel Boys Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  Hard Truths  (2024) R  Hard Truths is about Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a woman who is depressed and angry at the world. Pansy finds offense in almost every situation and is always on the verge of flying off the handle. She has alienated her husband Curtley (David Webber) and her adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), who don’t dare say anything to her for fear of her reacting with rage. Pansy’s only person she can talk to is her sister, Chantal (Michele Austin), a person who sees good in everyone. However, even Chantal has a breaking point, and Pansy may find herself alone in dealing with the world. The film is centered on the performance of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who portrays Pansy as a woman who is mad at the world and would rather spend her time in bed than be out in the world surrounded by fools. However, while Pansy might hate the world, she needs to feel loved, which is a key to her character that we see develop throughout the film. Hard Truths is a film where a performance transcends the storyline. It’s not an easy film to watch because Pansy is not an easy person to be around. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is a fireball on the screen, giving us a woman who has an opinion on everything and everybody, and who sees a world that is out to get her, so she fights back at every turn. I can’t imagine the energy that it took to do this performance, but it’s to Jean-Baptiste’s credit that we stick with the film until the end when everything comes to a head. Marianne Jean-Baptiste's full range is seen in a scene near the end of the film, and it's a marvel to experience.   My Rating: Full Price  Hard Truths Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

Forgotten Film:  Shaft in Africa  (1973)  R  P.I. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is recruited to go to Africa and infiltrate a modern slavery ring that is sending young Africans to work on chain gangs in Europe. Shaft came out in 1971 and was an enormous hit. Now Shaft has one of the greatest opening title sequences with that incredible song by Isaac Hayes, but its plot is pretty weak, depending mostly on the star power of Roundtree to carry it off, with a lot of talking and minimal action. I think Shaft in Africa is the best of the three Shaft films of the early 70s. I love how they made Shaft a James Bond-like character, with even a few cool Bond-like gadgets. The film has a ton of action scenes and some cool hand-to-hand fights, plus a plot that moves pretty quickly once Shaft gets to Africa. The film's Ethiopian setting is utilized to its fullest potential, and Roundtree still possesses that star power.  My Rating: Full Price  Shaft in Africa Info The film is available to rent/buy on Amazon and Apple TV.

Weird Credits: From the credits of Better Man:  Rushes Runner

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Captain America: Brave New World  (2025)  Following the election of Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) as President of the United States, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who now holds the mantle of Captain America, finds himself at the center of an international incident and must work to stop the true masterminds behind it. This film is part of the Phase Five of the MCU.  Captain America: Brave New World Website   The film is in theaters on Friday, February 14, 2025.

Until Next Time!

Speak No Evil

My View:  Speak No Evil  (2024)  R  In Speak No Evil, a married couple, Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis), and their young daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), on vacation, meet another couple, Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi), along with their daughter and son. A friendship is develops, and the other family invites the Daltons to stay at their country home for the weekend. Their stay is fun at the start, but the hosts’ behavior soon turns sinister as dark secrets are exposed, and the family realizes that they will be lucky to get out alive. Speak No Evil is produced by Blumhouse, who gave us horror movies like the Paranormal Activity films, Insidious, The Purge, and Happy Death Day. So you would expect when buying a ticket it’s going to be another scary horror film. Not so fast. Speak No Evil is more a suspense film than a horror film. However, given the reaction of the audience that I saw the screening with, this is more of a black comedy than anything else. That’s the only way I can explain how this film pushes the boundaries of plot and common sense. While the audience I saw the movie with had fun shouting at Ben and Louise to get the hell out of Dodge, they also became frustrated as the couple continually did the old horror trick of ‘going back into the house’ or ‘going upstairs to escape the bad people’ tropes. A few times, I can accept, but this became a running joke as Ben, who has to be one of the weakest decision makers in the history of film, either can’t make a decision (one of the weaker moments in the movie) or keeps leading his family into worse positions. Louise is the hero of the story, someone who wants to leave almost immediately from the moment she enters Paddy’s home. She only agrees to go on the trip because her husband, Ben, has a little pity party fit. Unlike some of my fellow filmgoers, I did not enjoy Speak No Evil, except when watching James McAvoy just go nuts in almost every scene. It was a scary movie with no scares and a couple who couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag, much less a home filled with a couple of nutty people.  My Rating: Cable  Speak No Evil Website   Now playing in theaters nationwide.

