March 23rd, 2026

Drop: This is a modern day thriller utilizing a basic premise of a woman who is meeting someone on a First Meet online date in Chicago. The woman is played by Meghann Fahy, unknown to me before this. This is directed by Christopher Landon, also unknown to me, but is the son of Michael Landon from Little House on the Prairie fame. The more detailed story is that she is a woman who was married and she has a 9yo son. Her ex-husband is dead. They had an abusive relationship. Her job is as a therapist as she after her ordeal with her ex-husband has decided to focus her practice to assist other women in abusive relationships. Her younger sister encourages her to have a date, and enjoy a dinner out and try to have a little fun. Sister will watch over the son while she goes out with a guy that she has been texting with for months before this First Meet.

The intrigue becomes as she enters the high rise building bar downtown with a spectacular view and she begins receiving unwanted file transfer text requests. Her date is running late and she sits at the bar. After he arrives a good deal of time is spent trying to identify the persistent sender. Eventually the texts escalate and the demand is that she needs to kill her date by poisoning him and if she doesn’t then her son (and sister) would be murdered instead. She is shown a video of someone inside her house with a ski mask on. She can’t call police, she can’t leave the bar and she can’t even change tables. So she is unsettled obviously by the circumstance all the while her date is incredibly patient and understanding. Things progress to an expected conclusion but not without a few surprises.

For me this was an hour and a half that I won’t get back. I struggled with the technology aspects of how this perpetrator could be all knowing (all seeing and all hearing) within this smaller space. It just wasn’t believable. This came and went in the theatres and may be another reason for people to be hesitant about venturing forth into the world of online dating. I cannot recommend.

28 Days Later: In 2002 this movie was released, and it has spawned a couple of well known sequels with very well known actors. I had heard Alison talk about this series of movies. I think that the sequels were unintended when this original was released, but it got a following along with quality actors to participate. Time flies! I decided to check out this first installment on an airplane trip. The idea being that if I liked it, then I would check out the others. This original movie stars Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleason, Naomie Harris and Chris Ecclestone. I didn’t know what to expect, but fairly early on I recognized that this is a dystopian thriller about the end of the world through pandemic (in this case chimpanzees who were “infected” with “rage” by scientists and how it had gotten into their blood). People get infected by being bitten or by having the blood evter their system. The effect takes place within a few short seconds before they are turned into bloodthirsty savages.

Set in the UK and specifically London very early on the chimpanzees are freed by a radical group who were warned about negative consequences and the “rage”. Cillian Murphy then wakes up in a hospital bed to a London where it is deserted. All humans seem to be gone as he wanders the streets. He meets up by chance with a man and woman who help him escape from a hoard of infected people. They are zombie-like creatures. I realize that this is an earlier take on a Last of Us or Pluribus story, with greater similarities to Last of Us. This isn’t a horror and actually but for some early and late scenes is really not graphic at all. It is a tale about the human condition and how we as humans manage to one way or another find a way to kill one another. There are other side stories like a father and daughter story and whether just surviving is enough of an existence without hope of a better life. But in the end we follow Cillian Murphy and his group as they travel in this new world. It seems that it was only the UK that has been infected with this and so the rest of world seems to have isolated the country and let it fend for itself. Thus the sequels 28 Weeks Later and then 28 Months Later with all new casts that I will now need to check out. I have heard good things and they all seem to have good casts. I liked this better than I thought that I would, much like Last of Us (the first season for sure) and will check out more. Certainly this was worth some time on an airplane. I was intrigued about how they were able to get the scenes within London, and I heard that the cast and crew just had to get up very early in the morning. There are shots from well known bridges and other places in London.

Oscars 2026: I did not watch the Oscar ceremony this year as I was overseas. It was simply on too late for me to stay up. But I will comment that I was pleased generally with the acting selections. Jessie Buckley was a true lock, having won all the awards leading up to the Oscars. Her performance was simply excellent. Hamnet is worth watching for her performance alone. But Hamnet is so much more than that, and I believe was the best picture of the year, and will be watched and re-watched more years from now. Amy Madigan won for her creepy witch portrayal in Weapons and I support that. Add in Michael B Jordan for Sinners and the unforgettable Sean Penn in One Battle After Another, and I am pleased with this acting quartet. As mentioned, I don’t think One Battle After Another was the Best Picture and it follows not the Best Director. I have to admit to being pleased that Timothee Chalamet, and his film Marty Supreme was shut out one more time from any victories at the Oscars. The online social media chatter about this movie was over-the-top and I simply didn’t see it. Unlikeable characters doing unlikeable things to other people. No thanks. I was much more impressed with Ethan Hawke transforming himself for Blue Moon than Marty. I note some controversy with Barbra Striesand providing her tribute to Robert Redford, where she seemed to make it all about her, but she did sing a brief excerpt from The Way We Were. Billy Crystal provided a nice tribute as well to Rob Reiner and his wife, who were murdered this past year. Rob’s library of work is very impressive.

