A Minecraft Movie

My View:  A Minecraft Movie  (2025)  PG   In A Minecraft Movie, four misfits suddenly find themselves pulled through a mysterious portal, landing in a strange, cubic world that thrives on creativity and imagination. To return home, they will need help from a peculiar resident, Steve (Jack Black), to master this bizarre world. I am not a gamer, and I only have knowledge of Minecraft from advertisements and Twitter/X. Having seen this film, I have no clue what Minecraft is or what the game is like. All I know is that I had to endure three songs sung by Jack Black and a plot that probably only makes sense to a six-year-old who has played the game their whole life (ok, maybe their last year or so). For a world that constantly talks about imagination, very little was applied when writing the script. My father, the playwright, always said avoid films with more than two writers, more means the script had troubles. This one had five. I get that the four humans that have been sent to the Minecraft world want to get back, but I have no idea why anyone else would want to be a part of this world like Steve. I am guessing kids will enjoy all the battles and the weird animals, but adults will be bored and looking at their watches to see when this film will end. And what was Jennifer Coolidge's role (she plays a school vice president) in the plot? It's such a throwaway part that has so much wasted screen time.  So many questions and so little desire to know any of the answers. And yes, there is a bonus scene at the end of all the credits that, I guess, sets up the next film. I am guessing gamers will know why that scene is worth waiting for. I certainly don't. My Rating: Cable  A Minecraft Movie Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide. 

My View:  Hell of a Summer  (2024) R  Hell of a Summer follows 24-year-old camp counselor Jason (Fred Hechinger) getting ready for his summer at Camp Pineway; he thinks his biggest challenge will be connecting with his teenage co-workers. Little does Jason know that will be the least of his worries as there is a masked killer on the campgrounds, and counselors are dying off one by one. Hell of a Summer is a take on the slasher films of the 70s and 80s, with a group of camp counselors being killed one by one by a mysterious killer. I had fun watching this film, especially the performance of Fred Hechinger, who plays a man who loves summer camp so much that he can’t seem to let it go, even in his mid-20s. Hechinger is hilarious in the role of someone who desperately wants to fit in, but try as hard as he does, he can’t seem to do or say the right thing. Written and directed by two of the cast, Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard, who are funny as best friends who continually screw up but somehow stay alive, at least for a while. The story goes on a little too long, the killer is pretty easy to figure out, and the film goes for humor much more than scares, something that it could use to keep the film moving along. Still, the cast has a great time, and the film ends on a funny and very bloody note. So, if you are in the mood for revisiting those summer camps where not everyone came back alive, then pack your duffle bag, sunscreen, and maybe a knife or two and join the gang around the campfire. Don't be alarmed if a few people don't show up for the weenie roast.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Hell of a Summer Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Friend  (2024) R  Iris (Naomi Watts) is a writer whose life is falling apart. She isn’t happy with her students, her latest writing project isn’t going anywhere, and her best friend and mentor, a fellow writer, Walter (Bill Murray), has just committed suicide. Then Iris finds out that Walter has left his dog, a Great Dane named Apollo, to Iris. Apollo is going to change Iris’s life, even if she doesn’t want it changed. Naomi Watts continues to prove that she is among the best actresses out there. Watts gives a virtuoso performance of a writer dealing with her best friend’s death while trying to teach students who are too involved in themselves. To top it off, she is struggling to put together a book of Walter’s letters, and now, she has a giant dog to care for in an apartment that just might kick her out because of their no-pets policy. The Friend is a film about dealing with grief and how pets can help us heal. Bing, the Great Dane that plays Apollo, is perfect in the role, as Apollo is grieving too, and it takes Iris a while to figure this out. What I love about this film is that Apollo is exactly what Iris needs, and Iris is exactly what Apollo needs, too. Two fellow beings are trying to figure out how to go on and realize that they can do it if they lean on each other. So, hang out with Iris and her buddy Apollo as they go on this journey together. You won’t be sorry you did.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  The Friend Website  Now playing in theaters.  

My View:  Freaky Tales  (2024) R   Freaky Tales is a collection of four interconnected stories that takes place in Oakland in 1987. You will meet punk rockers, Nazi skinheads, female rappers, shakedown artists, and even Gold State Warrior legend Sleepy Floyd as he battles a crime lord. Freaky Tales is a fun ride that has trouble at times keeping the stories moving and their connection to each other is flimsy at best, but if you like the films of the 80s with a splash of exploration films of the 70s, then this is a film for you. The battle sequences, and there are quite a few, are bloody messes done with a tongue-in-cheek flair for slow-motion. There is a story for everyone, including punk rockers deciding to take on Nazi skinheads, a rap duo who get their big break, an enforcer who wants to retire, and then there is a basketball star who grabs a few samurai swords to take revenge. So, just go on a ride to 1980s Oakland and have fun with a few tales that may involve some magic and lots of blood spilled. Make sure to stay through the first part of the credits for a bit of a bonus scene or two.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Freaky Tales Website  Now playing in theaters.

