Film Invasion Reviews

Hey, my name is Craig. I'm from White Plains. I like and review movies.

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Jurassic World: Dominion Review

Everyone seems really weary in “Jurassic World: Dominion”, and not just from all the running from dinosaurs they do. Here we see a film franchise that really seems to have run its course. It’s come a long way from its majestic debut in 1993 and doesn’t really even contain much in the way of the excitement of some of its past entries. It now has humans and dinosaurs co-habitating together like something out of “The Flintstones' '. A genetics company is working to solve the problem, but they could also be evil too, especially considering giant locusts have come out of nowhere. So that’s the plot..no wait, there’s more. There was a clone girl (Isabella Sermon) from the last movie, who’s now shacking up with dino-whisperer Owen (Chris Pratt, still doing that dumb Jedi thing) and dino-conservationist Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), until some poachers working for the film’s true villains show up and kidnap her. This movie also brings back Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Satler (Laura Dern), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), now sadly assigned to the locust storyline, while main characters played by Campbell Scott, DeWanda Wise, Omar Sy, Dichen Lachman, B.D. Wong and more come in only for exposition and to be moved around like pieces on a chessboard. This party has a gigantic guest list but no one seems to be having much fun as Pratt and Howard eventually take part in one of those globe-hopping spy thrillers that predictably lead them right into working with the original three during the last half hour. Other than a decent motorcycle chase sequence, the action is of the near-miss variety, as in people should be eaten, but aren’t because then this very long movie would have to end earlier than expected. It creates some tension but gets old once we catch on that very few of these characters will actually meet a cruel fate and that all this movie has is B-movie thrills on a larger scale budget. There are other let-downs here too. Like when the two sets of heroes spend time bonding together in the film’s last half. These are scenes that cry out for some callback humor from the previous films but true to this movie’s laziness, we really only get casual greetings and some snarky comments from Goldblum. As a whole, this series has gotten so self-serious that the only real humor is in how ridiculous it’s become. And most ridiculous of all is what it’s doing with the dinosaurs. The film seems to alternate between being a preachy human-dino utopia and/or a buffet where humans are the main course. Pretty much the only reason this movie could have been interesting was to see how the co-habitation would work but “Jurassic World” ignores a lot of the deeper questions and still wants to have it both ways, instead creating a story out of more corporate villains, and leaving the dinosaurs to exist on the periphery, sometimes attacking..just because. It hurts to see where this series is taking “Jurassic Park”, the most beautiful and exciting of blockbusters. That movie had logic and spectacular effects. Here, that logic has been replaced by a “do anything for a buck” frivolousness and the effects, once so awe-inspiring, are now mostly used for cheap thrills and to have some stuff in the background to look at. Did I say this series seems tired? Nearly-extinct might be a better word. If you like this review, why not join my facebook group for more. Much appreciated! https://www.facebook.com/groups/15395925860873

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Top Gun: Maverick Movie Review

It dawns on you watching “Top Gun: Maverick” that Tom Cruise really is America’s greatest living action star. Has anyone been doing it better, or longer than he? It’s been..well since the first “Top Gun” in 1986, a film that’s sexier than it is great, but oh how sexy it is, and how inspirational it’s been to countless clones as well. But none of those have the secret weapon- Cruise is a force and he’s been doing honor by his legacy for 30+ years. 

He’s back as Maverick (real name not important), the Navy Captain who is now called back to Top Gun Academy for a super complex mission regarding bombing a uranium plant. Only surprise is he is not expected to fly the mission but train a group of hotshot young cadets, one of which is Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick’s tragically deceased pal Goose,  and Mav feels protective of the young man, to Rooster’s chagrin. 

Cruise often gets criticized for being more action star than actor, which is why the performance he gives here feels among one of his most refreshing in a while. This Mav is now close to being a wash-out. He’s not who he once was and he’s haunted by the memories of those he’s lost. There’s more of a middle ground for him now between rule-breaker and responsibility as he tries to penetrate the egos of the youngsters while proving to himself he can handle a different role. 

That’s what casts many of the young actors here more as subordinates than adversaries for Mav and in that you don’t get as many stand-outs among the crew. Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, and Monica Barbaro play cocky characters who have a more one-dimensionality to them than anything but if anyone makes out beautifully in this movie it’s Teller, who gets his best role in a while, and goes toe to toe with Cruise better than anyone. 

Another key stand-out here is Joseph Kosinski, the director. He, and his cinematographer Claudio Miranda, do Tony Scott and the first movie proud- there’s a dizzying array of speed, aerial feats, and the pushing of human endurance while in these planes, captured with exquisite eye for coherence and done with great tension, whether it be in scenes of teacher imparting wisdom to his students or the behind enemy lines shoot-out and escape which ends the film. This is edge of your seat stuff. 

But Kosinski also knows how to rev up a fan’s engine. Whether it be Mav going all renegade in the opening moments with Kenny Loggin’s “Danger Zone” playing over it, or a shot for shot re-do of Mav riding his motorcycle alongside a Jet taking off, or a scene of R&R on the beach as the guys play some nerf football (in place of volleyball). He balances these out with a more serious minded film- one that never gets better than when Val Kilmer shows up for one scene in a bittersweet and wonderfully realized moment between adversaries turned friends. 

Jon Hamm also does nice work, playing not so much a villain but more a Commanding Officer who doesn’t think much of Mav, while Ed Harris just seems wasted in one scene. Then there’s Jennifer Connelly, playing the love interest, and the film tries to establish a history between her and Mav but I don’t think it ever rises to the level of interesting. Plus the movie just denies us another flowing, music video type sex scene and if you’re gonna do that, why even establish a romance to begin with? 

