February 23, 2026

The Smashing Machine:

This film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt. Johnson portray Mark Kerr, a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter in the early days from 1997 until three years later. Kerr was a well decorated NCAA wrestler but what does one do once that is over? For Kerr it meant pumping up, drugging up, getting massive and training to develop more fighting skills. In North America we knew the Octagon with the UFC brand. It was brutal with bare fists and almost no rules. In this film we see that a rival league in Japan paid fighters called Pride. They set up matches in arenas in Tokyo and then broadcast the matches. From what we learned in this film, the fighters were paid very little. This is also a relationship story about Mark and his girlfriend Dawn.

There are a few ways to look upon this relationship. For me I see a couple that like many have challenges but they work through them. I can also see the supportive woman living with a man using steroids which is known to make them hyper-angry with a very short fuse. Then there is the toxic relationship where people who obviously shouldn’t be together keep finding ways to return even though one of them knows it’s not in their best interest. What I can say is that I am surprised that the real Dawn would be pleased with the way that her character is written and acts. Emily Blunt is too talented an actress to be playing this role. Neither of these characters is very likeable with fighting their own demons. The overall message seems to be that there were early pioneers in this barbaric sport which craves blood and knockouts over health for the participants. I have to admit that the final act and conclusion surprised me. I had not followed this fighting nor knew any of the names involved. In early release buzz there was talk about awards. I think people were more surprised by the physical transformation of Johnson, who was already very big, into how he looked at the Festivals.

In the end I was not moved by it. I was disappointed in the final resolution and felt that there was an element of “settling” where one or both parties gives up something that they value and may later regret or have built up resentment. This was more a physical challenge for Johnson and didn’t utilize Blunt’s ample acting skills. So I would not suggest spending your time on it.

Queen of Chess:

Netflix has just released a documentary about a woman from the world of chess. I grew up in the 70s, and I have spent most of my life around a world class chess player in my step-father. I also had a Dad who followed Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky matches. There was always a chess board around and rainy days at the cottage we could play. Chess was followed and written about. But then it went quiet.

It was generally accepted in a male dominated sport that women could not excel in chess. There was some nonsense believed about “killer instinct” and “mental acumen”. Early on we see the three sisters represent Hungary at the Chess Olympiad in women’s category that had been dominated for decades by the Soviets/Russians. Judit won every match that she played. They ended up winning the gold medal. From black sheep to champions. Moving ahead into the 1990s we see Judit winning more but striving to become a Grandmaster. Chess players have a scoring system and at 2500 you are that title. The youngest grandmaster had previously been Bobby Fischer at age 15 years and 6 months. Judit wanted the title. The rest of the story shows her matches against World Champion and personality Garry Kasparov. He was her idol. It is amazing to think about playing an intense game of chess for over 6 hours. I really liked seeing too that she remained grounded and fell in love and kept her number 1 world ranking the whole time. Asking her at the end whether she liked being part of her father’s experiment she pauses. How can she answer that? It is all she knows. Chess has given her everything in her life. Chess allowed her to travel out of Hungary at a young age when outside travel wasn’t permitted. She played 15 matches against arguably the best chess player ever. I would say that her life shows ground-breaking commitment to excellence at the highest level while remaining true to your family, your sisters and your husband. I recommend this highly.

But I also wonder, where has the chess coverage gone? Why do we not hear about the Chess Olympiad or other tournaments referenced here? Chess has indeed become a younger sport with the youngest Grandmaster now being around 12yo. It’s shocking really. But you don’t hear about big matches with interesting personalities. That is too bad because this is a game of the ages that is accessible to all.

February 16, 2026

Ballerina: A John Wick Story: After the Bond film No Time to Die was released and Ana De Armas was a secret agent working with 007 there was plenty of speculation that the effective De Armas could be a Bond. Instead, she has decided to become a tangential story in the John Wick world. I feel as though it has mixed results. John Wick at it’s most basic is a gun-for-hire who wants out but once his dog is killed he takes it very personally and uses his ample skills. In this film, De Armas as a little girl sees her father get murdered by a group of men with a distinctive mark.