My View:  A Nice Indian Boy  (2024)   A Nice Indian Boy is about Naveen (Karan Soni), a doctor who dreams of having a big wedding like his sister (Sunita Mani), but he can’t meet the right guy. It’s love at first sight when a photographer named Jay (Jonathan Groff) enters Naveen’s life. Now, if Naveen can get his traditional Indian family to accept this white boyfriend, maybe, just maybe, he can get the wedding he has always wanted. A Nice Indian Boy is a funny, warm, and uplifting rom-com that explores what happens when you fall in love with someone who meets everything you need in a person, but one thing: your family won’t approve of them. I loved the romance between Karan Soni’s Naveen, a man who thinks he will never find love, and Jonathan Groff’s Jay, who fits everything that Naveen is looking for, except that he is not of Indian descent. Naveen is convinced that he will never get the wedding he wants, and that life isn’t like those Bollywood musicals, with couples singing and dancing to express their love. Jay is a man who thinks it’s possible to have it all and wants it to be with Naveen. But can they overcome Naveen's family and their cultural norms? You will just have to stay to the end to find out. My Rating: Full Price  A Nice Indian Boy Website   Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Luckiest Man in America  (2024)  R  The Luckiest Man in America is about Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser), an unemployed ice cream truck driver who, in 1984, went on the game show Press Your Luck and won a ton of money. However, Michael had a secret: he knew there was a flaw in the game show and how to exploit it to his advantage.  Review will be posted Friday night.  The Luckiest Man in America Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Forgotten Film:  Real Genius (1985)  PG  A teenage prodigy, Mitch (Gabriel Jarret), is thrust into the world of college as he enters a top engineering school. His roommate, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), used to be the smartest kid in the school until Mitch got there. Now, Mitch must perform under the pressure of a professor (William Atherton) who has put Mitch in charge of a top-secret project that involves lasers. Mitch will soon learn from Chris that life is more than school and work. It's about living in the moment and having fun. Real Genius is one of my favorite films of the 80s, and Val Kilmer is brilliant as the incredibly cool and funny Chris, who has a quip for every moment and is all about trying to have fun every waking moment. The supporting cast is amazing, and I love all the characters in this film. The film has one of my favorite lines from a movie, said by a huge crush of mine, Deborah Foreman. It's I line I can't print because this is a family review, but I die every time she says it to Val Kilmer's character. This is one film I can watch over and over again. Plus, it has one of the great final scenes of a movie.  My Rating: Full Price   Real Genius Info  The film is available on DVD/Blue Ray. 

 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Hell of a Summer:  Mask Fabricator

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: Sinners  (2025)  R  Trying to leave their troubled past behind, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown and open a dance hall. They soon discover that their hometown has changed, and a greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. Written and directed by two-time Oscar-nominated Ryan Coogler (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Judas and the Black Messiah) and starring Michael B. Jordan in a duel role, this is one of the films on everyone’s must-see list.  Sinners Website The film will be in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 18, 2025. 

Until Next Time!

