The Accountant 2

My View:  The Accountant 2  (2025)  R   Our favorite math wizard is back in The Accountant 2. Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a math savant who gets along better with numbers than people. He works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. This time, Christian is using his unique mind and a few illegal methods to find out who killed an old acquaintance. It’s going to get messy, so Christian has called in someone he hasn’t worked with in a long time, his brother Brax (Jon Bernthal). That’s if Brax takes his phone call. I enjoyed the first film, The Accountant (2016), in which I said, “I thought this film was highly entertaining with its unique and unlikely hero, an accountant who probably has Asperger’s Syndrome and is a highly trained killer.” I liked this film even more than the first one because of the comedic aspects of the pairing of the two brothers. The chemistry between Affleck and Bernthal is exceptional, and their timing is impeccable, highlighting their quirkiness, as both brothers are unique in how they perceive the world. The Accountant 2 is a perfect example of the buddy action film, where we have two actors who understand what their characters would do and react. A perfect example in the film is a bar scene where the two go out together to ‘get drunk’ and end up in a western bar with a live band and line dancing. It’s such a fun scene, made even better by seeing the reactions of Bernthal’s Brax as he watches his brother go dancing, impressing a girl, and pissing off a guy who thinks she’s his girl. It’s a great and hilarious scene that makes this film work so well. Also, giving the brothers more to play off of is the reappearance of Federal Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who enlists Christina to help her solve a killing and gets more than she bargains for having to work with the brothers, who tend to hit first and ask questions later (if that person is still alive). And for action fans, there is plenty of action packed scenes, with an incredible final battle scene to round out the film. It would help if you had seen the first film as we learned how Christian works and, better yet, how he sees the world. Still, you can have a great time watching this film if you haven’t seen the first one. You just won’t enjoy it as much as viewers who know the quirks of Christian. Just remember, don’t get him started explaining how to maximize your tax returns.  My Rating: Full Price  The Accountant 2 Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Until Dawn  (2025)   R    In Until Dawn, a group of friends visit an old visitor center, looking for clues as to why a relative vanished a year ago. Instead of discovering the mystery, they get trapped inside a time loop. They are chased and killed by mysterious foes, only to come back to life over and over. To escape their fates, the group must survive until dawn. Based on a popular video game, Until Dawn is all show and no story. Additionally, there are very few scares and I was bored halfway through. The characters are very two-dimensional, making them seem like they are part of the video game the film is based on, waiting for someone to move the joystick or push a jump button. We, the audience, figure out very early that these characters all have to survive in order for their deaths to stop. Unfortunately, they don’t figure this out until about halfway through all the dying. Other than a few jump-out-of-the-dark scares, this film isn’t scary at all, and I was disappointed that the film didn’t play with all the slasher killer icons that have shown up in this type of movie before. Instead, we get a few zombies, a clown killer, and other typical horror villains. Most deaths are not very original, and there is a repetitive style of death that I found more amusing than frightening. Apart from the lack of scares, my biggest problem was that I didn't care about any of the characters, who all seemed to only care about themselves. I pity the brave filmgoers who did the dusk-to-dawn marathon of Until Dawn. I can’t imagine seeing this film again, ever.   My Rating: Cable Until Dawn Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Legend of Ochi  (2025)   PG   The Legend of Ochi takes place on the island of Carpathia, where children are taught to not go outside after dark because of the dangerous and reclusive creatures known as the Ochi. When a girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) finds a lost and injured baby Ochi, she sets off on a journey to return the baby to its family. Let me say, right off the bat, that the visual look of this film is magical, and the puppetry is jaw-droppingly amazing. The film used a mix of puppetry, animatronics, computer animation, and matte painting to bring the Ochi to life, and the baby Ochi looks and acts incredibly real. The film is, at times, breathtaking, with wide shots of the magical island where the film takes place. Even the smallest things, like the caterpillars Yuri keeps in a terrarium, are full of color and life in almost every shot. The Legend of Ochi is a film that I think kids will enjoy much more than adults. While I loved the film's visuals, the plot is scattershot and requires us to fill in many blanks in the storyline. I also had a tough time understanding Helena Zengel’s dialogue, as she always seemed to talk in such low tones it was difficult to follow along. Still, her interaction with the baby Ochi is fun and heartwarming. The ending seems a little rushed, but I think kids will be enamored by the baby Ochi and the adventures Yuri and the baby go on. Plus, this could be a gateway film for children to those classics like The NeverEnding Story or The Dark Crystal. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Legend of Ochi Website Now playing in theaters. 