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 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.

June 23, 2025

The Materialists: this is a new movie from writer and director Celine Song. Earlier she had brought forward the really good Past Lives which described a couple who over the years had their relationship change. She writes about real people, fully formed with flaws and backgrounds. The relationships are relatable for those in the audience with a few under their belts. Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and the ever-present Pablo Pascal. For me, this was not the typical romantic-comedy. It was more real than that, exploring deeper and more serious issues.

The story revolves around Johnson who is a matchmaker in NYC. She is single, but active in finding her clients a romantic relationship. She has a pool of people to draw from. We are introduced to a few of her clients. We learn that she has a knack for this work, but nothing else that she had tried. She has life experience and brings it forward to her job and assessment of potential matches. For many of these she regards the match as a business deal and the “math has to add up”. She had her own personal long term relationship with Evans that didn’t work out and she believes that she needs to be with someone “rich”. At a wedding she accidentally meets up with Evans, a struggling wanna-be actor. At the same wedding, she is approached by Pedro Pascal, the brother of the groom who she regards and explains is a “unicorn”. Pascal is interested in her, although she tries to explain that the math doesn’t add up for them. He convinces her otherwise. Things happen. Of these things there are some real world challenges which makes Johnson to question what she is doing. Dating may just be dating but in this day and age it can have some real risks and not just to your heart or self-esteem. This isn’t the typical rom-com and I wasn’t sure just how dark it decided to go. Viewers will have to see for themselves. Matters of the heart are complex, and finding the right partner is not an easy journey. This movie ably addresses a few of the challenges while still providing some humour which can show how ridiculous it can all be as well. Worth the viewing.

How To Train Your Dragon(animated): the “live” version of this has been newly released into the theatres. I had not seen the original animated cartoon from 2010 and decided to watch over a recent flight this week. I was pleasantly surprised by this story however formulaic it can appear on the surface.

In the story, set on a mythical island with Vikings populating it (although strangely the Vikings sound more Scottish than Nordic but never mind) there is a long held problem with dragons of all shapes, sizes and abilities which steal from the Vikings. The Vikings then are forced to slay the dragons for self preservation. Those who slay best are valued the most by the people. Canadian Jay Barushel voices Hiccup who is the son of the fearless leader of the island. He slays dragons easily. Meanwhile, Hiccup not only doesn’t resemble his tribe physically, but he doesn’t have the killer instinct. As a teenager he is coming of age and teased by his fellow teens but also doesn’t have a terrific relationship with Dad. Hiccup is a reader and investigates his environment all the while working as an apprentice to the local blacksmith. Hiccup is good with this. He notices young women his age but knows that they have no time for him. The village gets attacked by dragons and Hiccup decides to try and use a new weapon against the attackers. He thinks he succeeds but is unsure. He needs to investigate. I won’t share further details except to say that the results are not as predicable as you might expect. Yes Hiccup gains the trust of his father and townspeople, but he also helps out a dragon (and thus the name of the movie). I will say that the dragon teaches Hiccup too. The dragon is named Toothless, and has his own journey. This is a “kids’ movie” that works on an adult level. It is a good story and the animation is well done. But more importantly the audience cares about awkward Hiccup and cheers for him and the dragon. In this story there is a great deal of growth all around and in ways that were not obvious. I will likely need to see the updated live version to see how it compares. This was worth my time.

March 17th, 2025 St Patrick’s Day

I wish that I could say that I have some Irish content for this day, but I don’t. I have been away and so I am recounting a new movie that I watched on the plane from Europe on Sunday. So instead of Irish content (Northern Ireland and Ireland), of which there is plenty – from excellent movies like The Commitments, Sing Street, Once for music, to others like My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Brooklyn, Belfast and Banshees of Inisherin I have a new Clint Eastwood movie.