Ian McShane shows up knowing the girl’s background and invites her to join a family so that she may look to the future. In her case, she wants revenge. The “family” is a training ground for assassins run by Anjelica Houston. She is a ruthless taskmaster. De Armas learns her painful lessons. Little does she know that she is following in the path of her slain father. Seems that the father was looking to escape a cult-like family. De Armas becomes a rogue element to seek out the cult-family that is headed by Gabriel Byrne. Seems that there is no lack of older Hollywood still looking for roles. Things proceed as you might expect with a couple surprises. Like John Wick it is astounding and unbelievable that De Armas acting alone can suffer the hits that she does and still function. In prolonged fights it is even more unbelievable. Yet despite all the hits, she doesn’t seem to bruise and also keeps her very pretty face intact. I am not sure that I need to see more from the John Wick, contract killer universe, even with a new rival family cult. I like De Armas. I think that she has plenty of versatility. I see a lot of Atomic Blonde in this movie, although Charlize Theron got more battered and bruised in that. The concept remains. For me this likely won’t stick in my memory for that long.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: I have been reading a number of times recently that some people feel that Lord of the Rings is the greatest series of movies ever. It has been a very long time that I have seen these movies and read the books. I did see the movies when they were released in the theatres.

Upon a re-watch I have to admit that my initial assessment of the movie remains the same. It is very pretty to look with some spectacular scenery of New Zealand (acting as Middle Earth) but I find that it is so very painfully slow to get anywhere.

Like the books which were long and drawn out affairs, it moves at a snail’s pace. The actors are absolutely committed to the roles and the production value is very high and convincing. But as far as the story goes, the story has a number of different avenues to build on from the first installment with the fellowship. Now separated, there is the hobbits Frodo and Sam, trailed by the sinister Gollum. Then there is Aragon with the elf and the dwarf. Finally the two other hobbits Pippin and Merry. Each has their own challenges. I don’t believe in the battle at The Keep where in the final act Gandalf shows up to assist with an unwinnable battle with the massive Orc army that does in fact breach the gates and enter the deep recesses of the Keep. The fact that the has risen doesn’t take away from their numerical advantage. Can Aragon with the horse King ride their horses through a formidable number of orcs to meet up with Gandalf? Seems incredibly unlikely as without doubt the orcs being trampled would take out the horses legs. But never mind. I re-state my initial assessment of this movie and the series, which later added the over-indulgent Hobbit series of movies that should have been made into a single two hour movie. It is not the best series ever for me. It wouldn’t even be in my top 10. So there it is. Actually putting forth such a list could be quite daunting in an of successful movies always getting a sequel.

February 9th, 2026

The Secret Agent: nominated for Best Actor and also for Best Picture this was the last of the Best Picture nominees that I needed to see. Starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, best known for me as playing Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series Narcos. He is very good. He plays Armando initially in late 1970s Brazil. It is a time of political instability. He is a former professor with a young son and a deceased wife.

The movie follows the intrigue surrounding him on a few timelines. One of those timeline is present day when a couple young female students are reading news articles and asked to transcribe audio cassettes from interviews from back in the day. Armando’s story interests the young present day students. Back in 1970s the film opens with Armando stopping for gas in his VW Bug with a dead man lying in the desert sand with cardboard atop his body. Armando is told by the gas station attendant that the body has been there for a few days. The police arrive and ignore the body but give a thorough inspection of Armando’s car. Thus is the current state of affairs with police.

The movie’s name is a tease because Armando nor any principal actors are government agents. This is not Mission Impossible or James Bond. They are ordinary people. Armando was involved in a patent, for which a Minister seems to be most interested. So interested that Armando is a target. Armando has a young son, and a father-in-law for his deceased wife. He takes on a job at the Records Office looking to track down the records for his own mother. And so the story goes as we follow what happens. The story is in some ways similar to last year’s I’m Still Here also set in Brazil during the military dictatorship. There the husband is taken away from his family and wife played by Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres tries to cope with this and find out what happened to him. We live in strange times and this movie is another that shows how uncertainty in government can impact the lives of ordinary citizens. This is worth checking out, although I don’t see it as an Oscar winner.