A Working Man

My View:  A Working Man  (2025)  R   A Working Man is about Levon Cade (Jason Statham), who left his former profession to work a simple construction job and care for his daughter. Levon uses his skills as a former legendary figure in the world of black ops when his boss’s teenage daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas), disappears. Levon discovers his search for the missing college student will lead him to a sinister criminal conspiracy. So why, if you do, do you go to Jason Statham films? It’s for the body count and the action sequences where Jason does what he does so well. Beat the crap out of bad people who deserve what Jason deals out. While not as much fun as Statham’s last film, The Bee Keeper (2024), the film still has plenty of fight sequences where Jason, as the former special ops Levon, fights what is an amazing amount of tough guys, along with a few women as well (he is an equal opportunity fighter). Sylvester Stallone co-wrote the film, and it has Sly’s ham-fisted paws all over it, including the Russian mob (including two brothers in matching tracksuits), a biker gang drug dealer who sits on a motorcycle throne, a millionaire who gets his outfits at a theatrical costume rental place, and a couple who I never could figure out if they were brother and sister or married. Add in a plot that involves kidnapping young women so rich guys can have their fun with them and a couple of cops on the take, and you have everyone for Levon to beat up or kill. Oh, yeah, and add in an ex-soldier buddy (played with gusto by Harbour), who, while blind (he was rescued in a battle by Levon), has a stockpile of weapons and military gear. While we are at it, the plot also involves Levon being a single dad battling for custody of his little girl (Isla Gie) with his late wife’s father and this one bad guy he can’t beat up because of, darn it, lawyers. I really enjoyed the idea that the kidnapped daughter, Jenny, isn't just a woman who needs to be rescued. Jenny, played with a bit of bravado by Arianna Rivas, is a Renaissance woman who can play the piano but also knows karate and fights back at every chance. The final fight sequence has to be seen to be believed (think Stallone throwing the kitchen sink of bad guys at the script he was writing), and just when you think it’s over, more stuff happens, and Levon’s kill count goes on and on. A Working Man ends with a few loose ends, with a few bad guys ploting revend, so a sequel is probably in the works. I would love to see Rivas and Statham team up in A Working Man 2, with Levon taking on Jenny as a sidekick to take on more of the world’s Russian mobs and biker gangs. Maybe Sly can write a part for himself in the next one. How about a retired Marion Cobretti from Cobra or Ray Quick from The Specialist? I’m game if you are Sly.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  A Working Man Website Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Woman in the Yard  (2025)  PG-13  In The Woman in the Yard, a mysterious woman dressed in black repeatedly appears in Ramona’s (Danielle Deadwyler) yard. No one knows who she is, but when confronted, she has a chilling message for the inhabitants of the house. One of the rules (at least in my mind) in horror films is that you have to have somebody to root for, even if it's the bad guy. The Woman in the Yard is a film that I didn't want anyone to win. I disliked Ramona, her kids, and the stupid woman sitting in black in the yard. We are supposed to feel sorry for Ramona because she is getting over the loss of her husband in a car accident. However, she treats her kids horribly, especially her teenage son, who is keeping the house going while Ramona can barely function. Don't get me started on how she treats the dog when the house is under threat. I loved how her character can barely move around with crutches because of some sort of knee surgery, but later on in the film, she is able to get around fine without the crutches. The film never finds a pace that creates any tension, except for the tension Ramona creates between herself and her kids. The film moves at a snail's pace, and what few scares are mostly in the final act, which is incredibly disappointing in its attempt to scare us. The Woman in the Yard should have just stayed there, or maybe next time, she should bring a few friends to help scare up a few more frights.  My Rating: Cable   A Woman in the Yard Website Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Death of a Unicorn  (2025)  R  Death of a Unicorn is about a father (Paul Rudd), along with his daughter (Jenna Ortega) who visit his billionaire boss on a retreat which is on a wildlife preserve. During their stay, they come across a sight they never imagined was alive: a unicorn. At the retreat, there are those who wish to destroy it and those who wish to preserve it. No one knows how much danger each one of them is in. Death of a Unicorn is a horror/comedy that never quite works as a comedy, a horror film, or a satire of the rich, despite its impressive and game for anything cast. I did like the father/daughter dynamic between Rudd and Ortega. They have a nice chemistry between them. Rudd plays a dad who is desperate to impress an ultra-wealthy family so that he can ensure his financial success, and he is willing to go along with just about everything the family wants him to. Ortega portrays the rebellious teen who doesn't want to be used as a prop by her father for the wealthy's approval. Ortega, playing the only character who not only has a conscience but also is aware that they are in danger, gives her all in the role. The rest of the cast isn’t given enough leeway to make the film broader in the satire aspect, making the film never reach any level of humor or parody that the movie desperately needs. There are a few funny scenes, mainly involving some rather gruesome deaths, but the film feels much longer than its hour and forty-five-minute run time. Death of a Unicorn asks if you believe in unicorns. What it really should have asked for was a better script.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Death of a Unicorn Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Holland  (2025)  R  In Holland, Nancy Vandergroot (Nicole Kidman) is living a perfect life in Holland, Michigan, with her husband Fred (Matthew Macfadyen) and son, Harry (Jude Hill). However, Nancy suspects something is wrong in Holland and that it might be her husband. To say that this film is strange is putting it mildly. As always, Nicole Kidman is fun to watch as a housewife who thinks she is living in a perfect world until she suspects her husband is cheating. With the help of her best friend and fellow schoolteacher, Dave (Gael Garcia Bernal), Nancy starts playing detective, trying to find evidence her husband is a cheater. The plot tries to be a satire of small-town idealistic life, but other than a somewhat creepy husband, the story never delivers the biting wit it needs. Instead, it’s about as bland as the meals that the family shares or the sex that Nancy and Fred have. For about the first third of the film, it’s fun watching Kidman play the mousey wife, but the story becomes boring with a twist that you see coming from a mile away. The ending is unsatisfying, and it takes an incredibly long time for anything to happen, and when it does, it’s almost a relief. That is until you realize that the film has ended without a whole lot of explanation. Holland comes off as a rather boring suspense film, much like life in the small American town of Holland itself. My Rating: Cable   Holland Website  Now playing on the Amazon Prime platform. 

My View:  The Penguin Lessons  (2024)  PG-13   The Penguin Lessons is about Tom (Steve Coogan), a British man teaching English to privileged teen boys in 1976 Buenos Aires while a military coup is happening. Tom reluctantly rescues a Magellanic penguin stranded on a beach because of an oil slick. Little does Tom know that the penguin is going to change his life. The Penguin Lessons is a funny and touching film about a man who is aloof and seemingly uncaring who teaches English to rich kids who don’t respect him. Tom is a man who seems to be trying to get as far away from England as he possibly can. He is there to do a job; if the students don’t want to pay attention, so be it. When a military coup takes over the country, Tom goes to Uruguay to ‘drink, meet a couple of girls, and go dancing.’ What Tom meets is a penguin that he can’t get rid of, no matter how he tries and takes him back to the prep school. Slowly, Tom becomes attached to not only the penguin but also the people he works with. The film works because Coogan is so good at being the aloof and cool man who puts up a front but his facade is slowly brought down by a penguin, who everyone falls in love with. The Penguin Lessons is a film that slowly lets us understand Tom as he lets his guard down bit by bit. While the film suffers a bit when it tries to be too serious, but overall it’s a warm and funny film where we keep going back to the cute penguin and his ability to make anyone, including Tom, let their guard down. And by the way, this is based on a remarkable true story, with footage at the end of the film to prove it.  My Rating: Full Price  The Penguin Lessons Website     Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Life List  (2025) PG-13  The Life List is about Alex (Sofia Carson), whose mother (Connie Britton) has just died and, in a last wish on a DVD, has given Alex a list that Alex made of life goals when she was a teenager. Whenever Alex completes a task on her list, she is given another DVD with a message from her mother, by a rather cute lawyer (Kyle Allen). It’s a journey where lifelong dreams take Alex to unexpected places. The Life List is an enjoyable romance film that follows the usual rules for this type of film. Alex has lost her way, and her mother, sensing that Alex would continue to drift in life, has decided that Alex has to get out and explore the world. The film works as well as it does because Sofia Carson is a joy to watch on screen, and it doesn’t hurt to have Connie Britton show up from time to time as her concerned mom with videos she recorded before she died. ‘The other guy’ shows up and starts dating Alex, played by a sort of boring Sebastian De Souza, but since we know the rules of romance films, Alex won’t end up with him. The Life List is a type of film that you can have fun with on a Sunday afternoon, as it feels like a warm blanket on a cold day. So, go on a journey of fun and discovery with Alex. She is a lot of fun and won’t mind you tagging along.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Life List Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