Overall, though, this is a movie that does right by what came before. It’s nostalgia that feels more reverential, never falling back on “wink wink” inside jokes, and it also finds a way to progress the story forward and maybe even provide better closure to certain things. It’s a legacy sequel that brings justice to the very words and at its heart is still Tom Cruise, doing his damndest, as actor and producer, to make sure this movie provides. Still the perfectionist, still the TopGun. There aren’t many more like him.   

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Chip N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers Movie Review

Here’s a movie where live action actors go to school with traditional and 3-D animated characters. Animated cars can talk, you can meet your favorite toon star in person, and where in a big bustling human city there are also smaller apartment buildings to house chipmunks.

“Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers” is one of quite a few “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” imitators and in a way it works for younger viewers who aren’t quite ready for “Roger Rabbit’s” boldness just yet. And parents get something too; an unexpectedly smart showbiz satire looking at remakes, reboots, IP mashups, and other painfully “hip” updates Hollywood has tried to use in order to cash in on once beloved characters.

The film comes from the Lonely Island comedy trio, of which Andy Samberg is its poster boy. He also voices Dale, who along with John Mulaney’s Chip meet in grade school and become fast friends, moving to California to become a TV crime fighting group before Dale gets tired of being second fiddle and decides to start a failed solo career.

There are very funny touches here. A convention room featuring old, obsolete cartoons has some good gags, especially hilarious is an old version of a recently popular franchise character, and a joke about getting CGI upgrades was always there- this was just clever enough to make it. For reference, Dale got the upgrade while Chip remains traditionally animated.

Chip N’ Dale’s mouse friend Monterey Jack (Eric Bana) has also fallen on hard times- now so hooked on the cheese that it’s become a full fledged addiction. When he goes missing, a supposed victim of bootlegging, and the detective assigned to the case (J.K. Simmons, voicing a grouchy Gumby knockoff) has no clues, Chip and Dale decide to put their differences aside and team up with a human police officer (Kiki Layne) in order to find him.

What follows is a series of episodic vignettes- funny in the way they portray nefarious underworlds buried beneath a sea of joyous animation, or poke fun at animation styles that just never worked (motion capture takes some lumps here). Peter Pan (Will Arnett) as a grungy bootlegger is also kind of amusing.

For the kids the movie offers chases and close calls and the characters of Chip and Dale have an enjoyable friendship that works well enough. For parents, it might be a little sad to see characters they grew up with on Disney Afternoon reduced to reality show detectives but it fits the bill for nostalgia and movie callbacks and jokes at the expense of updating recent IP’s (making old cartoons hipper by rapping for example) should lead to a lot of enjoyment and laughs.

As a watcher of the old show there is a nagging feeling that more could have been done to honor that: a better villain and mystery and more time for Rescue Rangers Gadget and Zipper could have helped. Once the gags and the seamless world-blending start to wan, the story isn’t much to hold attention. Thankfully the film is also short, and mostly a very good time.

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Doctor Strange in Multiverse of Madness review

Doctor Strange has grown on me a bit since his first movie; the MCU has positioned him as a kind of group leader for phase four and Benedict Cumberbatch does have that presence. His own movies are still a mixed bag however, special effect extravaganzas that ultimately rely too heavily on special effects and often feel bloated and conventional from a screenplay standpoint. The MCU has brought Sam Raimi on now for what they’re calling their “first horror movie”, which creates its own set of problems. This time Strange (Cumberbatch), fueled by dreams that turn out not to be dreams at all, must help America Chavez (Zochiti Gomez), a young girl with the power to open portals to other universes. Wanda Maximoff, the former avenger last seen “saving” all the people in a small town..that she took hostage, has now been overtaken by her alter-ego the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who wants Chavez’s power to enter into another universe where Wanda can be re-united with the children she lost in her own. Former “Spider-Man” director Raimi is often no match for the MCU’s chaotic action pieces- so overstuffed with falling buildings, characters gliding all about, and sparks, fire, lightning and so on being tossed back and forth we can only wonder if any of this is producing anything of consequence. He is a director of visual flourishes and hits every so often- a scene where Strange and Chavez are knocked through several universes all at once is novel in the way it changes both character’s body comps. But visual tricks alone should not a good horror movie make and there’s a difference between what the MCU wants Raimi to do and establishing a consistent tone. The story veers wildly- Wanda has her loss, Strange still pines for his Christine (Rachel McAdams), America has lost her two moms, then there’s mention of magical books, tomes of the damned, sorcerer supremes, cross world possessions, and Strange possibly being the true villain here. Scary? No. It’s hard enough just keeping track of what’s happening. The actors are also underserved, even Cumberbatch, who shows great mentor and leadership in “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, here just seems like a character stuck in his own rut- a rut that was far more compelling in even his episode of Disney+’s “What If”. Gomez is mostly here as a plot device and Benedict Wong, comic relief. Raimi staple Bruce Campbell only gets a silly slapstick cameo but some MCU fan favorites, and an actor who’s been very popular in the fancasting-sphere, get some fun cameos here. Coming off the best though is Olsen, who really seems to get Wanda’s emotional damage. All this amounts to much less than the sum of its many parts. Raimi, sometimes, gets to use camera gimmicks and his gifts for the macabre but for moments that really feel inspired, we have to wait for the finale. Otherwise the film is too busy and chaotic for its own good- thinking that visuals alone are enough to distract from muddled plotting and a core that never feels truly scary or even all that demented- just overly intricate and alienating to anyone outside of the Marvel purview. It’s an MCU film, for better or worse.