Predator Badlands: Back in 1987 the original Predator was released as an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie with Carl Weathers and Jesse “the Body” Ventura. A team of well trained commandos is sent into a Latin American jungle where all but Arnold is wiped out. The creature didn’t speak but had the ability to cloak itself, as well as having sophisticated weapons in its armour. Arnold described it in the end as “one ugly motherf-er”. He was right. If you can believe it, there have been five core Predator films plus an additional two Alien crossover films. I would never have guessed that this creature would spawn so many movies. Who knew?
It is surprising to me how Elle Fanning who stars in this in a duel role can make this film and then also do Sentimental Value. They are just so different. In this she plays synthetic robotic organisms. They are named Tessa and Thia. Think of them like C-3PO and you aren’t far off. Thia has had a setback on her own and met up with Dek the Predator.

Dek has had his own troubles on his own planet as his brother and father look down upon him as a runt in the gene pool. They cannot seem to tolerate that. Dek wants to prove his valour (like How to Train Your Dragon) by capturing a formidable and dangerous creature from another planet. So there you have it. On the journey Dek learns some things about alliances and loyalty and sentiment. Thia learns that she works for the ruthless Weyland-Yutani Corporation, from the Alien franchise, which values alien destructive beings for weaponization. There are pieces of other movies here, like Star Wars visually, and Avatar with its deadly natural world along with Aliens with this deadly new creature. Did this exceed expectations? Well no because there were none. I expected this to be formulaic nonsense. I will say that it didn’t suck. That’s something if you want something to pass the time on an airplane. However, nothing really is gained and the needle about Predators isn’t really moved. Imagine a whole planet of them! At the same time it is a bit of a paradox how such a lizard/dinosaur like creature can create such technology. How does one program complex IT and weapons systems with those fingers?? There is a set up for a further sequel to this and I can assure readers that I won’t see it in the theatres. I will bet that Arnold probably never imagined that his initial film 38 years ago would still crank out new films.

February 2nd, 2026

Nouvelle Vague: released on Netflix this is a black and white film from Richard Linklater. Richard has had a banner year with this release and also Blue Moon. Set in Paris in the late 1950s this movie explores the directorial debut of Jean Luc Godard. He was part of the French Film Revolution that also included his friend and competitor Francois Truffaut. They were part of a school which brought about a number of famous actors, directors and movies. The movie he produces is Breathless, which is regarded as a classic. I have never seen it, and my only knowledge of it is the poor remake with Richard Gere back in the 80s.

Godard was frustrated among his peers that he had only directed a short film by the age of 25. He sells his producer the idea of this next movie. He has a vision, but has an unconventional idea on the creative process. He wants for things to just happen organically and not be scripted out. He has no script. He has ideas which he passes on to his actors. The principal female actor Jean Seberg (an American from Iowa in France) was not convinced of this style which was unlike she had done in Hollywood. She tried to walk off the film a number of times but he husband and agent convinced her to stay. Her interaction with Jean-Paul Belmondo made the process worthwhile it seems for her. Godard battled with his producer, his crew was left with odd times to work with early days at times while Godard contemplated where things would go. It was interesting and kept me engaged. Godard for his attitude and approach to filming would rub others the wrong way but he was fixated on the task at hand of creating art. Art is forever. Process is temporary. This is worth checking out. I wish that I had more film history knowledge. If I have watched Godard films I likely would get more out of this. I am more familiar with Trouffaut but even then not as much. Still it seemed to be well made and took a concerted effort to re-imagine this movie. No one can ever claim that Linklater doesn’t do his homework.

Eddington: I had heard some positive buzz about this movie. It stars A-list actors, multiple Oscars with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Austin Butler and Mr Everywhere Pedro Pascal. Set in early 2020 in small town Eddington New Mexico, we have a town struggling with COVID, like everywhere else. Phoenix plays the town sheriff, and he is married to Stone. Pascal plays the town’s mayor who is coming up for re-election. Early on I knew that I was going to struggle with this story. Phoenix doesn’t believe in COVID, he refuses to wear a mask and corrects those in town (like the grocery store owner) trying to ensure that masks are worn in store, and there is social distancing. I had trouble with Phoenix as a man in a position of power defying the laws of New Mexico and federally. The Mayor does wear a mask and has the statistics to back up the reasoning. Early on in a fit of pique Phoenix chooses to record himself and post on Facebook his decision to run for mayor. He takes his two deputies and makes them campaign managers. He decorates his police vehicle with his campaign stickers and posters (some of them with improper grammar).

