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Reviews
The X Files: Never Again (1997)
Morgan & Wong's greatest miss
Some good stuff with Scully & Mulder at the beginning and ending, but this is a powerfully dumb episode based on a spooky talking tattoo that makes a loser turn into a killer of women.
Who should breeze into his loser life? Agent Scully, on a week of duty solo, as Mulder has mandatory time off.
In the previous episode Scully learned she likely has cancer. But when love walks in the room, who cares about cancer?
Gillian Anderson appears miserable throughout despite gamely going along. She's a pro's pro, after all. The next episode, Memento Mori, is one of the best. Hit the skip button past Never Again.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Awaiting the inevitable Extended Cut
While at 2.5 hours this movie hits the mark on all counts, those fans of Herbert's books will find some depth lacking. As most reviews note, Thufir Hawat is omitted entirely from Part II, a key change from the novel. Mostly I love Villeneuve's alterations, and I understand that Hawat's place probably gets expanded in a potential Part III. So this reviewer abides the deviation from the novel.
Also, Alia. I can't wait to see what Anya Taylor-Joy brings to an adult Alia in a sequel in several distant years. Her role in Part II is severely truncated, although she gives away much of what will happen in Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, not that most film-goers will catch it.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but this film just seems too short to tell the long journey of teenage Paul to the adult antihero Muad'dib who coldly murders Baron Harkonnen and rips the throne from the Emperor.
But even though I feel this way, what Villaneuve gives us is richly satisfying as a pair of heroic, action-packed, hard science fiction films very much in the spirit of Frank Herbert.
Poor Things (2023)
Engrossing Grotesque Comedy
Like a gallery full of Hieronymus Bosch paintings come to life, Emma Stone lays bare the soul of a resurrected woman from infant mind to mastermind.
This piece of cinema will appeal most to diehard fans of bizarre dark comedies from David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, and Guillermo del Toro. The visions are wild and often difficult to watch. The jokes, such as they are, are long-developing and exquisitely torturous. There is no shortage of flesh, both viscera and skin itself, but the nudity is not remotely titillating. Rather the nakedness is used to ask questions about sex that are rarely asked except by an innocent newcomer to human society.
Stone commits fully to the work, bringing Bella Baxter into increasingly sharper view as she develops inside her fully grown body. Her power is her rawness, and all men are drawn to her, even her ersatz father (the always remarkable Willem Dafoe).
This is a story of freedom of the soul from the chains of reality. As unreal as it appears, the people, especially Bella, are all too brutally real.
Wish (2023)
A Disney signature masterpiece
This film is audacious. It not only bases its title on "When You Wish Upon a Star," the ultimate Disney anthem (among many), it *delivers the goods.* It is a fairy tale of the best Disney sort. A young woman and her 7 grumpy, sneezy, bashful, etc. Friends , with the help of a bit of cosmic magic, stand against a seemingly benevolent wizard-king. They do not triumph. They lose badly. And the fun goes on from there.
Excellently written and performed, with capable direction and brisk editing to 90ish minutes, the movie blows by like stardust in your hair and eyes.
Do not miss your chance to Wish.
We Were Famous, You Don't Remember: The Embarrassment (2022)
So many sights to see from your Isetta
The best rock band you never heard of gets a detailed documentary, heavy on archival footage of members of the band themselves in the 1970s and 1980s, with updated commentary from them all decades after the The Embarrassment had broken up.
It tells the story of college art students in the 70s who enjoyed Bowie, The Stooges, Ramones, and other non-mainstream bands, then set out to learn to be their own weird, spastic, energetic rock style.
The film is also about Kansas, and Kansans, and one small, vanishing oasis of unique culture that sprang from the railyards, aviation plants, and farm fields of the Sunflower State.
Few documentaries are as much fun as this one. Don't miss it!
Renfield (2023)
Gory action horror comedy
Okay, there really isn't *much* horror. It's an action comedy with blood and entrails aplenty, set in spooky-grimy New Orleans. But Renfield is played with a bloody geyser of camp, especially from the two leads, Hoult and Cage, with Akwafina holding her own in a romantic heroine role that she pulls off just fine. Cage gets deep into his Lugosi bag, with a few moves remniscent of Nosferatu as well. I'm sure there are Christopher Lee and Frank Langella nods as well. Cage is clearly enjoying himself here. But Nick Hoult is the star, and he creates a likably doomed hero.
This flick is NOT for everybody. But if you go in wanting a fun matinee to enjoy with a beer, sink your canines deep into Renfield.