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The Northman Movie Review

“The Northman” has aspirations, i’ll give it that. Robert Eggers movie will remind of so many classic epics from revenge tales that wear their tragedies on their sleeve (“Hamlet”, “Gladiator”), gritty action pictures with a visceral sense of their environments (“The Revenant”), and legends swept up in their own myths (“King Arthur”).

It stars Alexander Skarsgaard as Amleth, who as a young boy witnessed the murder of his father (Ethan Hawke), an Icelandic king, by his own Uncle (Claes Bang). Amleth escapes into exile but a vow he makes that he will come back, kill the Uncle, and save his mother (Nicole Kidman), has shaped his mind to the point where vengeance is all he can think about.

Generally this is your standard revenge flick but Eggers has surrounded it with so much ritual, spiritualism, and lore. A scene early where Amleth and his father bond over a shaman who gets them howling at the moon and connecting to their feral, animalistic sides sets the film apart but then a strong adhesion to prophecies, fate, and the savagery of viking life kinda take over. There is an emphasis on Viking music and dance, clothing and keepsakes, beliefs, and religion.

That early scene is a precursor to the violent man Amleth will become but he will be given a choice here: to either choose hate or accept the love of a woman. That would be Olga (Anya Taylor Joy), a slave aboard a ship Amleth sneaks on to in order to get back to where his Uncle and Mother now preside. Olga has the power to do to men’s minds what Amleth can do to bones and, at first, will be pivotal to his revenge scheme.

This is a bloody, bloody film- at one point Amleth even kills a man by biting at his throat. It’s also a dirty, bloody, gritty film- much like a scene of gladiatorial combat featuring a game sort of like if rugby allowed for hitting players with baseball bats. The entirety of this world feels cold, grimey, and authentic- these people exist to work in the dirt and snow, to pillage, and as we learn later in the film, they are not afraid of taking hold of their own destinies- sometimes shockingly so.

Skarsgard makes for a dedicated anti-hero who leads with his brawn, even as the circumstances of his quest continue to shift. Joy is just as bewitching as she was in Egger’s “The Witch” but unlike that film, her character’s love eventually looks like a sort of salvation. Eggers also gets fiery work from Kidman and some top-notch stuff from Bangs, Bjork, as a seer, and Willem DaFoe, playing two roles as a fool, and later the Shaman.

Revenge stories are a dime a dozen but there is a reason that they work, and “The Northman”, in particular, is keyed into that primal urge. It’s a movie as motivated by violence as it is by the culture that so steels itself to greet those urges every day. It’s a bleak film- cast in colorless grays and sometimes only lit by firelight- but even that lighting gives these people a great ferocity that works in the film’s favor. It may not be the most original, but as passion projects go, it’s one hell of a trip into the heart of darkness.

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Death on the Nile Movie Review

“Death on the Nile” comes to theaters with a string of marketability issues, most of which stemming from a cast that suddenly became pariahs in the press for everything from vaccine stances to sexual assaults to, oddly enough, cannibalism. There was fear all this could sink the film, which is a shame, cause it all has nothing to do with quality.

The cast, and the mystery, is not as good this time around but the most important thing is still in place and that’s Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot. Branagh the actor also only narrowly beats out Branagh the director; the Oscar nominee for “Belfast” proves once again he’s adept at cerebral, immaculately mounted thriller.

His Poirot is even better this time around; a first act origin story shades in his tireless dedication to duty and nobility and provides greater sympathy for the man. Otherwise he is every bit as enthralling as he was before: a man whose mind works a mile a minute and always seems to have a surprise reveal right in store. Plus the ‘stache is hall of fame facial hair.

The story picks up years later with the wedding of Simon Boyle (Armie Hammer) and Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot), a honeymooning couple who happen to be doing so in Egypt with family and friends. She’s a socialite and he’s nearly penniless, causing speculation to the marriage, but it’s the surrounding wedding party who look most suspicious.

The arrival of Jacqueline (Emma Mackey) has the couple most on edge; she was the fiance of Simon before Linnet stole him. But there are others such as Cousin Andrew (Ali Fazal) and the maid (Rose Leslie) who may wish harm upon the couple because they covet money and others, such as former Linnett fiance (Russell Brand), for love.

Sophie Okonedo, Letitia Wright, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French also work their way into this list of suspects but to say that Egypt, with its pyramids, ruins, opulent locales and bazaars becomes the central star of the first half would be an understatement. Branagh is off the train here and can provide a lot more texture this time around.

Soon the wedding party is sailing down the Nile in a luxury liner (still, the architecture is magnificent and Branagh knows it) and that’s when entanglements, romantic and otherwise, begin to reveal themselves and threats are made and the murder occurs. 

Branagh is excellent at lining up the suspects- slowly panning through the row of them and encircling them with his camera as his character probes them for any type of inconsistency that might occur to his massive brain, pulling us this way and that. It’s edge of your seat filmmaking, even if the story of killing for love and money is as old as the hills.

The cast is good at keeping their secrets close to the belt, for most that’s about the best you can say for their development. I liked Okonedo as the bluesy singer and Mackey is compelling as a woman scorned, while Gadot makes fine window dressing. It’s Branagh’s show though, these people are just living in it.