Indiefest:  On Swift Horses  (2024)   R   On Swift Horses begins when Muriel’s (Daisy Edgar-Jones) fiancé, Lee (Will Poulter) comes back from the Korean War, and are starting a new life in California. Their lives are uprooted when Lee’s brother, Julius (Jacob Elordi), shows up and starts causing problems. Julius is always in trouble, which causes Muriel and Lee to have more problems than they can handle. On Swift Horse is a film that looks beautiful but doesn’t pay enough attention to the storyline or its character to make this film’s plot match its cinematography. The film wastes a brilliant performance by Daisy Edgar-Jones, a woman who gets married but isn’t happy or fulfilled in the marriage. At first, horse race betting was her source of happiness, but then she met someone else and her world was transformed. On Swift Horses is the story of two people, Muriel, who got married but isn’t happy having the husband make the decisions and the money, and Julius, who is a gay man in the world of the 1950s where he has to hide who he is, while he lives for the big score from gambling that may never come. Watching the film, you never feel you know these characters and who they are. We only see them, especially in Muriel and Julius, in relationships that seem only about attraction and infatuation rather than genuine feelings that are never explored. This film is like the opening credits, where we see photographs showing us only the surface of what the camera captures, but we don’t know what went on before or after that picture is taken, so we only get what is on the surface, with no depth.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee  On Swift Horses Website   Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Havoc  (2025)  TV-MA  Havoc is about Walker (Tom Hardy), a hard-nosed detective who investigates a drug deal that went bad. Walker must fight his way through the criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son. Walker may have to take on the entire city, as the busted drug deal is part of a dark web of conspiracy and corruption. Havoc has been on action film fans' radar for quite a while, as the director/writer of the film, Gareth Evans, was responsible for two of the most incredible action films of the past 15 years, The Raid: Redemption (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014). Those films were a precursor to the John Wick series, with almost non-stop action, including some amazing close combat fighting scenes and it's taken over 4 years to get this film on the screen. So, in walks Tom Hardy, an actor I greatly admire, who looks like he could take on a Chinese mob and some crooked cops all by himself. The film starts off with a bang, as cops are chasing an 18-wheeler. This isn’t an Eddie Murphy movie, and people are getting seriously hurt in this chase that I wish I had seen on the big screen. It’s a thrilling start and shows us how high the stakes are in this film. Unfortunately, the plot and the dialogue get in the way of some incredibly violent and brilliant action sequences. Jessie Mei Li is wasted as a beat cop who somehow gets partnered with homicide detective Walker. The plot is messy, and the ending comes off as one big battle royale, where everyone shows up for the big shootout. As an action hero, Hardy carries the film, and his fights, especially one scene in a club, are right up there with some of the action sequences in the Raid movies. However, the film has too many twists and turns, most of which you can see coming, and too many characters feel as if they have come right out of a bad comic from the 60s. Action fans will have fun with all the fights/shootouts, and it’s entertaining to watch Hardy beat the crap out of the bad guys. But Havoc sometimes feels like what one of the characters, Mia (played by a very convincing action star in Quelin Sepulveda), does when she shoots someone. She shoots twenty rounds almost point-blank into a bad guy when one or two rounds would have done the trick.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Havoc Website  Now playing on Netflix.

Sorry I Missed It (A film that I didn’t see in theatres but have seen recently):   Grand Theft Hamlet  (2024)  R   Grand Theft Hamlet is a documentary about two struggling actors, Sam and Mark, who, during the 2021 Covid lockdown, decided to try to put on Hamlet inside the Grand Theft Auto Online game. I enjoyed the first half of this film when the two actors explored the idea, scouted locations, and casually met people who might want to either watch the production or be in it. I started losing some interest in the film as we got closer to the actual performance, as it’s a lot of talking about trivial things while watching game characters move in that strange back-and-forth that they do while waiting for commands. You get to see what I would call a ‘highlight reel’ of performing the play, but by that time, the novelty had worn off, and I was ready for the curtain call. In this case, the curtain call was an after-party at one of the games clubs. The concept of Grand Theft Hamlet is amusing, but it could have been a better short movie.To paraphrase a line from the play: “Alas, poor Hamlet! I knew him well.”  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Grand Theft Hamlet Website   Now available for rental on MUBI. 