The Consultant (2023)
Weird, dark, & compelling
After only two episodes, my mind is buzzing with speculation. Is Patoff and android? Is this all virtual reality? Was Sang's mother just an actress hired by Patoff? Is Sang even dead or is this his "next level" game involving his own employees?
What I do know for sure is this is a dark, often extremely dark, comedy that employs humor most will utterly miss, or avoid. There is zero sentimentality here. All of the characters are somewhat unlikable, but well-crafted by good actors, including the Kafka-esque Waltz.
Sometimes madness masquerades as ordinary life. Most people never see the laughing skull beneath the surface.
Zong shi Ye Wen (2019)
Chinese propaganda
This movie is worthless propaganda for the militant police state that is 21st century China. This post will probably be cited if I ever try to visit China, but so what? The Ip Man name should never have been applied to this trash.
Apparently the Chinese government desperately needs a heroic mythology to rival what is offered by the West by way of Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, Tolkien, and Marvel/DC Hollywood. So they're exalting Ip Man to cop superhero.
Donnie Yen is the real deal. He ain't in this mess.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
It's definitely a movie
This is almost certainly a movie. It has actors, special effects, and titles. There are guns. Some people are bald, some are hairy. In conclusion, it is definitely a movie.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Now we've got a franchise
Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman founded Ghost Corps in 2015, dedicated to expanding the Ghostbusters franchise beyond the original two films and smaller media ventures like video games and comic books. The first film was 2016's female led Ghostbusters, with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones. For me, that film was a well-intentioned failure that suffered perhaps from too much star power. It remains unworthy of a sequel.
Jason Reitman takes over this ABC Afterschool Special-like edition, which promises the returns of Bill Murray's Peter Venkman, Ernie Hudson's Winston Zeddemore, and Ayroyd's Ray Stantz. Yet other than a spectral appearance from shadowy Egon Spengler to start the film, the major stars of the series don't appear until much deeper into the film.
Instead we get family story of a single mom, Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her two kids, Trevor and Phoebe (Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace), the latter which is a young wunderkind in the mold of her famous grandfather. Kicked out of New York City, the family moves to a dilapidated farm in Oklahoma. Paul Rudd is the kids' new high school science teacher, who develops a fondness for the new family in town.
The plot throws us back to the ending of the 1984 original, as Mr. Staypuft hasn't quite been finally defeated. Sumerian destruction god/dess Gozer is back to vex the world in Oklahoma.
It's all good fun, with a good pace and playful dialogue. Most important of all, for me, is this movie is in the charming spirit of the original 1984 film. Laughs come easily and often.
Don't pick apart the plot. Just enjoy it with some popcorn.
Eternals (2021)
Enjoyable but...
Frustrating film. Are these characters superheroes or gods or demigods or robots or angels? Who knows, who' cares, right? I dug it mostly but the flaws are almost too many to list.
I'll start with the actors. Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo), Bryan Tyree Henry (Phastos), and Ma Dong-seok (Gilgamesh) are the only characters that I felt worked. The leads were all flat, especially Gemma Chan (Sersi) and Richard Madden (Ikaris). Angelina Jolie (Athena) is underused, and Kit Harrington is barely in the film. The others are mostly forgettable. For a film about characters, the lack of real chemistry is a 2 hour 36 minute problem.
The plot is good enough for a comic book movie, trying to stop a God (pardon me, a Celestial) from being born and thereby destroying the cool planet The Avengers have saved repeatedly.
The nominal villains are monsters called Deviants that are about as threatening as any CG monsters. I thought they sucked. Any action flick is judged by its villains. These never threaten.
So far every Marvel flick has had it's "HELL YEAH!" moment where the embattled heroes finally rise above their enemy. This one never even gets close to a moment like that,
Zhao was the wrong choice for director. But the script was bad at times. Mostly this mess was Zhao's fault.
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Fresh take on horror genre
The last original take on horror seems like 1979's Alien, a movie that scared the bejeezus out of my 14 year old psyche.
While this worthy entry by Edgar Wright is a horror movie, it's not one that keeps you on edge for an extended period, if at all. It has scary and gruesome images, especially in the second half, as the terror tableaux is revealed piece by piece.
But this film is far more female-centric than all the slasher horror films combined. Men are menacing terrors everywhere, or perhaps nowhere, as the reality and fantasy elements overlap and stack in a way that ratchets the tension ever higher.
I never would've seen this film if not for my wife, who loves 1960s Brit pop music and heard about it on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
I enjoyed it immensely and will see it again.
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
Fun film for fans, especially odd people
Wes Anderson just does his thing again, with some new twists like full frontal female nudity (a fair amount of skin from Léa Seydoux ) and Saturday morning 2D animation. Both aspects done with copious artistry in the tableaux style Anderson loves to employ.