Forgotten Film:  24 Hour Party People  (2002)  R  In 1976, a Cambridge-educated man named Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) went to a sparsely attended concert and saw The Sex Pistols perform, and the music business wasn’t the same (at least for a few years). Wilson and a few friends decided to start a record label, Factory Records, and along with a weekly TV show Wilson hosted, started the Punk movement that took over England with bands like Joy Division (soon to be New Order), Happy Mondays, and The Durutti Column. Like the music that it features, this film is irreverent, doesn’t mind breaking the fourth wall, and makes up a few things along the way. Steve Coogan is hilarious as the man who had a vision and didn’t mind that it all fell apart in the end. The film has a bunch of concert footage that gives you an idea of what it was like during those times with bands that didn’t always play great music but always had attitudes that didn’t care. 24 Hour Party People is a joyous and funny look at a time when England’s established music industry was stuck in a rut and Wilson went around it to create a music and an attitude that didn’t give a damn.   My Rating: Full Price  24 Hour Party People Info  The film is available to rent/buy on Amazon/Apple TV/Google Play. 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of A Working Man:  Child Licenses

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  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. This is a sequel to the 2016 film The Accountant, which I thoroughly enjoyed because Affleck’s character is so strange.   The Accountant 2 Info  The film will be in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 25, 2025.

Until Next Time!

Snow White

Familyfaire:  Snow White  (2025) PG  Snow White takes place when exiled into the dangerous forest to escape the clutches of the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), Snow White (Rachel Zegler) finds refuge with seven dwarf miners. With their help, Snow White will attempt to liberate the kingdom from the rule of the Evil Queen. In the last decade, we have been disappointed by live-action remakes of some of Disney's most loved films, including Aladdin. Now we have a live-action version of the film that started Walt Disney on his way to dominating the animated feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. First, let me say that the dwarves, all CGI-animated, are creepy as hell and will give some children and adults a few nightmares. They aren’t at all lovable or fun, just downright strange-looking. It’s the biggest thing that doesn’t work in the film. Well, that and Gal Gadot, while making a striking-looking Evil Queen, can’t sing or act well enough to make the Queen seem all that scary. Though I must say, she wears a sparkly gown and crown well. Now for the good news. The film works because of the new songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the songs for La La Land (2016), The Greatest Showman (2017), and the Tony award-winning Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” and because Rachel Zegler has the star power to make the role of Snow White her own. Zegler is magnificent in the role, with a voice that fits the songs perfectly and the charisma that, like Snow White, makes you fall in love with her as soon as she appears on the screen. The film retains some of the original songs, but the new ones are what make it so compelling for this retelling. Although it's a retelling of the old story, there are some changes that work well. While this isn’t an out-of-the-park home run, it’s a film that gives us a new take on an old classic, keeping some of its parts and bringing the movie into its own. I just wish they hadn’t given us the nightmares to come with the faces of the dwarves.     My Rating: Bargain Matinee Snow White Website Now playing in theaters nationwide. 

Indiefest:  O’Dessa  (2025) PG-13  O’Dessa takes place in a world where civilization was almost destroyed. In the ashes, a new city was born, ruled by a man named Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett), whose reign is filled with sorrow and hatred. A farm girl named O’Dessa (Sadie Sink) leaves home to make her mark. What she doesn’t know is that her music is destined to take down Plutonovich and restore order. O’Dessa is a musical that never finds what its voice is. It’s not for trying, but most of the songs are instantly forgettable, and the storyline meanders much like its main character does. Characters are thrown at us without much thought or background. We never find out why or how evil Plutonovich controls the people, and the savior in Odessa does nothing more than sing a few songs. I enjoyed Sadie Sink’s performance and singing; I just wish the film had given her better songs and a plot with some thought behind it. O’Dessa was an idea for a movie that was never fully developed and not given the music that it needed to be a movie that made you care about the people who needed a leader and a leader who needed a reason to rebel.  My Rating: Cable  O'Dessa Website  Now playing on the Hulu platform. 