Forgotten Film:  Basquiat  (1996)  R  The story of Jean Michel Basquiat (Jeffery Wright), an artist who went from going graffiti on the streets of New York City and living in a cardboard box to the toast of the NYC art world, where his work was sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Jeffery Wright is brilliant as an artist who saw the world differently and expressed it through his art. Sadly, Basquiat was a troubled and self-destructive soul who spent his years doing drugs, dying at age 28. The cast is outstanding, including an incredible performance by David Bowie as a friend of the famous artist Andy Warhol, who sees that Basquiat is a person who has immense talent but may burn out very quickly. Basquiat is a look at a troubled man whose talent was great, but what was greater was the trouble inside that man. My Rating: Full Price  Basquiat Info  The film is available to rent/buy on Amazon. It's just been announced that this film is going to be part of the Criterion Collection! Basquiat Criterion Info Here 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of The Legend of Ochi:  Primate Choreographer 

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: The Life of Chuck  (2024)  R  I am going to quote IMDB, “A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King’s novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.” This is a film from the mind of Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) and is based on a Stephen King short story. The cast includes Tom Hiddleston, Mia Sara, Karen Gillan, Nick Offerman, Carla Gugino, Molly C. Quinn, Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill.  The Life of Chuck Website  The film opens in theaters on Friday, June 6, 2025. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

My View:  Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore  (2022) PG-13   Professor Dumbledore (Jude Law) has entrusted Newt (Eddie Redmayne) to lead a team of wizards, witches, and one brave Muggle baker to go on a dangerous mission to stop the powerful Dark wizard Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) from seizing control of the wizarding world. Newt and his team will encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s legion of followers to save the world. The question is, just how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines? So this is the third (and possibly final) film in the Fantastic Beasts series. I enjoyed the first film but didn’t like the 2nd one, finding it confusing and lacking the wonder and fun of the first film. I am also not a fan of Johnny Depp, who, after a stellar career early on, has become someone who mails in his performances and brings a campiness to films that don’t need it. I’m happy to say that for this third installment, Depp has been replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the role of Grindelwald, the villain of the story. Mikkelsen gives a much more restrained version of Grindelwald and makes the villain more menacing than Depp’s cartoonish interpretation. That being said, while I enjoyed this film much more than the 2nd installment, it is very evident that J.K. Rowling, who wrote the script of the first two films and the Harry Potter books, is making this film about the politics of the last ten years and the film suffers for it. I also had trouble with the fact that Porpentina ‘Tina’ (Katherine Waterston), the love interest of Newt and his main supporter in the previous two films, is barely in this film, with almost no explanation. Now, all that being said, I still enjoyed the movie, primarily because of Eddie Redmayne’s performance as Newt, who has this wonderful screen presence, making Newt someone who sees the wonder in the world and wants to protect these fantastic, magical creatures. Also, the film is helped by Dan Fogler, as the love-lorn Jacob Kowalski, the Muggle baker who, with his good nature and humor, helps the team in sticky situations, all the while morning that his beloved Queenie has gone to the bad side. It is rumored that there will only be more Fantastic Beasts films if this one does well at the box office. I’m ok, either way, as this is a fine ending to the Fantastic Beasts saga.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Fantastic Beasts Website  Now playing in theatres nationwide.

My View: Father Stu  (2022) R  Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) has been a boxer and a wannabe actor, constantly failing and getting into trouble. After a near-fatal accident, Stu decides to become a priest. Along the way, Stu will be given many more obstacles to overcome along his journey from self-destruction to redemption. Father Stu is one of those films whose heart is in the right place but can’t deliver the power or emotional impact that this film sorely needs. It is very evident that Wahlberg put a lot into the role of Stuart, and it has come out that Mark also put a lot of his own money into the film. I wish that passion made it to the screen. The film moves along at a barreling pace, packing Stuart's life into a series of ups and downs (mostly downs), including getting drunk a lot and getting arrested even more. The film wants us to love Stuart, but it’s hard even to like the guy, as we wonder what Carmen (played by the fantastic Teresa Ruiz) sees in him, as Stuart clumsily romances a woman who will only consider dating Stuart if he becomes Catholic. The film is helped by an outstanding supporting cast, including Jacki Weaver as Stuart's long-suffering mother and Mel Gibson as Stu’s not-so-loving deadbeat father. The film is based on a true story, and I wish that Stuart’s remarkable transformation from a troubled young man into an inspirational priest was made into a better, more nuanced movie. But instead, we get a predictable film that never captures the magic of what the real Stuart must have been like.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Father Stu Website  Now playing in theatres nationwide.