My View:  The Killer’s Game  (2024) The Killer’s Game is about Joe (Dave Bautista), an assassin for hire who has been diagnosed that he will die in a few months, so he orders a hit on himself to get it over. Once the hit has been ordered, Joe finds out that the doctor made a mistake and he isn’t dying. The problem is an army of assassins are on the loose, and are out to kill him anyway. I had fun with this film for about the first hour, but then things were pushed too far; with a plot already put together with balling wire and bubblegum, it went off the deep end and never came back. I love Bautista, and I think he has become a delightful actor as he gives his character a clumsy charm that works so well you can see a woman (played by Sofia Boutella) being smitten by him. The film has fun with Joe as the killer with a heart of gold (he only does hits on bad people) but goes a little too far trying to be cute, giving us too many characters with cutesy names to follow, all introduced in a bloody haze of flying body parts and individual soundtracks. Wrestling fans may enjoy seeing WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre as one of the assassins sent out to kill Joe, but they will be disappointed by the fight sequence he takes part in.  The fight sequences are well done, but too often the film goes for the big ending for each assassin out to kill Joe, which becomes almost numbing to watch. The final thirty minutes doesn’t work at all, especially a trip to a church (flashbacks to John Woo’s The Killer, maybe?) that is so poorly done that it almost hurts to watch it. I had high hopes for The Killer's Game after seeing the trailer, but it was a disappointment because it tried too hard to be funny and cute.   My Rating: Cable  The Killer's Game Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Uglies  (2024)  PG-13  Uglies takes place in the future, where a society is obsessed with physical appearance, Tally (Joey King) is looking forward to when she turns sixteen. That’s when every citizen undergoes extreme cosmetic surgery to erase any imperfections, turning a person from an ‘Ugly’ into a ‘Pretty.’ Tally’s world is going to change when she meets Shay (Katherine Langford), who is part of a group of rebels living in the wilderness known as ‘the Smokies,’ who refuse to undergo the operation. For a while, we were getting a lot of these dystopian YA book-based films about a future where young people are the only hope for saving the world from tyranny and destruction. Films like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent came out, all based on YA best sellers. It’s been a few years, and now a new film has come out based on a best-selling YA series, Uglies. Joey King plays a young woman who can’t wait to become a ‘pretty’ on her sixteenth birthday. She soon learns that what she has been told her whole life might be a lie and that getting turned into a ‘Pretty’ comes at a price. Turning YA films into movies is not always a sure thing. For every Hunger Games, there is a Vampire Academy or Ender’s Game that doesn’t capture the magic that made those book series so successful. Despite the efforts of Joey King as our hero and Laverne Cox as our very stylish evil scientist, Uglies comes up short. The Uglies books were huge best-sellers, and fans have long waited for the series to be turned into movies, but I think those fans will be disappointed in this film. What works in a book doesn’t always translate to the visual medium of movies, and this film feels like they picked a few of what they thought were the best parts of the book and threw them against the wall to see what stuck. The CGI is at times lacking (there is a horrible hoverboard sequence that looks so bad I thought the sequence might be hand drawn) and the film seems like one long set up for the next movie, taking such a long time to set everything up. I think I’ll just read the books next time.  My Rating: Cable   Uglies Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest:  Seeking Mavis Beacon  (2024) Seeking Mavis Beacon is a documentary about searching for the woman who graced the cover of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, an incredibly popular computer program in the 1980s. Jazmin Jones (director) and Olivia McKayla Ross (associate producer) go on a quest to find this mysterious woman who taught so many people to type. I saw this film at the Atlanta Film Festival and was enchanted by a film about solving the mystery of who Mavis was and why she was on the cover. This is a film about two people who go on a journey of discovery. What I loved about the film is that the heart of the film is really about the journey and the people that the two investigators meet. The lives that were impacted by this computer program and how just a simple photo could inspire people around the world to think they could learn to type from the person on the cover. And yes, they find out who the woman in the photograph is and give her the attention she deserves.   My Rating: Full Price  Seeking Mavis Beacon Website  Now playing in theaters.

Sorry I Missed It (A film that I didn’t see when it was first released but have seen recently): Rebel Ridge  (2024)  TV-MA  In Rebel Ridge, all Terry (Aaron Pierre), an ex-Marine, wanted to do was post bail for his cousin, but a small-town police chief, Chief Sandy Burne (Don Johnson) has taken his money, and Terry is about to get it back anyway he has to. Rebel Ridge is one of those films where you go, that actor is killing it, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Up to this, Aaron Pierre has mostly been a TV actor, but I’m telling you that Aaron Pierre is a movie star. From the first moments of Rebel Ridge, the tension builds and builds. The film has been compared to the Stallone film First Blood (the first Rambo film), but that’s a misplaced comparison. In Rambo, there isn’t much of a plot other than a sheriff (played by Brian Dennehy) who hates another man and will do anything to get rid of him. Rebel Ridge slowly gives us reasons why Terry is so determined to get his cousin out on bail and why the police chief is trying to keep Terry’s money. Rebel Ridge isn’t your typical, one-man-against-the-system movie, though Aaron Pierre as Terry can kick a lot of butt, all without killing anyone. Terry gets help from a court staffer, Summer (played by AnnaSophia Robb), who becomes Terry’s ally in his quest to get his cousin out on bail. It turns out there is a lot to Summer’s story too. There are plenty of action sequences to keep the film moving, and then there is Don Johnson, who is so good at playing a slick, cocksure Chief who thinks he can get away with anything because he has a badge. Well, he hasn’t met a man like Terry.  My Rating: Full Price  Rebel Ridge Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest:  How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies  (2023)  How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is about M (Putthipong Assaratanakul), a university dropout without a job, who sees his cousin strike it rich, caring for a dying relative and then being named in the relative’s will. A motivated M volunteers to care for his terminally ill grandmother (Usha Seamkhum) with the goal of achieving the same outcome. This is a moving film about family, commitment, and how it takes time to know someone. M is someone who you don’t like at first, mostly because he is such a slacker, living off his mother while trying to make it as an online gamer, which he sucks at. Seeing his cousin hit it big, he moves in with his grandmother and trying to become the perfect grandson in her eyes, all so he can have her house to sell when she dies. However, the more he cares for his grandmother, the more he becomes attached to her. M also observes how the rest of the family doesn't pay much attention to her, even when she falls and needs to go to the hospital. The film doesn’t mince with making most of the characters self-involved, almost always showing us their worst sides, like Amah’s son, who she waits patiently for him to show up, which he only does when he is in trouble and needs money. M learns about his grandmother's life, both present-day (her loneliness) and in the past, when she was in an arranged marriage. What makes this film stand out is that the characters are fully fleshed out. We get to know them, and they seem real with all their flaws. I also loved that the film has a few twists and turns, some you don’t expect that take you down a few paths you didn’t know you needed to walk on. And yes, you will need a box of tissues for the ending, but I think you will come away feeling that M is a better person than he was when his scheme started.  My Rating: Full Price  How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies Info  Now playing in select theaters.