Indiefest:  On Becoming a Guinea Fowl  (2024) PG-13   On Becoming a Guinea Fowl starts when, on a deserted road in the middle of the night, Shula (Susan Chardy) finds the body of her dead uncle. As funeral proceedings begin, Shula and her cousins discover a dark secret that her uncle was hiding, one that they all share. This film grabs you from the opening scene and doesn’t let go until the end. From the outstanding cinematography that takes you from dreams in a strange world to the stark reality of being stuck in a claustrophobic atmosphere that you can’t escape, the film takes you on a wild ride through the eyes of a woman who knows the truth and it haunted by it. This is a film in which women are expected to fulfill their duties as wives, mothers, and servants to men. And where women use their standing to control and take down other less fortunate women. Susan Chardy gives a powerful and multifaceted performance of a woman trapped by her family and her culture, where she has to abide by her family’s wishes even though she knows it is wrong. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a film about secrets. Secrets that are whispered about but never brought to light, because it would bring shame and that would bring the entire system tumbling down. The truth is something that only a few people desire and Shula is one of them. My Rating: Full Price  On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Website Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  Bob Trevino Likes It  (2024) PG-13  In Bob Trevino Like It, 20-something Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira) needs to contact her self-centered father (French Stewart). She attempts to contact him online but gets in touch with another man with her father’s name, Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo). Due to that chance encounter, a relationship develops where the new Bob Trevino gives Lily encouragement, help, and guidance, something her own father has never given her. Bob Trevino Likes It is a sweet and enjoyable film that is based on a true story and is wonderfully told. Leguizamo is perfect as Bob, who works long hours so his wife can be a scrapbooking queen. Barbie Ferreira is adorable as Lily, who has a lot of issues, mostly with the fact that her mother died and her father is a horrible, self-centered jerk. So, by accident, Bob and Lily start up a friendship, where Lily gets the fatherly advice and help she has been looking for her whole life, and Bob becomes needed and paid attention to. Their friendship fills a void that neither one of them knew was missing. Bob Trevino Likes It is a magical film that shows you just how far a little kindness can make a difference in a person’s life. You are going to love this film, and you will hate Lily’s father. Just keep a tissue or two handy.  My Rating: Full Price  Bob Trevino Likes It Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  Misericordia  (2024)  R  Misericordia begins when Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) returns to Saint-Martial for the funeral of his former mentor and boss. Jérémie’s stay in town soon becomes entangled with disappearances, threats, and shady dealings. Jérémie shows up for a funeral and decides to spend the night at the home of the widow (Catherine Frot), who is more than happy for the company and, to the dismay of the grieving son (Jean-Baptiste Durand), who feels that some reason, Jérémie might be interested in his mother. At first, we take Jérémie’s side, but we soon learn that he likes to cause trouble and stir things up. Jérémie is a strange character who is hard to figure out, played beautifully by Félix Kysyl. Do we root for this man who keeps pushing buttons, or do we want him to get caught up in the intrigue he has started? It's an interesting question for the audience as the plot gets more involved and Jérémie gets deeper and deeper into the community's core, whether or not they want him. Misericordia is a film that as you get to know the characters and as the plot thickens, the more you enjoy just how complex a world Jérémie was built for himself. It's one he may never get out of. And wait until you see the last scene. My Rating: Full Price  Misericordia Website Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  The Assessment  (2024) R  The Assessment takes place in the near future, where parenthood is strictly controlled, and prospective parents must go through a seven-day assessment. Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are not ready for the psychological nightmare that Virginia (Alicia Vikander), their assessor, is about to put them through. How many times have you wondered that we have to take a driver’s test to get a license, but anyone can be a parent? In The Assessment, the world went to hell, and strict rules were applied to where you have to go through a seven-day total amercement trial to determine if you are worthy of getting a child. In walks Virginia and Mia and Aaryan’s life will never be the same as Virginia tests the couple’s ability to adapt and cope with all sorts of trying circumstances. Alicia Vikander has fun playing the role of Virginia, who acts like a four-year-old at one moment and the next time a sixteen-year-old, all the while testing the limits of what she can get away with and how the couple will deal with a demanding child who is looking to cause trouble. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat as you learn more about the couple (they have kept secrets from each other, which may or may not help decide if they are to be parents). The Assessment is a dark film that, at times, is funny and, at other times, is hard to watch, as the couple starts to fall apart under pressure. Olsen and Patel work well together, and I love Olsen’s character as a working woman who wants to always be in charge but can’t in this situation because Virginia holds all the power. Will the couple pass or will they fail? What will be the tipping point? To discover, you'll have to endure a lot.   My Rating: Full Price  The Assessment Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Indiefest: Borderline  (2025) R   Borderline is set in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Sofia (Samara Weaving) is a famous pop star whose home is broken into by Duerson (Ray Nicholson), an obsessive fan who believes they are getting married. It’s going to be a wedding that they both will never forget. If I saw this film with an audience at a midnight film festival screening, I might like it a bit more than I do now. The film has a few funny bits, but I tired of Ray Nicholson’s character almost from the start, as his character tends to do a lot of mugging for the screen. The film tries to make sense of the situation, but there are gigantic holes in the plot that we are just supposed to forget, along with characters that seem to be written by two different people, as they change back and forth from one idea to the next. I liked the performance of Yasmeen Kelders, who plays Duerson’s sidekick. Kelders has a blast playing a nutty Frenchwoman who thinks nothing of singing a duet with Sofia and trying to kill her ten seconds after the song is over. But her performance doesn’t make up for a plot that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and a main character that gets on your nerves from the first frame of the film.   My Rating: Cable  Borderline Website  Now playing in select theaters and On Demand. 