The sheriff lives with his wife and mother in law. Neither of whom treat him with any respect. Wife Stone is struggling with her past and seeks better options than those offered by Phoenix. She certainly makes it clear that she doesn’t want her personal life made public. A series of incidents occur and it leads quickly to a substantial elevation in conflict between the two men. It is actually quite surprising just how far this is willing to go.

There is the adage that one can “embellish to make a point”. This ploy takes that to entirely new levels, all the while adding in current social issues to comment on. The issues include sexual misconduct, rape, false accusations, big IT harming the general public, professional chaos seekers and demonstrators, rascism, white privilege, indigenous rights, police corruption, abuses of power, gun control, social media, blame shifting and more. It adds up to a complete mess with the final act putting the cherry on top! Certainly there is commentary being made about the American experiment and just how broken the system can become. I am still sorry that the decision was made to take this over the top to the extent that it did. Ultimately I didn’t really care in the final act, because I didn’t have a character to cheer on. So the point gets lost when the principal party involved is a repulsive human being who has no filter and no sense of duty.

January 26th, 2026

Nobody 2: Starring Bob Odenkirk (Saul Goodman) this sequel to the original picks up where the other left off. In a John Wick way, Bob plays a family man, wife and two kids who live in the suburbs. Bob however doesn’t have an ordinary job, and he performs tasks requiring his specialized skills which John Wick would be pleased. Bob has some anger management issues as part of his package and he has a hair trigger. It seems his son has inherited some of his genes.

Bob finishes a gig for his syndicate (making a minor dent in the debt that he owes from the consequences of the first film). But he needs a break as he has promised his wife to have a vacation. He decides to return to a family amusement park of his youth in the Midwest. His own Dad, played by Back to the Future Doc Christopher Lloyd, is invited to come back to reminisce as create “new memories” with his grandchildren. We learn quickly through the local sheriff, played by Colin Hanks with a Forrest Gump haircut, which I will assume that very deliberate, getting in Bob’s face early. The town has a couple of other notable baddies including Sharon Stone. Things escalate quickly into a carnage free for all in the amusement park. It’s funny how there seems to be endless prep time for boobie traps and deadly games all while the baddies are on their way over in what was quite a small town.

For me, I cheered for Bob and his family. The baddies were bad enough with Stone chewing on bullets and being ruthless and profane. It was an hour and a half that went by quickly on an airplane ride. I am glad that I didn’t pay for it, like the original but it is an interesting new turn for Bob Odenkirk the actor who is clearly looking to shed the Breaking Bad lawyer in Albuquerque gig.

Song Sung Blue: when I had seen trailers for this movie in the theatres I was not overly enthusiastic about the premise. But like the recently reviewed Rental Family, this story based on a real life couple in Wisconsin had more depth and emotion than just a cover band expose. I will also confess that this music is what was played at my household and cottage throughout my years (I knew every one of the songs).

Hugh Jackman plays journeyman alcoholic (sober for many years) Mike Sardinia, who plays music to fill his soul instead of alcohol. He meets at a retro cover band tribute artist Clare (Kate Hudson) who is singing Patsy Cline tunes. He is immediately awestruck.

Jackman is excited to find some better paying gigs as he has a teenage daughter and a mortgage. Hudson had suggested that he had the hair to do Neil Diamond, which he had refused before because he held Diamond in such high regard. Things happen quickly and they become a couple. Then just after they have their big break (and it is a really big break) then other things happen. This all came as a surprise to me. I was surprised and felt that they dealt with real life in an authentic way.

I had seen the award nominations for Kate Hudson and was surprised. I am not surprised any longer. This isn’t just performing on stage, there were real hurdles for her character to address. Both Jackman and Hudson were very good in showing their connection. The rest of the cast includes Jim Belushi, Michael Imperioli (Chris from the Sopranos) who not for a moment did I believe that he could sing like Buddy Holly nor actually play the guitar. I was emotionally engaged in the story and had more than a few surprises. The two daughters, one was Hudson’s and the other Jackman’s, are very good as they explore being forced together because their parents have started dating. It is a charming side story. This is worth checking out and especially so if you like Neil Diamond’s music, because as Jackman insists throughout, he has way more songs than just Sweet Caroline.

