Firestarter

My View: Firestarter (2022) R   As a result of a secret government experiment, a young girl, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), has gained the power to start fires with her mind. Subsequently, Charlie is now being hunted by a group named The Shop, but Charlie isn’t going without a fight. It’s sad when the only positive thing you can say about a movie is that the film's score was enjoyable (by Halloween director John Carpenter, no less). The 1984 film starring Drew Barrymore and a host of early 80s icons (with a rare motion picture appearance by Heather Locklear) was a lousy film, and this remake doesn’t improve on the storyline one bit. The plot is pretty much the same (there are a few changes to try to update it) that don’t make any difference to us caring about any character in the film. Ryan Kiera Armstrong does, from time to time, looks a little like Barrymore, but that doesn’t help her center a picture where we don’t care if little Charlie gets found or not. The bad guys of the film, Gloria Reuben as the Captain (of what, I don’t know) who chews up the scenery at a regular interval and Michael Greyeyes, as a mysterious bounty hunter who kills without any plan, are toothless and not at all scary. Firestarter is supposed to be a horror film, but it comes off as even more boring than the original film, which was, I thought, impossible. There is a reason why the studio did not give film critics a screening and only offered screener access after it had premiered on the Peacock platform. I would light a fire to burn this film to the ground, but I am all out of lighter fluid, much like the film.  My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again    Firestarter Website  Now playing in theatres nationwide and on the Peacock platform.

My View:  Senior Year  (2022) R   Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) is a high-school student who, after a cheerleading accident, is left in a coma for 20 years. Now she is awake and ready to return for her senior year of high school…as a 37-year-old. I like Rebel Wilson, and as a side-kick in films like Pitch Perfect and JoJo Rabbit, she has been hilarious and scene-stealing. As a lead actress in such duds as Isn’t It Romantic and The Hustle, she hasn’t shown that she can handle the main spotlight. After taking a few years off to remake herself, now comes Senior Year. Unfortunately, Wilson has picked a film that is dull and unfunny right from the start. The film continually mines the ‘fish out of water’ premise, constantly bringing up horrible references to what was essential to teens 20 years ago with lines about MTV videos or mistaking Lady Gaga for Madonna. The film feels every bit of its hour and fifty-minute runtime taking forever to get going with the plot and running some jokes into the ground(like the fact that the high school is constantly making sure no one is offended by anything, including positive message cheers). I had high hopes when I saw the trailer, but now, I wish that Stephanie had stayed in the coma a bit longer for the writers to work on the script.    My Rating: Cable   Senior Year Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest: Happening (2022) R   Anne (Anamaria Vartolomel), a student in 1963 France, is about to finish her studies when she finds out that she is pregnant. Consequently, she decides to abort the baby against the law and goes on a journey to do so in a society that censures women’s rights and desires. I won’t lie to you; this is a tough film to watch as we follow Anne through the weeks of her pregnancy that she is desperate to end with some scenes that will be upsetting to watch. This is a painful and sometimes very graphic and chilling story about a woman who can’t see her future with a baby in tow and finds that everyone, including her friends, abandon her in her time of need. Anamaria Vartolomel is mesmerizing as Anne, letting us see her every emotion on her face, even when trying to be stoic or lying (especially in her moments with her unsuspecting mother). Truly a painful and full of despair look at the plight of a woman whose society has put up so many obstacles to overcome that it seems to be doomed from the start. Happening is an amazing movie that will be talked about for a long time and maybe, just maybe, open some hearts and minds to this complex issue. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again Happening Website   Now playing in select theatres.

My View: Operation Mincemeat (2022) PG-13   In order to try and fool Germany during WWII about the planned Allied invasion of Sicily, a group of intelligence officers come up with a plan to take a deceased man, dress him up as an officer, and place fake plans about an alternate invasion and place him via submarine on the coast where German soldiers can find him. This is based on an incredible true story that saved countless Allied lives by tricking the Germans into thinking Greece was the next invasion target instead of Sicily. The plan is a fantastic bit of deception that worked only because of the brilliance of the people who planned it and then kept working on it, even when others doubted it would succeed. I loved the secondary story of Colin Firth’s character, Ewen Montagu, a married man whose marriage is in trouble and starts working with a brilliant and funny woman, played perfectly by Kelly Macdonald, who is attracted to the dashing Ewen. I also loved that Ian Fleming, the creator of the iconic James Bond books, is a character in the film that always seems to be in the right place at the right time to collect material for his future books. Operation Mincemeat is a spy film where the main spy is a dead man, a remarkable tale about a group of people who created one of the greatest spy tricks of all time.   My Rating: Full Price     Operation Mincemeat Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest:  Monstrous  (2022)  PG-13   Laura (Christina Ricci), traumatized and fleeing from an abusive relationship, who takes her 7-year-old son, Cody (Santino Barnard), to a remote house in the woods. The two should be safe; however, there is something in the pond, a bigger, more terrifying monster than an ex-husband. This is a fun little horror movie that is bolstered by the performance of Christina Ricci and the 1950s setting. Ricci plays a woman who has taken her son to an isolated home in a small town. Her son begins saying that a monster is in the pond and is coming for him. Laura thinks, at first, that Cody is just scared, settling into a new environment, but Laura starts experiencing troubling feelings and sights herself. Like many fifties horror films, there is the conflict of thinking that everything is good and safe in a small town, but as always, there is something evil lurking behind the petticoats and the commercials for dishwashers built with the housewife in mind.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Monstrous Website  Now playing in select theatres and On Demand.