Juror #2: Released in 2024, this Clint Eastwood produced and directed courtroom drama plays a lot like a retelling of 12 Angry Men from 1957 with Henry Fonda in the principal role. It starts that way and then decides to take a little bit different take and turn on it. The cast is impressive with Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette and JK Simmons. Hoult plays a recovering alcoholic with a young very pregnant wife. She is worried about the pregnancy as she has lost children before. Hoult has been called for jury duty. He still needs to go through the selection process and understand the case he could be involved with.

The case turns out to be a homicide case, involving a couple who had a domestic dispute in a bar full of people on a dark and stormy night, and she ends up dead at the end of it. The boyfriend with a checkered past is charged with her murder. Collette plays the prosecutor, looking for an election as a District Attorney in an upcoming election. Simmons is on the jury for a time and brings forth some new ideas to the deliberation. On its face, the case seems pretty straightforward but the Hoult character has a dilemma of his own which he doesn’t share with the rest of his fellow jurors. They are no longer angry white men only but since this is set in Georgia they have a cross section of diversity. A good number of them just want to conclude their business and go home. Then the drama unfolds. It is Hoult who has the real dilemma and pressures on his personal beliefs and what is right for his family.

Given the cast this is well acted if not more or less predictable. The defense attorney, played by Chris Messina does a good job of creating doubt. The story shows how the criminal justice system can work, and also how it can stumble from time to time. One glaring error for me with a legal lens on would be that a potential theory on what took place (which was not investigated) could be to examine the vehicle driven by the accused. My second challenge is that the prosecutor herself spends time doing some of the additional legwork in digging up some facts. I don’t think that she would undertake this work but rather seek out further police investigation. After all, this is what the police actually do. The story examines whether justice means truth, or whether a person can change in a meaningful way. Hoult professes that he can. Still one also wonders why the attorney approached by Hoult doesn’t explain legal concepts like double jeopardy. Or potential sentencing for a first-time convicted felon. If justice seeks out the truth, isn’t there also a concept of mercy, accident and lack of motive which could all come into play? All in all this is a movie that I don’t even recall being in the theatres. Most Eastwood films do get that attention. This was okay to fill time on a flight but I was pleased that I didn’t have to pay for it.

March 3,2025

A Real Pain: Released in 2024, this movie is directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg. It tells the story of two Jewish male adult cousins David and Benji (played by Eisenberg and Culkin) who are making a pilgrimage back to Poland. Their grandmother had recently passed away, and she was from Poland. She had survived the holocaust through “a thousand miracles” according to the boys. She had left a sum of money for the boys to see where she had lived and experience Poland. It is a memorable trip.

In Forrest Gump fashion we meet the Culkin character, Benji, sitting on a chair at the airport, watching the people go by. In contrast there is Eisenberg leaving him an endless succession of voicemails to make sure that they meet up. The boys couldn’t be more different in personality or how their lives are presently situated. Jesse has signed them up for a guided tour through Poland with a small group of other tourists led by a young British man as their guide.

Culkin is getting the acting accolades for his performance. He plays a guy who outwardly is witty and charming. Inwardly and once he gets acclimatized, he can become hurtful and dark. He lives on the edge. He finds ways to be a rebel. In contrast, Jesse plays a married online content seller who has a responsible job, a wife, a child and responsibilities. He is straight laced. He follows the rules, while wishing he was more like his cousin. There is a love/hate dynamic for Jesse. We see this in various scenes. The culmination of the trip is a subdued visit to a concentration camp. And it should be subdued. Thousands have been murdered there. They are desolate, grim reminders of an incomprehensible past and how human beings can treat one another.

I am not an Eisenberg fan. Haven’t been since I watched him play in The Social Network. He is unlikeable and pompous for me with a face that just screams “punch me”. This movie doesn’t change my opinion about him. Culkin will forever be tied to his brilliant role in Succession with the smart assed, quick witted and unreliable Roman Roy. This movie was 1:30 and it kept a quick pace. The pattern of Culkin doing inappropriate things while Jesse quietly looks on and later apologizing for him becomes repetitive. I liked the scenes of Poland. In many ways I wish the film took the Culkin advice to heart given to the tour guide and male there be more interaction with native Poles. Speak with the people. Break bread with them and share stories of grandma and who she was. I think that this could have been more. I do not see this as a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as others had more significant impact on the main character, like a Guy Pierce in The Brutalist. The was average. I am thankful I didn’t pay for this is a theatre. Fun fact: the divorced woman on the tour with the boys is played by Jennifer Grey of Dirty Dancing fame.