January 19th, 2026

Rental Family: Brendan Frasier a number of years ago was the hunky action star in such movies as The Mummy and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Then he disappeared for a while but returned with a vengeance (acting wise) with his award winning role in The Whale. Within the role, he morphed into a John Candy-like big man with a big heart and empathetic nature. He was likeable and believable. Now his follow up picture puts him to use those skills acting in Japan.

He plays an American actor living and working in Japan. He gets the odd role, but is approached one day by a guy who runs a rental service. He employs actors, thus the need for Frasier, who assist people with emotional needs.

It is easy to dismiss this movie as a young girl in need of a Daddy figure, but that would just be scratching the surface and not embracing the depth within. Frasier, with hesitancy, decides to help out and get a paying gig. His first assignment seems simple, acting as an older groom for a young Japanese woman looking for her freedom. Freedom from her country, her family, her marital obligations and the expectations culturally that are placed upon her. The second and third gigs involve the aforementioned little girl, whose Mom wants her to get into a prestigious school, and she feels that having a “family” for the interviews will increase the likelihood for success. For Frasier it involves having the young girl like him. The story goes on.

For me this movie wins in the depth of the story. It’s not just surrogacy. Frasier connects with his clients in ways that the business owner doesn’t foresee. What the owner sees as a paycheck, Frasier sees as manipulation. He doesn’t like it. Frasier has his own life story which blends well here. The same is true for other employees and actors in the company. All the stories feel genuine and real. Frasier brings forth someone who acts in his own way, showing his humanity and doing what he feels is right for his clients. Not just reading the lines from a script that the one paying directs. It works. It is emotional and clever. Frasier once again is likeable and discloses his own layers over time. Each of the characters seems to grow as the story unfolds logically. But the emotional hook is what will stay with you as the credits roll. John Candy once did a cheesey movie called Summer Rental. This is better than that. It has some similarities to Candy’s Uncle Buck which was a better film than Summer Rental. I highly recommend this movie. Seek it out and see for yourself what you get from it.

No Other Choice: this South Korean film was released back in August. It speaks about the concept of having few or no alternatives. Set in the present day, there is a husband and wife with two children. They own a home and seem to be doing well. Husband had worked for 25 years in the paper manufacturing business, building up a business from the ground up. His company was just acquired by an American firm. Unbeknownst to him, he unceremoniously gets downsized. He had felt he had a perfect life. This goes sideways quickly.

We learn that his wife was a single mom before meeting him. His youngest, a daughter, is about 8 years old and speaks very little. What she has is a talent in playing the cello. The parents don’t hear her perform. Older son is a typical teenager. Moody and seeking independence. Upon the termination husband cannot focus. He thinks about other paper-related jobs. After a couple of rejections he becomes more anxious. So does his wife. The rest of the story explores just how far they are willing to go. This is a dark tale with some black humour thrown in. For example, husband chooses to identify paper managers in common with him and then seeks to physically eliminate them. Working on another level we see the same efforts in the businesses that the husband is applying to; they seek AI and make investments in robotics to eliminate the need for people (or even lights). From the man who “had it all” he sacrifices a lot to regain some aspect of his earlier dream. His relationship with his wife changes. He witnesses how other marriages are impacted by job changes. In this society, having a job defines you and who you are. It is well told and acted. There are some gruesome scenes with escalating intensity. Part of me thought that if husband channeled his efforts in using his skills in a more productive way, he would have landed a job elsewhere. But this I think is one of the points of the movie. He doesn’t see beyond these immediate opportunities in a given industry. He also doesn’t always help himself in making light in conversation. He wouldn’t ever be hired as a contract killer to be sure. It seems the Academy doesn’t watch many subtitled films but this was a decent one.

January 12, 2026

Die My Love: How does a relationship that starts out with love, passion and connection become filled with anger, resentment and disconnection? This movie directed by Lynne Ramsey and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson explores this situation more fully. With an opening scene showing a young couple checking out a seemingly abandoned house, we see them move in with ideas and passion for other another. Lawrence plays wife and writer Grace and she is married to Pattinson as seemingly a general labourer who seems to spend plenty of time on the road. Supporting actors include veterans Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek who I have not seen in a while.

They live in remote farmland presumably in rural New York. It could be Iowa or Kansas or South Dakota. There are small town people around who all seem to know each other and everyone’s business. Grace has a newborn baby son which she adores. Husband is busy with work on the road. We see Grace being challenged with loneliness and an emptiness. She can have moments with local townspeople where she is downright rude, lashing out. All the while she also has a high libido which borders on nymphomania. Husband struggles to understand her moods. The story continues to show a steady downward spiral for Grace. It is difficult to watch.