My View: Choose or Die (2022)   Down on her luck, coder Kayla (Iola Evans) finds a mysterious 1980s video game that has the possibility of having unclaimed prize money. Straightaway, Kayla, with the help of a fellow coder, Isaac (Asa Butterfield), fire up the game, and they step into a surreal world of next-level terror where the game brings pain and death to reality. I think that people who will enjoy this film are the older viewers who remember the early years of computer gaming, where you used a cassette tape and a monochrome monitor to play games that mostly asked you questions like ‘Do you want to go left or right?’. Otherwise, this film is a pretty ordinary horror film where the characters are forced to choose one bad choice versus another bad choice. Like a lot of horror films of the past ten years or so, this is another in a long line of horror films where the hero of the film must make hard choices, often where the hero must decide who dies while trying to figure out how to get the game to stop. While not a horrible film, Choose or Die doesn’t bring much to the horror table other than an initial nostalgic look at a gaming past that kind of sucked.   My Rating: Cable    Choose or Die Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest: Dual   (2022) R   Sarah (Karen Gillan) has been given a terminal diagnosis and has opted for a cloning procedure. After the procedure is done, Sarah finds out that she isn’t dying. Consequently, Sarah tries to have her clone decommissioned, only to be told by a court that she will be dueling her clone to the death in one year. This is a strange little film about a woman who doesn’t seem to care that she is dying until she realizes her replacement double is a better version of herself and that even her mother likes her more than the real Sarah. This is a dark comedy that doesn’t always work, a film that skims the line too much between being deadpan and outlandish. I am a fan of Karen Gillan, especially her work on Doctor Who, but the film seems to have lost that Gillan can play with her roles, making them seem fun and energetic. Gillan’s Sarah is lost in restraint, and that makes this film feels slow and dull, even in a quite funny sequence where Sarah’s ‘duel’ trainer, played by Aaron Paul, tries out ‘killing dancing’ with Sarah as another way Sarah can attack her double in the upcoming duel. I never could get into this film where the main character was so dull, even when she wasn’t supposed to be.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    Dual Website   Now playing in select theatres.

Forgotten Film: House of Sand And Fog   (2003)  R  Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) is a woman whose life is slowly crumbling around her. She is a woman who has had a drinking problem in the past, her husband has left her, and now, her family home has been taken away from her. Behrani (Ben Kingsley) is a man who once was successful in his home country of Iran but now works two jobs to support his family here in America. He buys Kathy’s house in an auction hoping that his fortunes have turned around. Instead, the two people are on a collision course that could destroy both their lives. House of Sand and Fog is a film where the two main characters are both right, and that’s the problem. One or both most lose in this game. Jennifer Connelly gives a brilliant performance as the troubled woman who sees Behrani as the enemy, someone who has taken her life from her. As only he can, Kingsley gives us a man who is full of grace until he is pushed to the edge and his family is threatened. House of Sand and Fog is a film that will stay with you and make you wonder who was right and who was wrong.   My Rating: Full Price    House of Sand and Fog Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Animal Coordinator

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Top Gun: Maverick  (2022) PG-13  Maverick (Tom Cruise) has for 30 years served his country but has done it his way, as one of the Navy’s top aviators, pushing the envelope as a test pilot. Maverick has been able to dodge the advancement in rank that would ground him until now. Maverick is back where he started, and he is still flying by the air tower, rank be damned. Finally, we get a film that has been pushed back due to COVID for what seems like forever. Can Tom capture the magic again? We all will be there to see it.   Top Gun Website

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Note to readers: I have started going to movies in the theaters, having received my two shots and passed the two-week standby period, wearing a mask at all times and following social distancing. Most of the films I am reviewing are still movies that I watched at home, but I will note in the review if I saw them in a theatre. I am not going to tell you whether or not to attend a theatre. Just be aware of the risks, do your research, and follow the instructions to the letter.