My View:  Locked  (2025) R  Locked is about Eddie (Bill Skarsgård), a two-bit thief looking for a car to steal an item or two from to make a quick buck. Upon finding an unlocked luxury SUV, he believes his luck has changed. Once inside the SUV, he realizes he is trapped inside and has begun a game of psychological horror. Two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins plays the man who has set the trap for Eddie. Locked is a film that begins with an intriguing premise but gets stuck, much like Eddie, with a plot that has very little room to move or breathe. The problem I had with this film was that I didn’t like either character. And, yes, we get, bit by bit, reasons why the characters are behaving the way they do, but we end up despising both, not caring who wins in the battle of wits and endurance. The writing puts the film into a corner it can’t really get out of, making the ending feel unsatisfying and silly. Overall, I was ready for the film to end by about the one-hour mark; it had exhausted all its gadgets and all of my patience. My Rating: Cable  Locked Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Alto Knights  (2025)  R  The Alto Knights follows two of New York’s most notorious crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. Once best friends, the two are on a collision course to control the city’s streets. With its constant use of old photographs and newsreel footage, The Alto Knights feels like one of those bad syndicated one-hour documentary TV shows from the 80s, promising an indie look at gangsters, but all you get is boring interviews and profiles. The Alto Knights is a film with its only merit being Robert De Niro's dual roles as the two crime bosses. While it’s fun for a while to watch De Niro try to top himself, the film is all talk and very little action. And while De Niro uses his voice and a few mannerisms to make the two different, you are still very aware that it’s De Niro playing two roles on the screen. What is interesting is how the film portrays Frank as the good guy and Vito as the bad guy. Frank is the smarter of the two, a married man who has a deep affection for his wife and their dogs. Frank is a man of honor and thinks he can outplan his fellow mobsters and outsmart even Congress. Vito is impulsive and doesn't consider the consequences before taking action. The film keeps talking about their past together, but we never see it, which makes the characters seem shallow and one-dimensional. So much so, you forget that Frank is a notorious mob boss and not a doting husband right out of 50's TV show, who works a little too hard. The film’s pacing is slow, and there is a seemingly endless amount of meetings that all start just blending into each other. With an ending that takes forever to come and is a massive letdown, the film concludes with a whimper. Much like Frank’s beloved dogs who go out on walks in mink overcoats, The Alto Knights is a dog of a film that tries to be classier than it is. My Rating: Cable The Alto Knights Website  Now playing in theaters.

Forgotten Film:  Land of the Dead  (2005) R  From the master and, some say creator, of the zombie film, George A. Romero, comes a new take on living in a world full of zombies. In a world where the living dead have taken over most of the world, a small group of humans are living in a walled city, just trying to survive. The city is in turmoil as a group plans to overthrow the city leadership. Meanwhile, the zombies are becoming smarter and bolder. Land of the Dead isn’t as fun as the other Romero zombie films as this film has a lot of political overtones (think Bush administration), but it’s still a fun trip and a whole bunch of zombies are killed.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Land of the Dead Info  Available to rent/buy on Amazon and Apple TV+.

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Snow White:  Stilt Walkers

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Thunderbolts* (2025) A group of antiheroes are pulled together by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) after CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) forces the team into a dangerous mission. Only if they work as a team and survive can they achieve redemption. The cast includes Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, and Hannah John-Kamen.   Thunderbolts* Website  The film will be in theaters nationwide on Friday, May 2, 2025.

Until Next Time!

The Electric State

 My View:  The Electric State  (2025)  PG-13  The Electric State takes place after a robot uprising. Following their defeat, robots were sent to a fenced-in area known as The Electric State in the American West. Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) is determined to find her long-lost brother in The Electric State and is helped by a low-rent smuggler (Chris Pratt) and a wisecracking robot named Herman (Anthony Mackie). The duo are about to discover that maybe the world was mistaken about the robots. This film might have half-way worked on the big screen, with all the robots milling around, either in a mall or in the big, what was meant to be a big, spectacular battle scene at the end. However, as a streaming movie, it fails because we don’t care about any of the characters, including the robots. Ok, maybe I cared a little about Mr. Peanut (yep, that one), the leader of the robots, who is voiced by an almost unrecognizable Woody Harrelson. The Electric State is an alternate past movie, where Walt Disney created robots for Disneyland, which became a thing where the robots started doing all our grunt work, got fed up, and rebelled. This two-hour and eight-minute film directed by the Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game) shows what happens when you get an unlimited budget where none of the money went into making the script or the characters work. The three main human characters are all such one-dimensional cartoon characters that we never get to know them; only they are full of quips that don’t work and a storyline that expects us to understand their relationships without giving us a way to do that. Pratt looks ridiculous, and his character is such a throwback to his Guardians character that he must have gotten whiplash. Brown is asked to carry the emotional aspect of the film, first with her long lost younger brother, who she tearfully remembers at almost every moment, so much so we want to shake her to snap her out of it. Then there is the evil scientist/Musk-like character played by Stanley Tucci, who is right out of a DC comic book from the 50s; so wooden and way too easy to figure out that he is evil and behind everything. Oh, and the message of the film? Robots are people, too. Boy, they spent a lot of money to get over that notion. Regrettably, it wasn't spent on the script.  My Rating: Cable  The Electric State Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