If you think that Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I Would Kick You deserves Oscar consideration, then this performance by Lawrence should be given equal consideration. She plays a woman bordering on unhinged very well. You see in her face at times an emptiness. Where she doesn’t seem to be fully engaged. As her actions become more erratic she ratchets up the mania. This is a dark story and can be difficult to watch. As a male, once again I am troubled by a wife who is more and more challenging. It can drive him to lash out in frustration which naturally doesn’t help. I can add that it was not a good idea on his own to introduce a yappy dog into the equation especially when he had no real intention of being there for the training and discipline. It makes an already tense situation even more troublesome. This is not a public service announcement for dog ownership. I think that this movie does effectively show how ill prepared people are generally with others who have struggled with mental illness and depression. Small talk and condescending tones are not helpful. The two leads tackle the delicate subject matter well. Lawrence and Byrne may split the vote for those looking to reward a portrayal of women in distress.

Still this in the end is worthy of a viewing for the performances and exploring the subject matter in a fresh way. Sorry Baby also covers a difficult subject well. It has been a good year for such stories.

The Red Sea Diving Resort: in 2019 Netflix was involved in putting together a story about assisting native Jewish Ethiopians from their land. The was 1979 and there was change in the Ethiopian government. People were seeking asylum. Avi Levinson (played by Chris Evans without his Captain America suit) is looking to assist these desperate people and get them to Jerusalem. Also part of the cast is Ben Kingsley and Greg Kinnear as the most notable actors. Kingsley is in charge in Israel and wants to find ways to facilitate the ongoing mission. It is dangerous.

Evans after being extracted on orders back to Israel comes up with a plan to use an abandoned hotel with scuba diving to be a front to take refugees from nearby Sudan and bring them to this resort and then ferry them to Israeli boats. Ari is a risk-taker and he brings along a team of rebels (his known accomplices with required skills) to make it happen. Of course there is a villain who is a military commander who is ruthless in his dealings with the refugees. There is a cat and mouse game where Ari looks to fool the commander with his real intentions.

This was brought to my attention by a friend. It kept my attention and if only some of it is accurate it is a story that we didn’t hear about because it dealt with black African Jewish people. I am astounded at the level of investment in time, money and manpower in extracting these people by the Israeli government. Thousands ultimately were brought back to Jerusalem presumably to start new lives in peace. One wonders how well these people integrated back into Israeli society. I hope that they are doing well. Certainly I would expect that they would have sympathy with current events in Gaza as they have unfolded. It was good too to see Chris Evans do some more serious work.

January 5th, 2026

Happy New Year! We enter this year with me being on the road. I have undertaken a trip to South America, from the north to the south covering 10 weeks. As a result I will continue to post given that I am away, as I expect that I will still have time to watch movies and write.

The Running Man: This is a remake of the original 1987 film with Arnold Schwartzenegger, based upon the Stephen King novel and directed by Paul Michael Glaser. At the time it was a rather comical tale with Richard Dawson (well know for hosting gameshow Family Feud, and kissing everyone) making this a strange story. The prospect of remaking this with Glen Powell as the lead named Ben Richards. I had very modest expectations for this. It ended up being better than I had expected.

There is a typical backstory provided with a nation still (even in the future) to address socialized medicine and a young couple have a sick child for whom they cannot afford the appropriate medicine. Ben Richards and his spouse have a sick daughter, and Ben has a personality that has anger management issues. He has been dismissed from numerous jobs because of insubordination. His spouse is already working two jobs. Surrounding him in this futuristic world are advertisements promising endless sums of money for participating in the reality TV gameshow where a contestant puts their life on the line. Richards despite his wife’s protests ends up deciding, or more properly, being manipulated into entering The Running Man which is the most intense, dangerous and rewarding of all of them. He is convinced by the executive producer Dan Killian, played by Josh Brolin who is absolutely everywhere these days. In a funny scene there is a movie on a screen shown and it has Josh’s father James Brolin in the role!