Forgotten Film: A Month in the Country (1987) PG   In the summer of 1919, a battle-scarred veteran, Tom (Colin Firth), comes to a small village to work on restoring a mural that is believed to be hidden inside the thick walls of a medieval era church. While working on finding and repairing the mural, Tom befriends a fellow vet, John (Kenneth Branagh), an archeologist working on a dig nearby. The two develop a friendship, and the two friends begin a long road to recovery with the help of their work, the village, and a vicar’s wife (Natasha Richardson). A Month in the Country is an enjoyable movie about healing and coming to terms with the past. Very early in their careers, the three stars show why they all went on to make their mark on cinema.   My Rating: Full Price   A Month in the Country Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Firestarter: Fire Stunt Safety

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)   Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is an outsider in her community. Kya is called the ‘Marsh Girl’ by the locals since she was abandoned in the marshlands of North Carolina and raised herself to adulthood. Kya begins to explore outside the world of her marsh when a young man she has befriended is found dead and is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect. Now Kay’s life will be under the microscope, and many secrets of the marsh are about to be revealed. Based on the best-selling book by Delia Owens and an up-and-coming star in Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People), this has the makings of a really cool movie to see this summer.     Where the Crawdads Sing Website

Morbius

My View: Morbius (2022) Pg-13  Biochemist Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) is trying to find a cure for a rare blood disease, one he has himself. In his attempt to find the cure, he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead. I have no clue why this film was made or why Jared Leto, who has done some impressive stuff lately, would want to be in this film. Morbius isn’t your typical Marvel film, as our hero, when he becomes a vampire, is more about killing than saving people. The second half of this film is such a mess that I didn’t care who lived or died; I just wanted the film to end. Add in the fact that it makes vampire bats out to be killers that tear apart animals (which they are not, and Bat Conservation International must be pissed) makes this film feel so out of touch, making it feel like the schlock-horror films of the 60s. The ending is a mess of a battle between two vampires who have powers that are never really explained. And yes, there are two mid-credit scenes that set up the next film and are connected with the upcoming Multi-verse films like Dr. Strange, but I don’t care what this character does in the future.   My Rating: Cable   Morbius Website  Now playing in theatres nationwide.

Indiefest: You Won’t Be Alone (2022) R  Set in a 19th-century mountain village, a young girl is kidnapped and transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Subsequently, the witch accidentally kills a woman (Noomi Rapace) and takes her form to learn about what it means to be a human. This is one of those films that I just never could connect with. It’s a film narrated by the young person who has been taken and transformed into a witch. When the witch gets mad at the young person, the witch abandons her, and the girl goes and takes the place of a young woman she accidentally kills. It’s a distributing film to watch as the person goes through many lives, trying out life in different bodies, all the while the witch keeps showing up checking up on her, reminding her that she isn’t one of them. It’s a story of someone who longs to belong but never quite fits in and is constantly reminded that they aren’t a part of the humanity they desperately want to understand and live with.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   You Won't Be Alone Website  Now playing in select theatres.

Familyfaire:    Better Nate Than Ever (2022) PG   13-year-old Nate Foster (Rueby Wood) dreams of being on Broadway. Despite losing out on the lead in his middle school’s production, Nate and his best friend, Libby (Aria Brooks), travel to New York City to try out for a new Broadway musical. It’s a trip that Nate hopes will bring him the stardom he thinks he deserves. This reminds me of the Disney films that the studio used to put out in the 60s, full of energy, schmaltz, and good, wholesome family entertainment. Nate is a little over the top, but Rueby Wood carries it off with such enthusiasm and energy that you kind of forgive him for it. Wood shows his Broadway chops in several musical numbers; the best is a rousing number in Times Square that gets Nate noticed on YouTube. Lovers of Broadway musicals will eat this up, as Nate is a walking, talking Broadway kid at heart. I enjoyed going along with Nate and Libby in Nate’s dream of making it on Broadway. Break a leg, Nate!    My Rating: Full Price   Better Late Than Ever Website  Now playing on the Disney+ platform.