My View:  Black Bag  (2025) R  In Black Bag, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) and her husband, George (Michael Fassbender), have a perfect marriage. Except for the fact that they are both intelligence agents that can’t talk about their jobs. When Kathryn is suspected of betraying her nation, George faces the ultimate test: loyalty to his loving wife or his country. Steven Soderbergh gives us a spy caper that lets two extraordinary actors perform at their finest. Black Bag is not your ordinary spy film, full of action sequences, but a film filled with smaller moments that are clever and exquisitely done, keeping you guessing on just who is guilty and who is innocent. It’s a game of cat and mouse, reminiscent of the great spy novels of Le Carre and Herron. Blanchett and Fassbender work together so well on screen that you believe that these two spies could save the world just by their charisma and wit. Black Bag is a polished, almost silky smooth spy caper where you don’t know who to trust or who to even suspect; you just know that George will figure it out. The only question is whether George’s love for his wife means that he will have to betray his country. The great thing about Black Bag is that you will find out in the end and thoroughly enjoy the mystery all along the way to that end. Black Bag is one of the best spy films of the past ten years, and anyone who loves watching a spy film that isn’t easy to figure out will love this film as much as I did.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again Black Bag Website Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Novocaine  (2025)  R  Novocaine is about Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), who has finally found the courage to ask Sherry (Amber Midthunder) out, and their date was incredible. Now, right in front of Nathan’s eyes, the bank that she works at is held up, and she is taken hostage. What’s a guy to do but go to her rescue? What her kidnappers don’t know is that Nathan has a condition where he is incapable of feeling pain. To bring her back, he will need it. I want to warn you that this film is filled with broken bones, blood splatters, gunshot wounds, and people getting hurt in horrible and also amusing ways. And most of those things happen to our hero, Nathan. I had so much fun watching this film, though I will admit I had to look away a few times because of the savage and cruel ways that Nathan gets the crap beat, shot, stabbed out of him. Jack Quaid is perfect as the everyman who isn’t quite one because he can’t feel pain. That means Nathan has to be careful, even confining himself to a liquid diet because just about anything could be deadly, including biting his own tongue. There is a great running gag that his watch alarm goes off every 3 hours to remind him to pee, because he can’t feel the pain that we all feel when we have to go. I loved the chemistry between Quaid and Amber Midthunder, and the film sets up why Nathan is so quick to go to her rescue, even though he knows he could get hurt. Now I will admit the story does paint Nathan and Sherry into a corner that it doesn’t quite figure out how to get out of, but the film has a great time putting Nathan into situations where he can get really hurt and still survive to keep going on the chase. So get ready to advert your eyes a few times and go on adventure with Nathan as he slowly, surely falls apart as his body takes a beating and a few, ok, a lot of broken bones, to save the girl of his dreams.  My Rating: Full Price  Novocaine Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Familyfaire:  The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie  (2024) PG   In The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, who does Earth turn to when there is an alien invasion? Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, of course. Looney Tunes cartoons have always been a favorite of mine, having grown up watching them. While I feel that The Day the Earth Blew Up isn’t up to the standard of the cartoons of the past, it still is better than many of the weak animated films of the past few years. I kept waiting for a few other characters to show up from the Warner Brothers vault, but it’s solely the pig and the ducks’ picture, with some help from Petunia Pig. The plot is fun, with a couple of cool scenes that were right out of the old Superman animated films of the 40s, and the film moves along with the two getting into lots of trouble. I had a good time and laughed out loud a few times, but I felt like I needed more sight gags and jokes that had some wit. Still, kids will have fun, and adults will enjoy seeing a couple of old friends to go down memory lane with.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Day the Earth Blew Up Website  Now playing in theaters.

Indiefest:  Opus  (2025)  R  Opus is about Ariel (Ayo Edebiri), who has been picked to attend the first concert by iconic musician Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), who is going to perform for the first time in thirty years. The only problem: Ariel may have to join Alfred’s cult before he will perform. Opus is worth a bargain matinee ticket to see John Malkovich have so much fun in the part, playing a whacked-out musician. Unfortunately, the rest of the film isn’t worth even that price after a fun 30-minute start, as the film never feels scary, and the plot starts advancing at a too-quick pace, leaving us gasping for breath that never comes. Opus is one of those films where you question whether you have seen a movie with a plot like this or even the movie itself. About halfway through the hour and forty-three-minute runtime, I felt trapped just like Ariel does. And Opus has an ending that feels just too smug, but then again I guess Alfred Moretti was too.  My Rating: Cable  Opus Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Parenting  (2025) R   In The Parenting, Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) are hosting their respective parents in a weekend country house rental. Things go downhill quickly when they discover the presence of a 400-year-old evil entity. The Parenting doesn’t know what it wants to be: a horror film that’s a comedy or a comedy that’s a horror film. Either way, it doesn't work, which is too bad with a cast that includes Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, and the always amazing Parker Posey. The movie seems like a bad Saturday Night Live skit, which is not unusual given that the screenwriter is a long-time writer of the late-night show. The Parenting never finds its way unless you think prolonged vomiting is funny or a dog being crushed by a cabinet is hilarious. Along the way, there are horrible jokes about parenting, slurs about homosexuality, and an ending that feels like the writer decided to take an easy way out of a plot that wasn’t working. So, along the way, you won’t laugh at the comic bits, and you won’t get scared by the horror bits. So what do you have left? A movie that fails from the outset. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again    The Parenting Website  Now playing on the Max format.