Familyfaire:  Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) PG   The son of famed basketball player LeBron James has been kidnapped by a rogue artificial intelligence. Now LeBron must join forces with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang to win a basketball game to get LeBron’s son back. I am a huge fan of the Looney Tunes crowd, having grown up watching them after-school and on those glorious Saturday mornings. While I am not a fan of the basketball player, I did quite enjoy his performance as the best friend of Bill Hader’s character in Trainwreck. I am not a fan of the original Space Jam, though I understand that it is probably one of your favorites if you saw the film as a child. Warner Brothers has been trying to a sequel to the original for 25 years, but they couldn’t get Michael Jordan to do the green screen again, and other attempts like Spy Jam with Jackie Chan or Race Jam with Jeff Gorden or Football Jam with Tim Tebow all fell through. Unfortunately, this one didn’t fall through, and we got almost two hours of a very boring film that doesn’t have any of the enchantment or humor of those classic Bugs Bunny cartoons. And how much of an ego boost does James need for us to go through what seemed like a ten-minute highlight reel of his career. Instead of space, we go into cyberspace, where a rogue AI played by Don Cheadle plans to take over the world or something (it never was quite clear what his plan was) and challenges James to a basketball game. It takes an incredibly long time to get to the game, so much so that you almost forget that there will be one. The film is full of sad ripoffs of classic cartoons, and the kids that I saw the film with were more interested in figuring out all the Warner Brother characters that were in the crowd of the basketball game (like the Penguin and the weird guys from Mad Max: Fury Road) than in the movie itself. By the end of the film, I didn’t care who won or why; I just wanted someone to say ˜That’s All Folks’ (it does happen, and it’s just as disappointing as the rest of the film). I did see this film in the theatre, but the animation was dull and not worth the trouble of seeing it on a big screen.   My Rating: Cable    Space Jam: A New Legacy Website  Now playing in theatres and on the HBO Max platform.

Indiefest:  Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021) R    A documentary about the legendary chef, writer, and TV host Anthony Bourdain, who traveled across the world searching for great food and exciting cultures after publishing his groundbreaking book Kitchen Confidential made him a worldwide star. The problem with documentaries is you know how they are going to end, and we all know that Bourdain killed himself. I didn’t know too much about Bourdain’s later personal life, just from what he lets us see (which was a lot) in his groundbreaking book Kitchen Confidential that blew the lid off what had been sacred grounds of the upper-crust kitchens of some of the most famous resturants in the world. The film uses a lot of behind-the-scenes footage from his TV series and interviews that he did once he became a media darling with his book. The film does a great job of letting us know what it was to be around the man through interviews with the people that were closest to him, including his two wives, his production crew (some of which were with him almost throughout his TV career) and chefs from around the world, all of whom loved and admired this man and his talent. The first two-thirds of the film is fun and is thrilling to watch this man who had a knack for words find his voice. The film's final third is hard to watch, as he struggled with fame and success, never quite finding happiness and always on the road to find it. I was not too fond of the fact that the film demonizes Bourdain's last girlfriend, Italian actress Asia Argento, who was not interviewed for the film and was made to look like she was a significant contributing factor to his death. Fans of Bourdain will enjoy that behind-the-scenes footage, and all the stories told about him. Still, his leaving behind so many people who loved him and a child he had with his second wife just is such a sad way to end a glorious life, one which brought so much happiness to the world but couldn’t ultimately bring Bourdain that same happiness.    My Rating: Full Price    Roadrunner Website  Now playing in select theatres.

Indiefest:   Pig (2021)   R   A famous truffle hunter, Rob (Nicolas Cage), lives alone out in the Oregonian wilderness, isolated from the world he left behind many years ago. When he is brutally attacked and his prized truffle hunting pig is kidnapped, Rob returns to his past in Portland in search for her and the people responsible. I know that in the past ten years, Nicolas Cage has made some strange films, sometimes horrible (Left Behind), sometimes wonderfully weird (Mandy), and sometimes just plain bizarre (Willy’s Wonderland). Cage doesn’t always make the right choices, but he can bring us some fantastic, low-key performances that few other actors out there can deliver. Pig is one of those magical Cage performances, and he is perfect for the part of a man haunted by his past who has escaped the world to live in the wilderness with his truffle-hunting pig. Now, don’t expect another John Wick or Taken thought there is some rather brutal violence in it; this is more about a man who is on a quest to find his best friend, his pig. This is one of Cage’s best performances letting his body language tell most of the story. Cage’s low-key, almost non-verbal performance plays perfectly off of Alex Wolff’s performance of Amir, the high-strung truffle broker who becomes Rob's unwilling sidekick and chauffeur. Pig is one of those films that I feel will get better with another viewing, letting you soak in this strange man who has one task, to find his pig. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again    Pig Website    Now playing in select theatres.