September 9, 2024

This has been a very busy week, including three straight days of seeing a film in a theatre. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The common thread among all of them is that they were sequels. Some original movie I have seen, others I haven’t. Early September in Toronto has been the Toronto International Film Festival since 1976 when it was the Festival of Festivals. I am always excited to walk down these days at King Street where the main theatres are located (Roy Thompson, Royal Alex and Princess of Wales). There is just a buzz and energy in the streets. Actors and actresses are in the city. People who love movies gather and line up to see the over 240 movies over the roughly ten days. Covid put a pause on the activities, but it is fully back. On Thursday I had the opportunity to see a film, which ended up being a total shot in the dark. I had been looking for tickets and the gala prices were on resale were over $350, which is silly for a movie like Andrew Garfield’s We Live in Time, which will be released in a few weeks.

I, The Executioner: With no background, I found a reasonably priced ticket to see the South Korean film, I, The Exectioner. I knew that this movie had been shown at Cannes earlier in the year. Still the director Ryoo Seung-wan and his producer buddy were there with an interpreter. They also mentioned that they added a new vignette post the credits that was never seen before.

The film is a sequel to his 2015 film Veteran, and has the same cast returning. To cateogirize this movie broadly it is a high energy cop/team film where this team, lead by the very good Hwang Jung-min, as a veteran cop and his team try to solve a series of revenge killings. A number of perpetrators of murders who have been perceived publicly as been given too light sentences from the justice system, are then being hunted down and killed (presumably) by a killer who kills them in the same manner as they killed their victims. Social media is well engaged, with an influencer/broadcaster talking about the injustices and egging on someone to do something about it. All the while our team of police investigators have a new boss who wants to make a splash with a high profile case. In the opening sequence, it is like a Bond opening with a set up and then a sting going sideways with chases and fights. It engages the audience straight away.

As the plot unfolds, and the intrigue increases with tracking down potential suspects, there continues to be fights, car chases and mixed martial arts. All the scenes are well done, and with backdrops that would make for challenging filming (like a stone bridge in the middle of a city with a festival going on). The stakes rise for the team as they grapple with more high profile murders and attempted murders. I liked this because it kept my attention from beginning to end. There was some good laughs, some moments where injuries clearly would have occured and would have hurt. Still those involved show tremendous skills in combat and other physical acts. They are also people, notably our main character, who is not a rookie, and he has a wife, a teenage son and young daughters. His demanding job can take time away from all of them.

This movie that I never would have seen anywhere else was a very pleasant surprise. I see that it was picked up for distribution at Cannes which is very good. It deserves an audience. I also now am interested in tracking down the original Veteran from this same group. Well worth tracking down and checking out.

Alien Romulus: I saw this movie on Thursday night with a sparse crowd in the theatre. I have seen all of the Alien movies. I have liked them to varying degrees. There have been nine Alien related films, but I am going to discount the Alien vs Predator films, which means seven films. I will include Prometheus and Alien Covenant in this series though. The first Alien (1979) with Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver and the crew battling the alien remains a sci-fi classic with scenes that were unique for their day. State of the art effects and film effects were used to raise the level of anxiety in the crew and the audience. It was such a success that the sequel in 1986 with the studio choosing James Cameron as opposed to Ridley Scott to direct. Aliens was a smashing success, building on the original premise and ratcheting up the number of alien creatures, but also the personal relationships, notably with Sigorney Weaver (playing Ripley) and a little girl and the humanoid robots (synthetics) who are in both films. We learn more, and we see the arc of Ripley’s character as she takes a more grey vision of those around her, and avoids painting all people and synthetics with the same brush. But that’s background. So what happening with this latest installment? Where did it go wrong? For me, this is the first Alien movie that I left and I was bored.

This film is NOT a continuation of Alien Covenant and the Prometheus direction. Think of it as another unrelated story in the Alien world, where Weyland Industries is the dominant name in space exploration, mining, terra-forming and building worlds. Remember that in Alien the ship Nostromo was a mining space craft returning back to Earth, before being sidetracked in a rescue mission for a distress signal on an unknown planet. Here we have a much younger group of miners in a dreary planet that gets no sunshine at all. These seemingly twenty-somethings don’t like their lot in life, and one has this idea to leave the planet and explore a nearby space ship which has been decommissioned and presumably abandoned and empty. Inside there are some cryogenic pods that would allow these young people to head off to a new and more exciting planet. Early on we see our main protagonist Cailee Spaeny (Rain) and her brotherly companion and we learn that he is a synthetic named Andy (played by David Johnson). He is constantly being picked on.