The rules are simple. Richards is given a head start, for which he gets a signing bonus, and must survive for thirty days. Each day he lives he must submit a video, deposited in a mailbox. Each day he lives he gets more money. Each agent that hunts him he kills he gets a bonus. No one has ever lasted the full distance with the longest being 29 days. Finally, everyone in society can be rewarded for sending film or locations of the contestants, which will be displayed by the show and the enthusiastic host. The contest each time has three contestants. They do not work together. This suits Richards as he is a loner, along with someone with a sizeable chip on his shoulder. Naturally the media used tells their own version of the story of each contestant to make the society feel compeeled to have them punished.

There are themes of TV looking for blood and not telling the truth, along with using all means fair and foul to keep the ratings high while expecting to eliminate the contestants in the more dramatic and bloody ways. Add in a society trusts completely in the media and judging those contestants without all the facts, along with the media being rich with all the beautiful people who keep the average person down and poor with no choice but to sign themselves up for these barbaric games. It is the Roman Coliseum all over again with high tech tracking them and sophisticated weapons to kill those involved. The final act was not what I was expecting, and it was satisfying. While I am happy that I was able to watch this without paying for a theatre ticket, I still was entertained. Not lost time and a better take on the Stephen King story from 1982 under pseudonym Richard Bachman.

Marty Supreme: This film has plenty of buzz surrounding it and it was just released on Christmas Eve. I saw an afternoon performance and the house was about a half full. Directed by Josh Safdie, and produced by him but also Timothee Chalamet it was a story based very loosely of the life of American ping pong player Marty Reisman. It was nominated for Golden Globes for Best Picture Musical or Comedy, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Set in the 1950s in New York City, the story begins a young Marty Mauser working as a salesperson in a shoe shop run by his uncle. He is a good salesman. His Uncle recognizes his talent, and would like to promote him to Store Manager. Marty has different ideas. He is working only to pay for an airline ticket to London UK for the British Open Table Tennis Championships. Through circumstances, his Uncle looks to manipulate him by withholding wages to Marty, and Marty chooses one of many paths which the onlooker thinks isn’t his best choice.

You see, Marty sees himself and his talents as destined for much greater things. He is an early adopter to see the greatness of table tennis which is very popular in Asia as well as Europe. He is the American representative for the British Open tournament which shows that he has some considerable talent. It can’t match his ego and outward confidence. Marty feels that he doesn’t need to mind those he hurts and manipulates to ensure that he gets what is owed to him. He has a distant relationship with the truth in all of his relationships, both personal and professional. He talks very fast and in circles, often directly contradicting his own statements which are dismissed as easily as old clothes if it doesn’t help his present situation. It doesn’t seem to phase him how many people he hurts. In short Marty is not a likeable fellow. This holds true for others in the movie as well. He meets up with rich entrepreneur, played by Canadian Dragon’s Den personality Kevin O’Leary and his aging actress wife, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Each of them are dispicable in their own way. Add to the cast there is Fran Drescher and Sandra Bernhard. I can say that none of these actors are people that I feel the need to spend time. It seems that all of Marty’s luck is bad, or at least resulting in unintended consequences, which puts him later in the film into a difficult situation where he is desperate for assistance. He needs to get to Japan to play for the World Championships. That requires money, and money that he doesn’t have. All his hustles can only get him so far.

Is this a Best Actor winning performance? I am not sure. It will garner a nomination in my mind without a doubt. But the challenge for me is the character itself. Marty is smart, but his intelligence is directed in ways that don’t suit him. There are some laughs within, but often they are uncomfortable as when Marty speaks his mind on people around him and where they fit into this life. For example, early on he reflects on a fellow Jewish competitor in table table, and brags that Marty will defeat this competitor in a way “that Auschwitz didn’t”. A curious phrase, and he feels entitled to say it because he, himself, is Jewish. Marty has a poor relationship with his mother, played by Drescher. No explanation is given for that. He has a young woman, played excellently by Odessa A’zion, who supports him in his questionable life choices but for reasons that are readily apparent and understandable given the times and her position. She thinks quickly on her feet and can seem to hold her own with Marty on many levels.

One curiousity for me is the use of 1980s music in the soundtrack from New Order, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears, and Alphaville. It flies in the face of the times for the events. It makes for an uneven experience. I also find that the final act didn’t really lay the foundation for the finale. Can a tiger change its stripes? This remains to be seen.