The cast all plays along, as they always do in Anderson's movie. Bill Murray is mostly seen and heard in the opening, but sets the tone with his deadpan style. "No crying." Along the way big stars get their small parts, from Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Christoph Waltz, Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban, and Henry Winkler.
The heavy lifting of the film is done by Benicio Del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Frances MacDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, and Seydoux. Those six are just joyful to watch, especially Del Toro and Seydoux.
If this is your first Wes Anderson experience, good luck. You may hate it. But it's pure pleasure for Anderson fans.
As a native of the Sunflower State, let me just drop this nugget: Liberty, Kansas does exist, but on the other side of the state from where the fictional Liberty, Kansas of The French Dispatch is. And there is far more corn in Nebraska and Iowa than in wheat and soybean-filled Kansas fields.
No Time to Die (2021)
Bond at Ragnarok
The final image of Daniel Craig's tortured hero James Bond, restored as 007 for one last -- CIA -- mission to save the human race, will stay with me for days, maybe weeks. No Time to Die is breathtaking from start to finish.
There's no easy way to end a hero's journey, no easy time to die. But this epilogue for Craig's run is quieter than most. Don't get me wrong. There is the expected and unexpected flashes of action like no other film franchise ever, with loudness in extreme. It is Bond, after all. But No Time to Die is the apotheosis of all the Bond films, from Dr. No until today.
Will the casual Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, or The Rock film fan find much here? Probably not. The film isn't slambang action sequences piled exhaustingly on top of each other.
Instead, No Time to Die draws straight from Spectre and Skyfall and Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale in a magnum opus tour de force of suffering and redemption. Almost Wagnerian, really.
The final image, Bond alone, on the island, remains exquisitely powerful. No cheesy line like "For Queen and country" or "For honour" -- Craig's tenure is not about sentimentality. It's about sacrifice for the greater good, It is the end of this hero's long journey.
Long live James Bond, for it is No Time to Die.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Elevator pitch death plunge
"You've got three floors."
"So, fluke-munsters attack in 30 years and people from now have to go to the future to keep the buggers from killing everyone."
("Girl from Ipanema"plays softly as two characters stand motionless in the elevator for two floors descent)
"Does it have to make sense?"
"It'll do better box office if it doesn't."
"Like Starship Troopers on Earth but with way better effects and some Scientologists."
"It's a go."
Ray Donovan: Shabbos Goy (2017)
Great to see oldfave back
Spoiler alert.
Avi returns. And, man, he's in rough shape. Not as bad as physically as being tortured by the Russians, but in a way worse place mentally. As much as I find the Frank-Avi backstory contrived, it does give the season a low-level villain who has been a pain-in-the-keister to Ray since the beginning, Frank Barnes of the LAPD.
The Bunchy plot line is relentlessly unbelievable, and Bridget is still annoying. But the flashbacks to Abby and Ray do work, despite Ray never being at all reflective before Abby's death. That's the point, I suppose. Ray is mellowed now, and not in a good way.
Susan Sarandon as Samantha Winslow is, so far, rather boring. I find her storyline a snoozer and I don't care a bit about her fate. The didacticism about Hollywood has been there from the start but it's really heavy handed here. "They come here broken. They get rich and famous - and stay broken." FFS
Terry and Damon go to NYC, which is kinda cool.
The best stuff belongs to Mickey, again, who is now fixing not only Avi but Bunchy too.
So far the weakest season - no female lead - but the leads carried my interest even if the storylines don't.
The Sentinel (2006)
Yeah, no
This film suffers from impossibly poor directing. The screenplay may or may not have been decent; it's hard to tell. But when ALL of the performances are weirdly off, it points to Director Clark Johnson who isn't firmly in control of the piece.
Perhaps as a six-part miniseries this film could've decided what it wanted to be: political thriller, dangerous romance, or shoot-em-up. As presented it is a glossy series of cliches held together with bored stars.
The Dark Tower (2017)
This movie is badass
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this film. I wish it had been three hours long. And, no, I'm not a fan of the novels, although I may dive in. But any film this decent that enrages the finger-sniffing fanboys of the online world gets an extra star on IMDb from me.
Admit it: Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are brilliant actors well cast as the mortal opponents in a cosmic struggle of good and evil. Telling their epic tale through the boy Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor, also worthy of praise) is an inspired narrative device that appears to be much of the sand in joints in the fanboys who trash the reputation of a highly worthy film.
Like Watchmen, another excellent film that irritated fanboys, The Dark Tower is a wild ride across an action packed multiverse.
I want more. Lots more.