Overall this is what Branagh is particularly good at; taking old literature and giving it style as well as class, while continuing to honor the source material. It proves that there is still cinematic life in Agatha Christie’s tales, while also showing that Branagh is ever dutiful in mining for it. He keeps us guessing, and has a ton of fun doing it.

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Home Team (Netflix) Movie Review

Head Coach Sean Payton was suspended from the NFL in 2012 for his role in what was referred to as Bounty Gate. He’s now being played by Kevin James in another Adam Sandler Netflix “comedy”. The question before seeing it was what is the worse punishment? After, I can only wonder why an NFL coach decided he needed to sell his name out so cheaply.

Two years after his Super Bowl win, the Bounty Gate story breaks. Players on Payton’s New Orleans Saints team were paid to intentionally injure opposing players. With suspension imminent, Payton decides to go back home to Texas where his son plays on a Pop Warner team of lovable losers who need some strong guidance.Cue formulaic underdog story from there. 

Any further detailing of Bounty Gate or even Payton’s culpability in it ends here. He is presented as nothing more than an extremely affable man with an offensive mindset that many in the town buy right into because he won a Super Bowl. Any hope of seeing a real personality or insight into his coaching style is muted quickly. The guy’s just a teddy bear.

His team of kids come right out of the factory of underdog cliches. They lack discipline and knowledge of the game, one is constantly ordering pizza during practice, another is a kicker who can’t get the ball up cause he has girlfriend problems. None of this is interesting, nor does the movie give us a sense of Texas, where Football is bred.

These kids could use the kick in the ass but basically Payton has to learn that football is about fun and bonding and whatever. He also has to reconnect with his estranged son Connor (Tait Blum), but even in that you hardly ever get a sense of a genuine father son moment cause it’s surrounded by such broad comedy and familiar underdog territory.

The drama feels ripped from better movies while the comedy is basically of the careless variety Sandler and his friend’s have devoted to most of their movies. In one scene the team projectile vomits (while running a hell of a play). We also get all manner of unfunny schmucks to laugh at (Rob Schneider appears as a new age hippie). The movie still thinks the snuggie is ripe for laughs, which should give you an idea of how edgy it is. A woman’s car is needlessly set on fire at one point. The misfortune of others is still comedy gold to Happy Madison.

In the end this feels like nothing relevant to the Payton story at all but rather to the continuing laziness and poor taste of Sandler’s Netflix productions. It uses the famous name and that’s about it- what drew anyone, including Payton, to doing this is, frankly beyond understanding. It’s barely even a movie, it’s filling a content quota.

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Scream (2022) Movie Review

“Scream” still begins with a landline phone call and much like movies of its ilk, it’s only really good when it re-digs up the past. The film, from not Wes Craven (who died in 2015) but Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, is what the film is modernly calling a “requel” and when the most clever thing about the fifth movie in your franchise is a new coined term, it’s probably a sign that the freshness was all gone to begin with. 

The new main character here is Sam (Melissa Barrera), who fled Woodsboro years ago but now returns because her younger sister Tara (Jenny Ortega) was attacked, again in the prologue, by a killer, again, wearing a ghostface mask. The killer is again obsessed with slasher films, particularly “Stabbed”, the adaptation of the older events concerning ghostface in Woodsboro. Now this new killer wants to do a reboot and all of Tara’s friends are potential victims, or suspects, as the case may be. 

Best of all this is the returning cast. David Arquette and Courtney Cox still have sparks Dewey and Gale. Dewey is no longer Sheriff, but still knows the rules, while Gale is ready to kick ass. And Neve Campbell is also called in from what seems like a serene life now to do battle again; one of her first lines is “I’m Sidney Prescott, of course I own a fucking gun.” The best kill in the movie actually comes from Campbell and Cox, not the killer. These older characters were always intuitive, knowledgeable and aware of the situation they were in. That hasn’t changed. 

This new cast needs them. Very few have much awareness of the old slashers, in fact many seem to prefer “elevated horror”. They can analyze the shit out of “The Babadook” but put them in an ominous situation where a killer is hunting them and they suddenly start making all the wrong choices. Where “Scream 5” doesn’t really play fair though is that these teens pretty much are your regular horror movie teens; commenting on how helpless and dumb they are doesn’t really strike me as additionally satirical. 

The movie also has a lot to say about the reboot- how connections to the past are important, why turning the lead female into a Mary Sue will only receive scorn, how changing things will only lead to more scorn. I feel like the movie only complicates itself by trying to satirize these things though; it doesn’t have the wit, it just knows enough to reference the cliches. The connection the two main characters have to the past is forgettable while the rest of the film is a lot of gore and manipulative camera placement in the service of jump scares. Basically the same, just with far less emphasis on the bread and butter of the series- victims smart enough to give the killer a fight. 

Based off of Olpin and Gillet’s strategy here, the film almost wants us to forego even caring about the main characters- they’re superfluous- the main attraction is the older cast. They also do nothing new with the kills, rather than make them bloodier. Suspects aren’t worth caring about nor are the dredged up comedy routines based on referencing old horror movie cliches. It might be worth it for the nostalgia purposes and it’s a better slasher flick than “Halloween Kills”, but there’s not a lot here to make this series seem refreshed.      