Indiefest:  The 4:30 Movie  (2024) The 4:30 Movie takes place in the summer of 1986, where three sixteen-year-old friends (Reed Northrup, Nicholas Cirillo, and Austin Zajur) spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. This Saturday, they may learn a thing or two about life and love. Filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) can be hit or miss with his films, with a lot of misses lately. I am happy to say that this film is a delight, especially for moviegoers of the 1980s. The film takes you back to a time when teens would spend their whole Saturday going from one film to another, no matter how many times they had seen some of them. The film revolves around Brian (Austin Zajur), a movie fanatic who has just gotten the guts to ask out the girl of his dreams, Melody (played by the wonderfully cute Siena Agudong), to see an afternoon movie. It took Brian a year to ask her out after kissing her in her parent’s pool. She says yes, but his best friends, Belly (Reed Northrup) and Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) aren’t too happy about the idea that Brian has asked a girl to their day of movie-watching. From the moment they arrive at the theater, things start going wrong, and at one point it appears that Brian won't be able to get his dream date. The 4:30 Movie is a love letter to Kevin Smith’s teen life, with references to everything from Billy Idol to discussions on if the first movie of a series can be called Poltergeist I if the films sequels have numbers attached to the titles. The 4:30 Movie works when we are just dealing with the three friends or when Brian is hanging out with Melody. Characters in the film feel like real teens, and the chemistry between Austin Azajur and Siena Agudong, which is everything you want in a first romance, makes us want more of their scenes together. The film does a horrible job of creating fake movie trailers that don’t come close to the look and feel of the 80s exploration films (though the trailer for the Nun by day and hooker by night one is enjoyable for a bit). There is also a touching scene between Brian and one of the ushers (played by Genesis Rodriguez), where she tells Brian that he should think about becoming a director because of his love of film. Overall, I had a good time with the film. I wish Smith had done one more re-write and tightened up some scenes that go on a little too long. Still, it’s fun going to the local cinema with Brian and his friends and trying our hand at sneaking into a few R-rated films. There are two bonus portions in the credits. One an additional scene after the first bit of credits and then outtakes during the rest of the credits.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The 4:30 Movie Website Now playing in theaters.

Forgotten Film:  Bright Young Things  (2003)  R  The film takes place in 1930s England when young aristocrats wore tuxes, partied all night, and slept all day. They all thought their days of fun and debauchery would go on forever. Adam (Stephen Campbell Moore) has written a novel he is convinced that the world is going to love. Having already spent the advance, his only manuscript is seized as pornography, and he is now out of luck. What’s a guy to do when his fiancé Nina (Emily Mortimer) expects to be supported in the life she has grown accustomed to. Adam, desperate for money, starts writing an anonymous column in the biggest newspaper in the country, giving everyone an inside scoop into what goes on at all those parties that everyday people are never invited to. Bright Young Things is a fun and enjoyable film with a cast of soon-to-be stars like Emily Mortimer, David Tennant, and James McAvoy. It also has some brilliant performances by Stockard Channing, Jim Broadbent, Dan Aykroyd, and scene-stealer Peter O’Toole. It’s a look at a life that didn’t last as long as they thought it would.  My Rating: Full Price  Bright Young Things Info  The film is available on most streaming services.

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Speak No Evil:  Skipper

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Saturday Night  (2024)  R  On October 11th, 1975, at 11:30 pm, a group of young, wild performers and writers launched a new live TV show that changed the landscape forever. This is the story of what happened in the 90 minutes before the first broadcast of what was to be later named Saturday Night Live. I want to see it just to see J. K. Simmons as comedy legend Milton Berle.  Saturday Night Website  The film releases in theaters on Friday, October 11, 2024.  

Until Next Time!