The group of friends embark on their journey to the hobbled space station, not a ship, and it has predictable results. The challenge with this movie is that it offers nothing new to an already vibrant Alien universe. The creatures don’t talk. There is no interaction. They are just very difficult to kill, and once they get a hold of a human host, then really bad things happen. We already know about the babies spawning and extricating themselves from inside a human body from the chest cavity. I was surprised with the quickness by which it takes place here, versus the original when John Hurt’s character had the creature on his face for some time, then it disappeared and he seemed fine, until he wasn’t. The timeline has been enhanced greatly. This young crew doesn’t gain from having space experience, nor a science officer or a crew who knows the ins and outs of the ship. It is the youngest crew in the series, which was likely the goal. Alien has always had strong female characters. Ripley is, and has always been, one of the best of these women. Rain reminds me more of the new Star Wars Rey than Ripley. So young, without the training for taking on a substantive monster creature. Rain is no Ripley. They are lines from earlier Alien movies scattered in this version, but they fall flat. It feels like a movie trying too hard to live up to a movie series with impressive and intimidating pedigree. I wasn’t engaged with this young crew and cast. I knew what would happen with the creature. I learned nothing new. It seemed pointless to send these young people to die in this way. I also wasn’t convinced on the need to deal with the synthetic story as it happened. Those who saw and love the original I suspect will know exactly what I am referring to. It seems the ongoing underlying message is that humans always seem to find a way to mess with an unnatural engineered creature. Apparently there is no effective communication for people to be documenting the horrors of this creature that the Weyland company wishes to bring back to civilization. In short, the connection and story that engages you with the crew and hopes that they can find a way to survive, we just don’t know how, is missing in this latest version. It feels like a money grab, with the hope of introducing the series to a younger audience. I wish that they had surrounded the younger group with a better story, and a means to have a few new aspects of this complex creature. Sadly it was lacking.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The original Beetlejuice from 1988 was directed by Tim Burton. It featured a young couple, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, who lived in this old house on a hill. They die trangically but retain their overall kind disposition and life attitude despite being dead. They are the focal point and when a new family purchases their beloved house. The new family is husband and second-wife (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O’Hara) with a young goth teenage daughter played by Winona Ryder. The new ghosts struggle with scaring away the step-mother O’Hara who is looking to change everything about this house. Beetlejuice is an underworld smart-ass character who offers his services of the supernatural and human real person exorcism. In the original, Ryder manages to thwart an effort by Beetlejuice to extract a marriage out of her in exchange of assisting with helping the Davis and Baldwin characters. Honestly I have to admit before seeing the sequel that I wasn’t entirely sure that I had seen the original. In the end it didn’t really matter. I think it helps to know the original but not fatal.

In the sequel, Charles Deets has passed on. A wise choice given the real-life complicated life of the actor Jeffrey Jones who played him, given the fact that he was on the Sex Offender list and was sentenced to five years probation back in 2002. The sequel cleverly tells the story of Charles Deets’ death and how Catherine O’Hara will movie forward with the house that she is in. Meanwhile, grown up Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz) has a daughter of her own and is using her abilities to talk to ghosts. Just not the ghost of her departed husband, and the father of her daughter. Daughter doesn’t believe any aspect of what Mom does on TV and online. They don’t speak very often.