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Being the Ricardos Movie Review

with Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons

Directed by Aaron Sorkin

It’s no surprise “I Love Lucy’s” Lucille Ball had to fight to be the most powerful woman on television and, more than anything, Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” is a loving tribute to her comic acumen and shrewd off-air dealings. The film looks at one tumultuous week where Ball (Nicole Kidman) faced allegations of being a communist, which could have killed her career, and the possible end of her marriage to rampant cheater Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), which happened after the show ended.  Sorkin does one cool thing early in just letting us hear Kidman do the raspy voice and it’s right on the money. The hair and make-up do their part later but Kidman gives her the sharp tongue, analytical comedic approach, and backbone to always seem like the smartest person on set. No one is going to accuse Sorkin of being straightforward here- he goes back and forth in time from the week in question to her rise where she faced everything from typecasting, ageism, and social mores to the present where she had to fight even to be able to say “pregnant” on air.  Any fan of television will love the behind the scenes stuff- her mind working overtime to not only fix what isn’t funny but respect audience intelligence as well. And speaking of intelligence, there is a great conversation she has with another comedy writer (Alia Shawkat) about doing right by female characters. Her scenes with Bardem’s Arnaz have a fiery tone and he helps to see the talent and innovation that attracted her to him, while J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda hilariously bicker, even off camera, as the stars who played Fred and Ethel. He also has a surprising scene of warmth while she reveals a regrettable flaw in Ball’s character.  Sorkin has done more hard-hitting work than this and sometimes it’s just ponderous but in the end, it has just enough to love. 

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The Matrix Resurrections Movie Review

The Wachowski’s are known for taking big swings, their biggest was back in 1999 with “The Matrix”, but since then it’s like they’ve tried harder and harder to take risks with fewer rewards. A fourth “Matrix” movie is fruitless: the bigness is gone, the trippy feel and gravity defying has become old hat, the third movie was a massive let down, people nowadays go out of their way to be plugged into reality deadening devices. Should I go on? Or is it clear that “Resurrections” should have belonged to a time 15 years ago? 

Being that “The Matrix” was not destroyed all those years ago, there was always a  chance the thing could come back. What’s clear is that Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) does not suspect a thing- prone to working on his award-winning video game trilogy (“The Matrix”) and continuing to see a therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) about his struggles with discerning what’s real and what isn’t. He does get small reminders of a past he does not remember though- like Tiffany (Carrie Ann Moss), a married soccer mom. 

Lana Wachowski, working without her sister this time, at first actually seems like she’s been forced back into creating this (taking shots at Warner Brothers even for wanting to do a sequel with or without them) while at the same time still trying to figure out what the hell the point of it all was (video game nerds debate if the “games”, filling in place of the “movies, were philosophical porn or mindless action entertainment). We soon feel her pain. 

This is actually a world inside a greater world of the Matrix, where a now youngish Morpheus (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) and a young freedom fighter named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) have to go through the whole rigamarole of blue/red pills, kung fu lessons, ect all over again to prove to Thomas he’s actually Neo. It’s redundant and dull, but I haven’t even gotten to what feels like 10’s of 100s of explanations about where we actually are in time, what happened to Zion, why are Agent Smith (Jonathan Groff) and Morpheus now younger men, and how did we get here? 

One could say this is trying to do things differently but it’s the same “nostalgia principle”  that infects so many movies nowadays. Many scenes seem to come down to Neo saying “I know you, but from where?” to which Wachowski, pleased with herself, flashes back to one of the three movies repeatedly to explain it. Taken at face value, the movie is generally about Neo trying to save Trinity, again, but with all exposition and nostalgia, it’s a 2 and a half hour long dirge; arbitrary, tensionless, and overlong. 

So bad is the film that I really can’t even remember a single action piece that really grabbed me. Meanwhile the lead villain feels like he should be in “Austin Powers 4”, not “Matrix 4”, and so should the ridiculous old age make-up job on returning Jada Pinkett Smith. The explanations are now impenetrable, the dialogue cringey, Reeves and Moss look more and more bored with each passing film, the new cast makes no impression and are far from upgrades on Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving, and the action blows. This is not a sequel but a death march for a once groundbreaking franchise. 

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Licorice Pizza movie review

Paul Thomas Anderson usually makes movies in a category all his own so it’s nearly impossible to know how to compare his new romance “Licorice Pizza” with anything else, even with his last romance “Punch Drunk Love”. All I can say is that it’s a strikingly original piece of work, headlined not by known actors, but by two young newcomers: one of which I would hand a best actress statue to right now, the other should be headed to his first nomination at very least. 

 They are Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (actually son of late, great actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman). She plays Alana, a 25 year old photography assistant who meets the eye of Hoffman’s Gary, who is merely 15 but his confidence and former career as a child actor has left him carrying himself as way older than his years. They are meant to be but obstacles keep throwing them for a loop: the age difference, his immaturity, her need for a more stable career, other suitors for both, and differing needs that the other cannot seem to meet. 

 Anderson seems to mean all this as a satirical tour through the 1970s. In the opening moments Gary flies to New York for a reunion of the TV show he was once on- a corny ‘8 is Enough” retread who’s lead actress (Christine Ebersole in a drunken stupor) and co-stars have seen better days. From there the entrepreneurial Gary tries to make ends meet a different way- which sets him on track selling water beds (cause “mattresses are for squares.”) at the beginning of that craze. The oil crisis, the uneasy mix of homosexuality and politics, and more enter into the story as well. 

 The movie as a whole has no real straightforward plot: it’s essentially Alana and Gary trying to find themselves amidst all the upheaval of the 70’s.  Along the way they meet strangely out-there personalities, like the real life John Peters (Bradley Cooper), a raging hairdresser who was dating Barbara Streisand at the time. Alana also tries to get in on the acting craze herself, and along the way, begins dating an older man (Sean Penn) supposedly modeled off of the actor William Holden. Both performances from Cooper and Penn are downright nutty. 