My View: The Bubble (2022) R   A group of actors are stuck inside a pandemic bubble in a hotel making a sci-fi film called Cliff Beasts 6, where anything and everything will go wrong. As most of us know, even the best Judd Apatow film goes a little too long, but this unfunny film feels about twice as long as its 126 minutes running time. The problem is that this is a one-joke film; is it funny how a bunch of Hollywood actors behave when they don’t get everything they think they are entitled to. Most of the impressive cast is wasted, especially Maria Bakalova, who was so good in the Borat movie and is badly misused as a hotel worker who lusts after one of the cast. The first time we see the cast making the Cliff Beasts movie in front of a green screen is pretty funny, but that it keeps happening just gets old fast. I did enjoy two characters in the film; Leslie Mann is funny as the vapid actress who in the Cliff Beast films plays some sort of Southern archeologist who continually spouts off horrible lines, and Iris Apatow as a Tik Tok star who has been hired with no acting experience to give the film a boost in the social media. I don’t think it would be a surprise that Mann is married to Judd, and Iris is their daughter in real life. Funny how that worked. Skip this film and watch one of Apatow’s older films when he let other people edit his movies.    My Rating: Cable   The Bubble Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform>

My View: Apollo 10 1/2 (2022) PG-13 The first moon landing in the summer of 1969 is about to happen, and we see it through the eyes of a kid growing up in the home of mission control, Houston, Texas. I will confess that I loved this film because what we see in this film was not only filmmaker Richard Linklater’s childhood, it was also mine (without all the brothers and sisters). I loved this slice of life in 1969 Texas, with all its late 60s glory. The film follows a young man growing up in a new suburb of Houston. His father works for NASA, but instead of building rocket ships, his dad makes sure that things like pencils are ordered for the facility. Apollo 10 1/2 is a film not only about growing up in a time where landing on the moon dominated everything, but it’s also about imagination, as the young boy also creates his own story in his imagination, one where NASA has picked him to test out the lunar lander (because they made it too small for adults). Linklater lets us experience the young boy's world, full of TV, playground games, and stealing wood from construction sites to make forts. The film uses animation to give us a look into not only the daily life of a boy in Houston but an inside look at what every young boy was thinking at that time, that maybe, somehow, someway, they could fly to the moon also.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Apollo 10 1/2 Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

Indiefest: Gagarine (2020)   Youri (Alseni Bathily) has lived his whole life in the Gagarine Towers, a vast housing project on the outskirts of Paris. When Youri learns of plans to demolish his beloved Gagarine, he decides to take on a mission. With his friends to help, a mission that just might save his home. This is a beautiful and moving tale of a young man who his mother and the system have forgotten. Youri wants to protect the only place where he has been happy and feels loved. But the city wants to tear his beloved community apart, and he decides to stay behind, retreating into a world of creative fantasy, where Youri dreams of his apartment turning into a spaceship that will take him away from all the bad things that are happening in his life. Bathily is brilliant as the intelligent and likable Youri, who will do anything to stay in the only home he knows.   My Rating: Full Price   Gagarine Website  Now playing in select theatres.

Forgotten Film: Beautiful Dreamers (1990) PG-13 Dr. Maurice Bucke (Colm Feore) is the new superintendent of a Canadian insane asylum. Dr. Bucke believes in using compassion and understanding when dealing with his patients instead of treating them like caged animals. Dr. Bucke and his wife soon meet the writer Walt Whitman, who champions the young doctor’s ideas, but that has a price as the poet’s reputation could be a hindrance rather than a boost. The film is highlighted by a brilliant performance by Rip Torn as Walt Whitman, as he dominates every scene that he is in. Don’t be fooled by the horrible trailer; this is a beautiful film about a real, groundbreaking doctor who started to change how we think about mental illness.   My Rating: Full Price   Beautiful Dreamers Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Morbius: Graffiti Artist

Coming Soon to A Screen Near You: Firestarter (2022) Based on the Stephen King novel, a young girl has the ability to set things on fire with her mind. She is the result of a secret government experiment, and they want her back. The film was first made in 1984, starring a very young Drew Barrymore. It wasn’t a good film then, so will it be good this time around?    Firestarter Website

Until Next Time!