Meanwhile we learn that Beetlejuice in his prior life was married to the beautiful Monica Bellucci. He tells that backstory with the knowledge that she has returned to his world, in an unusual fashion and wants to kill him. She has some unique abilities. Meanwhile, moody daughter hears about her grandfather’s untimely death, as well as engagement of her Mom, Lydia, to her new boyfriend. It is all too much for her, and she bikes off into town, having a meet-cute with a local boy sitting in his treehouse. Ultimately Ryder needs to re-engage with Beetlejuice and his shenanigans in order to address a pressing problem. Michael Keaton clearly enjoys this role. This is a movie for pure entertainment sake. Did I laugh? Yes there were some laughs. I take this as some campy retro fun, much like Stranger Things which ressurected Winona Ryder’s career, and made 1980s music (like Kate Bush) become so popular again. Does this need to be seen in a theatre as opposed to at home? Not really. For those who loves the original, then this is fun to see. I actually don’t feel that the source material is all that strong, and they made the most of this plot. I think that Catherine O’Hara continues to show her genius, and turns what was a villian role in the original into a more sympathetic role in the sequel. Monica Bellucci plays a role that is thankless, with no redeeming character and used as a plot device to give something else for Beetlejuice to deal with. At a time when there hasn’t been much to watch in the theatre, at least Beetlejuice can provide some relief. For Toronto residents of course there is TIFF to enjoy for another week. Enjoy!!

August 19th, 2024

Deadpool & Wolverine: Those who read me, and know me, know that I am not a big superhero movie guy, and especially I have not been well engaged in the Marvel world. From Iron Man to Avengers to Fantastic 4 , X-Men and lesser lights like Ant Man. I am not even certain that I have watched all of the Wolverine movies. Be that as it may, with an open mind I ventured out to see Deadpool & Wolverine. I have seen the two prior Deadpool movies, enjoying the first and the in-your-face profanity and humour and less so the sequel. I think that Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool has found the proper role for him. As opposed to The Green Lantern. He just embodies it and the earlier moments of this movie has a recap where he calls out the odd premise in terms of dealing with Wolverine, who in his last movie (spoiler alert) managed to save a young lady but sacrificed himself. In short, he’s dead and buried.

So Deadpool is saddled with a task of ressurecting Wolverine. The strange aspect is the whole time travel thing and ,in this instance, another plain of reality which is like a dead zone wasteland. Things end up here that aren’t wanted back in the real world. For the Torontonian it is very funny to see the CN Tower looking like it was dropped from the original Planet of the Apes, half buried in sand. Deadpool is asked to bring back Wolverine, and the rest of the plot doesn’t really need to be further explained. But the real question was whether this was fun and was it necessary? I genuinely laughed out loud a number of times. That itself was saying something, because I don’t necessarily get all the inside jokes. Some of these jokes were from interactions with other characters, like Electra (yes, Jennifer Garner) or Gambit (played by Channing Tatum) that were very funny. I still cannot understand how a playing card can become such a deadly weapon but never mind – hardy the most taxing aspect of reality that affects one’s thougts for this movie. The level of gratuitous violence with blood spurting with endless people falling is a little overwhelming at times. The story of the leader of this void, and how she got here, is an interesting side light. The cameos are fun. Stay in the theatre past the ending credits to catch one last joke. It was funny. I have to admit that seeing Chris Evans not being Captain America, but rather the Human Torch in this Fantastic 4 role is different. In the end, does it all makes sense? Not really. It is a good laugh at times. Yes. Was there an ending where you roll your eyes? Oh yes. So….take this for what it is. It didn’t suck. I could follow it. I had some really good laughs.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: This was released in 2018, starring Lily James, the now ever-present Glen Powell, along with Matthew Goode and Penelope Wilton from Downton Abbey fame. It is set during WWII, and the aftermath. It is a wartime romantic film, focusing on the James character who is a writer and had exchanged some letters with a person in Guernsey. Guernsey is a small island of 24 square miles off the coast of France, closer to France than England. It is self-governing and not part of the UK although the British government has some financial responsiblity on the island. Guernsey was invaded by the Germans in WWII and occupied. The story focuses on a group of friends who one night during the occupation are stopped by a Nazi patrol and told about what they were doing. They use a made up literary society to try and avoid the Nazis and have an excuse for being out of doors beyond curfew. Although the film is fiction, there are a number of aspects as shown which reflect what happened on the island during the war. The story of this evening is recounted to James.

James as a writer is intriged by the story she is told and travels to the island to meet up with the people involved. Those residents involved that she meets and talks to have their own views and impacts from the war. Before her trip to the island, she is proposed to her by her American boyfriend (Powell) who likes to shower her with flowers. He heads back to the US. James’ character is British. The story unfolds. I won’t get into the details, but ultimately James needs to make some decisions about the story, her life, piecing together the details of what had actually happened and how she should want to have her life continue after the story is finished. Someone will get hurt, they always do. Someone else will find what it is to feel love and others will find new ways in which to direct their lives. Is it believable? Do I care about the people involved? Yes I think so. Despite that it isn’t all that compelling, nor anything worth seeking out. I wish that I had learned more about the occupation and the importance of Guernsey during the War. One would think that it would be very strategic. This is more personal than that involving specific individuals. I can’t recommend this.