 What works the best though is Haim; her Alana is common to women at the time- still expected to look a certain way, be a certain way, and never get her real due. Haim shows us there’s a firecracker underneath just waiting for a spark and that mix of volatility and adolescent naivete leads to some very funny and relatable scenes. Hoffman, too, is gifted way beyond his years. Gary’s confidence and entrepreneurial spirit is infectious, as is his charm. The chemistry between these two works- it’s not based on sex so much as it is a partnership of two people making their way in the world and growing together as they do it. 

 The title of the film is for some reason taken from an old chain of record stores. I kinda liked its old title of “Soggy Bottom”, in reference to the waterbeds. Honestly Anderson could have named it anything though- it’s a madcap, episodic whirlwind jaunt through California in the 70’s that has a clear love for the era, it’s music (David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and The Doors on featured on the soundtrack), and the young idealists trying to find their place in the world. Its magic is an easy thing to feel- just don’t ask me to compare it to some of his other work just yet.

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No Time to Die Movie Review

“No Time to Die” comes with so much pomp that it will be easy for many to mistake it for something other than ordinary. 

Daniel Craig’s last film, an extra long run time for a fond farewell, the long awaited blockbuster debut for Cary Joji Fukunaga (who seems to be known more for exiting projects than making movies since “True Detective”), a plethora of female talent (possibly a indication of where the series is going?), and carrying so much grandness the whole thing literally feels like it’s trying to be every blockbuster from the past couple decades, the result rather is something entirely hollow.

The movie finds Bond (Craig) in retirement, vacationing in the Italian countryside with new love Madeleine (Lea Seydoux) when CIA friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) shows up needing him to retrieve a nanobot bio-weapon, thought to be stolen by Bond’s old nemesis, SPECTRE, and it’s now imprisoned head, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).  

Craig is, again, the perfectly rugged, no-nonsense Bond and for a while the film works with its car chases, shoot-outs, and aerial motorcycle maneuvers. We’ve seen all this in Bond movies before, but when it has this kind of visual pop- including Ana de Armas as a new CIA agent firing a gun in slinky black dress- one tends not to care. 

New competition also seems to come from the new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), who is also on the trail of the nanobot technology. One wishes this adversarial relationship kept going longer as it adds something a bit newer to what is otherwise a rather routine Bond mission, complete with world dominating maniac and lethal tech. 

Oddly it’s after a mid-point twist and the death of a cherished character where Fukunaga seems to sadly slow things down when they should be ramping up. We’re intent on revenge at this point but instead we have to suffer through more talky scenes with Blofeld, by far the most poorly used character of Craig’s Bond era, a convoluted plot concerning Rami Malek’s Safin, and Bond needlessly learning that he’s a father. 

Suddenly a movie that moved well enough in the first half keeps getting snagged on subplots. Malek seems to be doing a Mr. Robot version of Thanos, Lynch is reduced to Bond’s partner (and just flat out kills an unarmed dude to prove her toughness), de Armas disappears, solid action set pieces are discounted for generic fights and shoot-outs, and the ending so desperately wants to have meaning yet we’ve somehow been so overwhelmed by all that’s going on and underwhelmed at the same time that I really just felt relief that the whole thing was done. 

Too long and too routine, this should really only please the biggest Bond fans. That the only question I have now is “how will it get rebooted?” seems like a poor way to end what was a solid run for Craig.P.S. The Billie Eillish theme song is fairly gloomy, or so I thought upon first listen. Idk, I saw the film a couple hours ago and it’s already been forgotten so i’m putting it in the loss column.  

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Dear Evan Hansen Movie Review

“Dear Evan Hansen” has already turned into the most maligned movie of the Fall so far so will I have to consider Stephan Chbosky’s adaptation of the stage musical a guilty pleasure? Nope. I have not seen the musical  on stage but the movie is precious,  filled with themes of depression, adolscent angst, resentment, grief, and confusion, as well as the all-encompassing ones of mental illness and suicide, yet comes off like a love letter and message of healing to those who suffer, as well as an uplifting musical that hits all the right notes in what is an emotional rollercoaster of a show. 

 Ben Platt has taken some flak over reprising the role he originated on Broadway. “30 year olds should not play High Schoolers”, people say. But tell it to “Saved by the Bell” cause Platt is a revelation as Evan Hansen, and if you have not seen the show, this is the movie’s first treat. Evan is filled with social anxiety, visibly shaken when needing to be around people. As therapy he writes notes to himself, one of which is later stolen by another troubled student who then commits suicide. When the note is found by the boy’s parents (Amy Adams, Danny Pino) they assume Evan was the boy’s friend and seeing how much joy that brings them, Evan plays into the lie. 

 Platt, a phenomenally powerful singer and quite possibly even better actor, becomes the pillar this tricky tightrope of a plot hangs on. Pains have been taken to make him look younger and they are not especially good, but your heart goes out to Evan from the very first scene- he captures the ball of nerves and confusion of never quite knowing what to do in the moment and as the lie continues to snowball- he is continually caught between giving people the happy goodbye they want and the truth- which would be scary to admit even for a low-anxiety person but also would only make people feel miserable.  

 The cast is great across the board really, from Julianne Moore (Evan’s mom) to Adams and Pino- who reveal the quiet desperation of parents who are and were consistently at a loss in helping their troubled children, to Kaitlyn Dever as the boy’s sister (who Evan also has a crush on)- still trying to come to terms with her brother’s psychosis even after he’s gone, to Amandla Stenberg as the school president who hides her own anxiety issues. Nik Dodani (from Netflix’s “Atypical”) also provides some levity as Evan’s only (and family) friend. This also looks at family trying to recover from great loss, students dealing with hard issues, social media’s role of solidarity and hypocrisy when dealing with said issues, as well as morality vs. what people want to hear. 