My View:  Fear Street Part Three: 1666  (2021)   R   We go back to the origins of all the problems to see how the curse of Sarah Fier started, which changed the lives of Shadysiders forever. These days, it is rare to see a terrific horror film, but it's almost a miracle to see three in a row. All three films are creatively connected with the last taking place in the year 1666 when we see the origin of the Fear Street story and how Sarah Fier started her horrible curse. The film uses the actors from the first two films to supply the characters in this one set in the past. Kiana Madeira, who played Deena in the first two films, portrays Sarah Fier, a brash but well-liked woman who lives in a small settlement with her brother and widowed father. She gets into trouble due to her relationship with Hannah (Olivia Scott Welch), and when things start going badly in the settlement (i.e., fruit rotting, pigs eating their young, etc.), she and Hannah are accused of being witches. I don't want to give too much away, but everything that has happened in the first two Fear Street films are connected to this event. The conclusion is one of the best horror film’s endings I have seen in a long time, and yes, there could be more. The cool thing about this film series is you don't have to wait years for it to play out; you can binge-watch it in an afternoon and have a scary good time.   My Rating: Full Price     Fear Street Part Three: 1666 Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest:  Summertime (2020) R   The story of what it's like to live in present-day Los Angeles as told by 27 young people over the course of a single day. This is a beautiful homage to a city from the hearts and minds of the people that live in it. Taken from a poetry workshop, the film interweaves the lives of these young people as they tell their stories through rap, spoken word, songs, dance and poetry. All the actors in the movie are the writers of each of their pieces, which makes the performances feel so heartfelt and genuine as they express their hopes, dreams, and hardships living in such a big and diverse city. The film is fun to watch, imaginative in how it intertwines their lives with each other, and perfectly captures the mixed feelings of being young while dealing with what life brings in front of you.    My Rating: Full Price    Summertime Website   Now playing in select theatres.

My View:  Gunpowder Milkshake  (2021)  R   Sam (Karen Gillan) was only 12 years old when her mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey), was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by the crime syndicate that her mother worked for and was trained to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Now, Sam has chosen to cross the syndicate to save an innocent eight-year-old girl (Chloe Coleman) and must find her mother and her lethal associates to help her take down the syndicate known as The Firm. Any film with Karen Gillan and Lena Headey as mother/daughter assassins is worth watching but add in a cast that includes Caral Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, and Angela Bassett, and it's a sure bet I’m turning on the computer to see this one. The best way I can describe this film is John Wick with a sense of humor, and the women do all the butt-kicking. Karen Gillan is perfect as the deadpanned Sam who decides to protect the little girl who has a contract out on her head. Lena Headey is hilarious as the mother who thought it was a good idea to leave her teenager behind with a group of assassins to raise her. The action sequences are fun, well done, and are so filled with action that it may take a couple more viewings to take it all in. So go on a killing spree with Sam and her mother but just don’t call Sam a serial killer…¦she is just an assassin for hire with a love for guns, nothing more.   My Rating: Full Price    Gunpowder Milkshake Website   Now playing on the Netflix platform.

Forgotten Film:   The Guns of Navarone (1961)  G   When I was a kid, I loved the books written by Alistair MacLean. They were adventure books full of intrigue and high stakes, with a stoic hero leading a team into an impossible situation that was sure to fail, but our hero would somehow, someway succeed and save the day. MacLean wrote a bunch of these books, and many went on to be films, including billionaire recluse's favorite film Ice Station Zebra. The best of the bunch is The Guns of Navarone, about a team of allied saboteurs assigned the impossible task of infiltrating a Nazi-held island and destroying two enormous guns that are keeping 2,000 soldiers from escaping a nearby outpost. The cast is a who’s who of 1960s stars, including Gregory Peck as the leader of the force, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, James Darren, Anthony Quayle, and Richard Harris, who chews up scenery like no one can. The film is a blast to watch and is full of well-made action sequences with an ending that can’t be missed.   My Rating: Full Price     The Guns of Navarone Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Pig: 'Pig' Understudy

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:   Ride the Eagle (2021)   Leif (Jake Johnson) is left a picturesque Yosemite cabin he inherits from his estranged mother. Her only condition is that he has to complete a to-do list that she has compiled to teach him some lessons about life. Jake Johnson is one of my favorite actors, and I can’t wait to see this film that he co-wrote. It doesn’t hurt that the cast includes J.K Simmons, Susan Sarandon, and D’Acry Carden.   Ride the Eagle Info

Until Next Time!