October 3, 2022

The Woman King: Viola Davis is a tour de force. She is always playing strong, fiercely independent women who can also show tremendous empathy for those around her. Through it all she has this skill through the simple looks on her face to reveal much about her character and what they are feeling in that moment.

This story is based upon a true story of a tribe in the early 1800s. John Boyega plays the King of Dahomey who is forward-thinking in his views about women, as he has decided to have troop of women warriors, who are led by the formidable Nanisca (Davis). It is a time of slavery where African states are selling their people, and those that they capture in battle to the foreign white people. The Dahomey city is threatened by a larger African tribe who look to defeat them and show their (male) superiority.

As this goes on, enter a young woman, Nawi, who has refused her father’s offering for a husband, as she has wanted to become one of these female warriors. She is dropped at the door of the female warriors and taken in. Her journey of training shows her individuality, with her desire to live her life on her terms. It can put her in direct conflict with Nanisca the general looking to build a larger military force, mostly for defensive purposes.

This film has an excellent cast of surrounding characters among the female warriors. Notably there is Izogie, who brings the young Nawi under wing as well as Nanica’s most trusted friend Amenza. Together this band finds out new things about their circumstances and themselves. Some of these are predictable, with a generally predictable arch. But this doesn’t take away from the quality of product in getting there. The production value is high. The fight scenes are very well done, as well as anything we have seen in Braveheart (the higher water mark for these scenes in my mind) and then following with Gladiator, among others. It is violent. There are scenes that are uncomfortable to watch, but necessary. Interestingly there is not nudity, at least with the female warrrior cast who can seemingly jump, lung, fight and turn in a tube top without ever having a wardrobe malfunction. I will also say that the hair department would have been very busy, even from scene to scene with Viola’s charatcer. The use of shells in an African city that doesn’t seem to be beachfront is a bit surprising. There are moments when one’s logic has to stand aside but they are so aggregious in the name of entertainment. I found that Boyega’s King was the least compelling aspect within the production. His character wasn’t explored all that deeply, and he seemed to go from one ceremony and speech with his people and entourage to another. But this Viola’s movie and she makes the most of it by delivering fully. I would expect that there will be nomination or two in this movie come Oscar time.

Last Night in Soho: This 2021 psychological thriller is presently available on Crave. Set in London, it tells the story of a young woman Ellie , played by Thomasin McKenzie, who lives with her Granny in Cornwall but she has dreams of being a fashion designer. Her Mom had passed away years before. She is accepted to the London School of Design and heads off into the big city. There she is teased by her classmates for her eccentricity (like making her own clothes with a 60s flare to them). She moves out from the dorm to a nearby apartment, whose landlord is a elderly woman with plenty of rules for renting there. Ellie begins to have dreams while she sleeps taking her back in time, back to the sixties with a young woman close to her age named Sandie, who is an aspiring singer. She is played by Anya Taylor-Joy with the very widely set eyes and seemingly working everywhere these days. Sandie is introduced to Jack played by Matt Smith who seems to manage many of the local girls in a similar position. The intrigue begins with the seemingly playback on history impacting young Ellie and playing with her mind. She is fiercely protective of Sandie, while admiring her style, talent and drive. It helps too with her designs at school, because Sandie becomes her model for new designs in class which are positively accepted by the professors there. Things begin to unravel for both Ellie and Sandie, with the dreams that Sandie initially had not exactly turning out as planned. Add in Terence Stamp playing an older gentleman who is a barfly at the pub where Ellie is working, and the audience wonders who is involved. Things happen and Ellie is wondering what she can do with her updated visions. The rest I will leave for the reader to find out.

Ellie seeing Sandie in the mirror as she views the past

I thought that this was well done. They manage to keep you guessing as to what is real, what is not, what was really happening and how can someone like Ellie impact the visions she has had from the past. Questions like “why is she even having these visions?” are answered in time. The acting is good, and the production design also good. I have spent time in London but not in Soho that I recall, but I imagine that the look and feel of Soho in the sixties would be well represented. There are some graphic scenes that can make viewers squeamish. Fair warning. All in all, a good effort and I was glad to watch this.