 And then there are the songs, which hit a home run from the opening scene- some of the best include the heartbreaker on alienation (“Waving Through a Window), Stenberg’s inner monologue on what we hide (“The Anonymous Ones”), Evan’s idea of a perfect (and unfortunately fake) friendship (“For Forever”), and reaching out (the musical’s triumph “You will be Found”). “The Greatest Showman’s” lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul also give us love ballads and humorous asides but again i’m more impressed at the feeling they hit on with each song. “Dear Evan Hansen” is something downbeat that somehow manages to be poignant but also an uplifting piece of acknowledgement, acceptance,  and support. It may be longer than need be and Platt’s age distracts a bit. But listen and watch the kid. A hard lesson will be learned and it does it in a way that leaves us leaving on a theatrical high.

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The Eyes of Tammy Faye Movie Review

Scandal” is usually the word that comes to mind whenever anyone remembers The Bakkers but “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” is always told through, or comes back around, to Tammy Faye. More sympathetic than anyone realized and smarter than her large eyebrows and clownish amount of make-up suggest, she proves a considerable acting challenge well met by Jessica Chastain. 

The movie tries to chart her whole life. Her mother (Cherry Jones) had her out of wedlock and tried to keep her away from the Church’s ridicule yet Tammy’s love for God was too strong. She (Chastain as an adult) wound up in bible college where she met Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), a strong proponent in prosperity bible principles. The two are quickly married. She supports his dream of being a preacher and soon both are rubbing elbows with the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the way to starting their own religious TV network. 

Faye would be nearly everything to Bakker: his dutiful and obedient wife, his backbone, his charisma, and his singing/dancing hype machine. And much the same way, Chastain is all of this to the movie as well. The make-up job on her as she ages is terrific but it’s the story of a woman who loved everyone but also tried to commercialize it for her own gain that is the movie’s most compelling. She is portrayed as phenomenally naive at times but also a woman who really knew what she wanted at others.  Scenes where she stands up to Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio) through LGBT activism are a triumph both for the character as well as Chastain but how she manages to put blinders on to the Mafia-like nature of the TV evangelists, or why she continues to put up with Jim’s constant dismissal of her are questions you wish the film had gone into more. 

There is also some question around Jim’s sexualituy that the film seems very hesitant to answer, even as Garfield imbues him with just the right amount of weak, shameless character traits. Where the film really fails is that it feels like it’s just speeding through decades, giving us cliff notes. Director Michael Showalter’s approach is too straightforward- making sure to hit everything but being introspective about next to nothing. “Tammy Faye” sadly becomes a checklist film, but Chastain gives it life.   

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you found this informative, and if you did, comment, like, or follow for more. It comes as much appreciated and i’d love to hear from you. Thanks again. 

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Copshop movie review

“Cop Shop” is a simply made little thriller for people who like to sort through ambiguity. It comes from Joe Carnahan, sort of an American version of Guy Ritchie (sure, Tarantino is American Guy Ritchie, but c’mon, he’s in a different league) who likes to create tough guys, B-grade thrills and exceptional visual style, and his obvious jumping off point here is John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13.”     

 It centers around a Nevada Police Precinct where Teddy (Frank Grillo) sits in a cell, seemingly wanting to be there since purposely punching out a Deputy by name of Valerie  (Alexis Louder). Then Gerard Butler’s Bob shows up, which immediately ups his concern. From there, Carnahan keeps throwing in pieces to the puzzle- from a dead attorney general and a shadier precinct cop seemingly on the hook with some bad people. 

 Butler and Grillo blend into all this well- both hold secrets and each actor portrays enough in the way of corrupt sleaze that makes those secrets seem compelling- we listen to their interplay between cells and wonder not just who they are, but if one will emerge as a more reliable protagonist. While their dialogue is not as snappy as one would hope, it’s kinda fun to watch their body language as well as the way they chastise each other.   

 The one who gives the star making performance though is Louder, whose Deputy Valerie basically doubles as the audience. Like us, she’s constantly trying to figure out who to trust, but she’s quick on the uptake and unflinching as the situation continues to take turns. Toby Huss is also entertaining as a hitman who enters into the situation mid-way through; one of those cartoonish psychos who can be fun if played with enough eccentric glee and given funny lines, of which Huss gets both. 

 As the action finally does kick into high gear, Carnahan lets the bullets fly in a situation that takes on a lot of visual flair and hipness. The showdowns are intense and the scene is chaotic but well-shot. Mostly it’s fun just to see people who have kept their intentions close to the vest for so long finally reveal themselves, while others prove what we knew all along. “Copshop” is nothing brilliant, but it has the performances and enough of a punch to be diverting. 

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Top 10 List

I’ve been doing a huge watch through of many films from the 80′s and I actually just got done watching everything i’ve wanted to watch from the year 1989. Here is my 10 Best. New reviews will be coming soon so be sure to follow to keep up with those. Much appreciated. 

Honorable mentions: Field of Dreams, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Casualties of War, Sex Lies and Videotape, Parenthood, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Say Anything, Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Born on the Fourth of July, The Bear, My Left Foot, Roger and Me, Vampire’s Kiss, Fabulous Baker Boys

10. War of the Roses- One of Danny DeVito’s greatest successes as a director and he deserved this one. A dark comedy on divorce, this re-teaming of DeVito with his “Romancing The Stone” and “Jewel of the Nile” co-stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner starts out funny but gets viciously savage by the end. 