Jumanji: The Next Level

My View: Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) PG-13   The gang (Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan) is back, and this time it’s a rescue mission. In order to escape the most dangerous game, they will have to go into an unknown country full of arid deserts and snowy mountains. While not quite as fun and inventive as the first film in this series, it’s still a thrilling and hilarious ride. The same characters are back, but there is a twist (quite a good one) that lets everyone in the cast have a blast. I don’t want to give away who or what Awkwafina plays in the film, but as with everything she is in, she steals the film from the regular cast. If you enjoyed the first film or even the original Jumanji that starred Robin Williams, I think you will have a great time on this adventure.   My Rating: Full Price    Jumanji: The Next Level Webpage

My View: Richard Jewell (2019) R   A security guard Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) is initially hailed a hero when he saves thousands from an exploding bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Soon the FBI and the press believe that Richard is not a hero but the bomber himself. Clint Eastwood, in the last ten years, has had somewhat up and down success with the movies he has directed. There were a couple of winners with The Mule (2018) and American Sniper (2014), but too often his films lately have felt like Eastwood has just been going through the motions, like the horrible Jersey Boys (2014) and the boring The 15:17 to Paris (2018). While not the quality of Eastwood's earlier work like Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) or Million Dollar Baby (2004), Richard Jewell is still a good film with some outstanding performances. Paul Walter Hauser does an exceptional job as Jewell, a man who wanted so badly to be a law enforcement officer who when given chances to become one, blew it by being overzealous in his methods. Kathy Bates is almost sure to get a supporting actress nomination for her portrayal of Richard’s mother, a woman who always believed her son was a hero. For me, the actor that hit it out of the park was Sam Rockwell, as Jewell’s attorney, a crusty lawyer who sees that Richard is the victim of a system looking for a quick villain to prosecute. My one problem with the film is the two characters that are instrumental with Richard being persecuted; Olivia Wilde’s reporter character, who will go as far as to sleep with someone for inside information and Jon Hamm, playing the lead FBI agent who is willing to give her that information. Both characters feel like something out of a bad daytime soap opera and bring the story down quite a bit. These two characters lessen the film’s impact, but the film still has the performances of Hauser, Bates, and Rockwell to keep it upright.   My Rating: Full Price     Richard Jewell Facebook Page

My View: The Two Popes (2019) PG-13   The conservative Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins) reign is plagued by a corruption scandal. He invites the liberal and future Pope Francis Jonathan Pryce) to the Vatican to discuss life and try to find common ground. Watching the two actors in Hopkins and Pryce work on the screen together is a joy. The two actors are let down by a second half of the film that can’t match the quality or charm of the first half of the film when we get to know the two men. The second half feels a little too much like a stage play and at times, becomes slightly boring. I did enjoy the back and forth of the two characters as they slowly find common ground and while each man may not agree with the other, they can, by the end of the film, acknowledge that the other man has made some good points for his side of their outlook on the Catholic church and its traditions.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee     The Two Popes Website

My View: Black Christmas (2019) PG-13   A group of female students are stalked by a stranger during their Christmas break, only to learn that the killer is part of an underground college conspiracy. Well, we are close to the end of the year, and I have to say, this film could have just made it to the top of the worst films of 2019. With a plot that makes no sense and dialogue that had to written by an Autobot, this film seems twice as long as its 93 minutes run time. There is a plot twist so out of left field that it took me a full five minutes to make sense of what happened. There is a reason that this movie was not screened ahead of time to film critics, because it is rotten. There is a short bonus scene at the end of the initial credits at the end but its not worth staying for.    My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again     Black Christmas Website