My View:  Control Freak  (2025)   Control Freak revolves around Val (Kelly Marie Tran), a motivational speaker whose TED talks have become legendary for inspiring thousands to take control of their lives. Val’s fans are unaware that she is a tangled mess of anxiety that has caused her scalp to itch constantly. What Val at first chalks up to stress, the constant itching becomes something evil, an evil that will take Val onto the edge of madness. Val is a woman who, on the surface, appears to be in control but is actually losing control on the inside. I liked Kelly Marie Tran’s performance, but the film takes too long to establish that there are possible forces other than stress that are getting a hold of Val. It’s hard to tell from the storyline if all of this is in Val’s head or if there really is an evil force that has been living inside of Val since her birth. The film starts with an interesting idea of a woman who tells the world how to fix their problems by taking charge of them but can’t/won’t take charge of her own problems. However, the film goes too far into the horror aspect and blames everything on that evil being. By the end of the film, I just wanted it to be done with, but even with the film’s last shot, we see it will continue. I am just glad that it didn’t.  My Rating: Cable  Control Freak Info  Now playing on the Hulu platform.

My View:  Chaos: The Manson Murders  (2025) The documentary Chaos: The Manson Murders is a look into alternative theories surrounding one of the world’s most famous murder cases. Could there be unexpected connections to government agencies involving mind control experiments or a major coverup? The film is from Earl Morris, who won the 2004 Academy Award for his documentary The Fog of War, and is based on CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, a 2019 nonfiction book written by Tom O’Neill. This is a documentary that throws out a lot of theories against the wall of true-crime, hoping some of them will stick long enough for you to think that they might be true. The film is mostly O’Neill being interviewed by Morris, with one theory after another being presented in front of us. The most significant theory of the film is that Manson was part of the CIA mind control experiments and that he was allowed to carry on because he either knew too much or was part of their continuing experiment. What Morris gives us are just guesses and very flimsy ideas, which O'Neill presents to us as facts. At no time does anyone say that Manson wasn’t behind the killings, and in fact, a few of the facts show he was behind even more. Are you going to learn more about Manson and the reason for the murders? It will depend on whether you want to go down a deep, very sketchy rabbit hole of even sketchier facts or just go with the fact that Manson was a deeply troubled person who was able to brainwash young men and women with lots of drugs and paranoia. You choose. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Chaos: The Manson Murders Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

My View:  Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna  (2025)   Last Take is a documentary that looks at what happened on that fatal day when Alex Baldwin accidentally shot and killed celebrated indie cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in 2021. Last Take is a thoughtful and touching tribute to an up-and-coming cinematographer who had not only a promising career but a family, both of her own and of the people she worked with. Sadly, all was lost on that film set that day, and while the film doesn’t give you all the answers you want, it shows how talented Halyna was and how much she was loved. Last Take shows just how badly mistakes were made and kept being made up to the shooting, things that could have been prevented, including disharmony on the film set. We see that the accident didn’t have to happen, but most of the camera crew left the shoot short-handed after they voiced concerns about safety and working conditions. The film does an excellent job with behind-the-scenes photos, footage, and interviews with all except Baldwin and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. The movie they planned to make was doomed from the beginning, including the fact that Gutierrez-Reed was a last-minute choice after two more experienced armorers refused the job. Last Take does an excellent job of letting us see what it is like working on an Indie film, where everyone is overworked, sometimes having to do two or three jobs at once, and always worried about costs and if the money will hold out. While part of the title is ‘the Story of Halyna’, I wanted more about the woman and a little less about the movie she was making. I wanted it to be more of a tribute to someone who didn’t deserve to die because of negligence. The film doesn’t give answers to why live ammunition was on the set or why the gun went off, things we may never know, and that’s a frustrating part of this film. However, maybe that’s the point. We don't always get the answers we want, and even if we did, it wouldn't change a life that was lost. My Rating: Bargain Matinee Last Take Website  Now playing on the Hulu platform.

Forgotten Film:  Hunger  (2008)  The story of the Irish republican inmates of a prison in Northern Island who go on a hunger strike to protest the conditions and the belief that they are political prisoners, not criminals. The strike is led by Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), who believes that the only way he can get the world to pay attention is to die from hunger. This was the first feature film from filmmaker Steve McQueen, who has since created an incredible body of work, including the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave. Hunger is the film that put both McQueen and Fassbender in the spotlight, as Fassbender gives a stellar and moving performance of a man whose body and mind are pushed to the limits. Sands, along with nine other prisoners, died for the cause, and we are given an inside look at how horrible life was in the prison both before and during the hunger strike. Hunger is an unforgettable film that will stay with you long after the last scene. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Hunger Info The film is available on BluRay/DVD disc. 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Novocaine:  Breakdown Trainees

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  A Working Man  (2025)  R  Levon Cade (Jason Statham) is a man who left his profession to work a simple construction job and take care of his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter vanishes, Levon uses his skills as a former legendary figure in the world of black ops to go on the hunt. Levon soon learns that his search for the missing college student will take him deep into a sinister criminal conspiracy. The film is directed by David Ayer, who also directed Statham in the fun and bold 2024 film The Beekeeper.  A Working Man Website  The film will be in theaters on Friday, March 28, 2025. 

Until Next Time!