9. When Harry Met Sally- Doing a total 180 from #10, this is simply the best romantic comedy ever made. Nora Ephron’s dialogue is fast, witty, and I never feel more like a mush mouth than when I listen to it. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are great together, Ryan especially for reasons that are all too apparent for anyone who’s seen the film 

8. The Abyss- Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are perfect together in what is the real, best, romance that James Cameron has ever created. But more to the point, this is a claustrophobic, tension-filled, underwater delight, the best of its kind by far, holding scenes that put me in rapt awe every time I watch it. The ending is still not great and the aliens don’t really help but this still holds Cameron out as the special talent he is. 

7. Crimes and Misdemeanors- A cynical tale from Woody Allen that gets two great performances, not only from himself but from the even better Martin Landau, who gets a whole storyline in examination of morality and is never not compelling in it. Allen gives himself the funnier role. Alan Alda, Jerry Orbach, and Sam Waterston also each have pivotal roles and are phenomenal in what is a flawlessly written, honest look at humanity. 

6. Heathers- A great dark comedy, if not the best of all time, which satirizes that weird time known as high school where popularity is key...and can be a real killer. Winona Ryder and Christian Slater are both great in it- a sure fire classic of the High School genre. 

5. Lethal Weapon 2 and Back to the Future 2- I put these two together because i’m weak and this was another really outstanding year but they belong together, both really build on the greatness that came before- the plots feel very fresh, the humor in both cases is done with much more ease this time around, the characters continue to grow, and both definitely know how to thrill. 

4. Little Mermaid- The start of something grand- leading Disney into the 90’s with a blend of new animation techniques, outstanding music, and some of the best and most urgent story-telling the studio has ever created. 

3. Batman- Pound for pound still a wonderfully dark and gritty take on the Batman character- from the production, make-up and costume design Burton has made something beautifully gothic here, despite not proceeding exactly according to lore, and he couldn’t have done better than Nicholson and Keaton in the lead roles. 

2. Do The Right Thing- Though hard to find the clear message, Spike Lee creates a pivotal and volatile piece of work that asks good questions in the hopes we can see all the differing viewpoints he presents here. That’s why this is still the best film ever made about race relations in this country. 

1.Glory- Powerful from first frame to last, everything about this film is worthy of utmost respect, from a story of pride and sacrifice, to incredible battle sequences (especially the finale march on Fort Wagner, which is one of the bravest things ever captured on film), to the riveting performances, and James Horner and The Harlem Boys Choir’s soaring, patriotic, and beautiful musical score- certainly in the top 5 ever produced. I feel moved and filled with deference every time I watch this story play out and i’ve maybe watched it a hundred times over the years. One of the best war movies of all time.

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Back to the Future 2 Movie Review

“Back to the Future 2”, much like “Lethal Weapon 2” of this same year, does what all great sequels should do- it lovingly references its predecessor while taking it in new and exciting directions. Perhaps i’m biased because it’s the first movie I ever saw that exposed me to the idea of time paradoxes but even so, the juggling that Robert Zemeckis is doing here made me admire the man so much more as a great storyteller. 

In it, Marty (Michael J. Fox) has no sooner gotten home from the past when Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has returned with news about Marty’s children in the future. They must go to Hill Valley 2015, where Marty will see his future self and family and stop an awful event from happening, but also screw with time by buying a sports almanac that winds up in the hands of Biff (Thomas Wilson), who uses it and screws up the present. 

Fox is made more the action hero this time around but with the same affability and astonishment as the first. He’s never better than when not only witnessing but playing many of the members of his future family. Lloyd is still the crackpot voice of reason- it’s amazing how riveting (and mostly clear) he is in his breakdowns of alternate timelines and butterfly effects and so on. Wilson is again a big hulking obstacle while Lea Thompson also goes through a lot of character iterations as Marty’s mom. 

But what I love about this one is first the look of the future- it’s a mix of dreams and nostalgia where flying cars and skateboards exist as well as where people still can’t get enough of the past and so have turned it into kitsch- the 80’s diner where Reagan and Komeni argue as virtual waiters is a great gag. But then later Zemeckis also has great fun with the present- turning it into a gaudy, violent, cesspool-like hell. 

Zemeckis was criticized for going dark this time around but it’s to the film’s benefit, showing what happens if one of those time paradoxes manages to occur and the race against time itself to correct it. This is all so intricate and he’s thought of nearly everything- from how the paradox occurs, to why Marty never meets himself when returned to 1985 the second time, to the near impossible task of needing to return to 1955 to get the Almanac back from young Biff while avoiding the disaster of disrupting the mission of the first film.  

Sure, the way Biff gets hold of the time machine to set this all in motion is kinda contrived and the future itself does have product placement, I reject the latter as a criticism though because we are a materialistic society and this is a future that favors the improvement of materialism. 

“Back to the Future 2” has the same great dialogue as the first (“Roads, where we’re going, we don’t need roads”), the same confrontations with Biff made all the more urgent, and Alan Silvestri’s wonderful musical theme playing over all of its most climactic moments. True it is not as emotionally resonant as the first, and it is trying to set up the third movie along the way, but damn if it’s not more thrilling. This is near flawless filmmaking that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. And to end i’m trying to work in a “chicken” reference but I just can’t, so i’ll leave it at that.