Forgotten Film:  Son of Rambow (2007) PG-13   The story of two unlikely friends; Will (Bill Milner), a young boy who loves cartooning, inventing things and 80s action movies and Lee (Will Poulter) whose life is strictly limited due to his family’s religious beliefs. The two boys bond over the Rambo film First Blood and they decide to film their own Rambo movie. The making of the movie will involve stealing a guide dog, setting off their school’s fire alarm, and almost getting run over by a Jeep. Both boys have home lives that are less than ideal and use the movie making to escape into a world of their own creation. While the storyline is a little weak, the chemistry between the two boys is off the charts, and the fun that they have creating their movie is infectious. Let’s hope that Will and Lee went on to make many more films.    My Take: Full Price     Son of Rambow Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Jumanji: The Next Level: Greens Coordinator

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: The Way Back (2020)   A former high school basketball star (Ben Affleck) is struggling to overcome his alcoholism and is offered a job to coach at his alma mater. When his team starts on a winning stream, his old demons resurface to try to stop his road to redemption. This film seems right up in Affleck’s wheelhouse, though the trailer leaves me a little worried that it might be just a little sappy.      The Way Back Website

Until Next Time!

I Feel Pretty

My View:  I Feel Pretty  (2018)  PG-13  A woman (Amy Schumer) who works in a crappy job and is insecure, has an accident and hits her head. When she awakens, she believes she is the most beautiful and capable woman on the planet. She begins to live her life fearlessly and to the fullest. I adored this film, and it’s very evident that the whole cast had a blast making it. I loved the chemistry of the cast, especially between Schumer and Aidy Bryant/Busy Philipps who play Schumer’s character’s best friends. I also enjoyed the character that Rory Scovel played. He is Schumer’s love interest, and he plays a very unconventional boyfriend who loves Zumba and coordinates his outfits. Schumer is brilliant in the role, as she has to play her character in two different directions. The dialogue is witty and fun, and there are some barrel laugh scenes that are so entertaining.  My Rating:  Full Price   I Feel Pretty Website

In Case You Missed It (A movie just released on DVD/BluRay): The Circle  (2017)  PG-13  A young tech worker, Mae (Emma Watson), gets a job at a powerful internet company and quickly makes her mark in the business.  She learns that her company is involved with getting and keeping information on everyone, information that could be used to hurt her friends, family and even threaten the future of humanity. This is a dull film that never creates the tension that it needs to make us care about what happens to Mae. Emma Watson has to play a character that shows some smarts by how quickly she understands her job but is also so gullible that it becomes laughable.  Then we are supposed to believe that she can pull off what happens at the end of the film. Tom Hanks basically plays Steve Jobs but appears nicer. Karen Gillan is wasted as Mae’s best friend who gets her the job, as she almost sleepwalks through her role. This is a film where main characters just disappear for stretches, making the film appear it needs one or two more rewrites. Co-writer/director James Ponsoldt is one of my favorite directors out there (my love of his The Spectacular Now is well known), but he really misses the mark in this movie.  My Rating: Cable    The Circle Website

In Memory of Ed Wood (A Movie I've Only Seen in Trailers But Just Looks Like a Bad Idea):  Overboard (2018)  PG-13  A spoiled, wealthy yacht owner (Eugenio Derbez) mistreats a carpet cleaner (Anna Faris). There is an accident, and the yacht owner falls overboard, on the way hitting his head. When he becomes conscious, he doesn’t remember who he is, and the carpet cleaner tells him that he is her husband. This is a remake of a bad Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell comedy, and the trailer for this one makes it look worse than the original.   Overboard Website

Forgotten Film:  Prozac Nation  (2001) R A young woman’s (Christina Ricci) world starts unraveling as she struggles with depression in her first year at Harvard. Ricci is spectacular as Elizabeth, a woman whose best-laid plans are falling apart right in front of her eyes. The supporting cast is magnificent, especially Michelle Williams, who plays the put-upon roommate. The film has a few faults, like an ending that wraps up everything too quickly, but it’s worth seeing for Ricci’s and Williams’ performances.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee   Prozac Nation Info

Weird Credits:  From the cast of I Feel Pretty: Visual Effects Supervisor: Duderama

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You:  The Rider (2017) R  After suffering a near-fatal injury in a rodeo and doctors telling him he should never ride again, a young cowboy (Brady Jandreau) has to figure out a new direction for his life. The film is stacking up awards, and film critics are saying this could be one of the best films of the year.   The Rider Info 

Until Next Time!