Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

The Bruce Springsteen movie is slow. It’s redundant. And a lot of the music featured is not the artist’s most popular music. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere does not have the appeal of A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan movie from last year. That film had moments of joy and this new one is a bit more grim.

Is it unfair or unwise to compare this new movie to last year’s? Maybe. But that’s what I keep thinking about.

Jeremy Allen White is okay as Springsteen but this script would be challenging for any actor. To convey angst, discomfort and depression without physically acting out can’t be easy. Okay, there are couple of instances of acting out but mainly he keeps it inside. White gives it his best but the material is lacking.

The period depicted is the early 1980s. Springsteen has finished a tour and in his alone time he writes and records the songs that will become his Nebraska album. That album was released in 1982 and contains music that is not familiar to the general public. There ARE fans who say that Nebraska is their favorite Springsteen album. Just as there are people who say rutabagas are their favorite vegetable.

Some of the music in S:DMFN is excellent. The bits where Bruce is jamming classic oldies with a band at the Stone Pony, his old club in Asbury Park NJ, are fun. A performance of Born In The USA in a recording studio is a real killer. But the tone of the movie and some of the music is somber. 

Jeremy Strong plays Bruce’s manager Jon Landau who has to convince the CBS records honchos that Bruce wants to release these raw songs, originally recorded on a cassette machine in his bedroom, as his next album. Paul Walter Hauser plays Mike, who engineers those bedroom sessions. Odessa Young plays Bruce’s love interest Faye, who provides glimmers of happiness during this glum period of Springsteen’s life. Podcaster/comedian Marc Maron has a small role as a studio hand.

After Springsteen moves to Los Angeles, he seeks professional help to mitigate all his anguish. One can hope that the events depicted in S:DMFN might lead any moviegoers who have similar demons to get the counseling they need.

I’m a Springsteen fan. Saw him in concert four times. I believe Born To Run is among the greatest rock songs ever. So it feels weird that I am lukewarm about the movie.

Since Bruce sang about baseball in his song Glory Days and since the St. Louis Cardinals had a player named Scott Cooper for a season back in the 90s, let me put it this way: writer/director Scott Cooper was swinging for the fences but he got a standup double. Which is still a solid base hit.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is rated R.

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Regretting You

The new family drama film Regretting You has some of the hallmarks, um, characteristics of a Hallmark Channel movie. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.

A young, attractive cast. Small town setting. Much communication via text messages. Wine drinking. Plus a widow.

And, like many Hallmark films, once the scene is set, you pretty much know where the story is going to go. Getting there is what makes such a film work. Or not. (That, too, is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean… you knew the boat was gonna sink but you watched all three hours of Titanic anyway, right?)

Unlike Hallmark films, Regretting You has sex (but no nudity), drug use and some kissing that’s hotter than what you’ll encounter in Hallmark land. It’s rated PG-13.

Morgan (Allison Williams, daughter of TV newsman Brian) is a thirty-something mom of a 17-year-old daughter Clara (McKenna Grace). Morgan became pregnant with Clara when she was Clara’s age, so she’s overly protective.

Morgan’s life is hit with a double whammy when her husband Chris (Scott Eastwood, Clint’s son) and her sister Willa (Jenny Davidson) die in a car crash. That shock is followed by a life-altering revelation. An old platonic friend of Morgan’s, Jonah (Dave Franco), was involved with sister Willa and he begins showing up often at Morgan’s house.

Meanwhile young Clara is hot to trot and begins a flirtation with fellow high school student Miller (Mason Thames). So mom Morgan has to deal with her own issues and keep a watchful eye on daughter.

The great actor Clancy Brown has a small role in the film. He was a prison guard in The Shawshank Redemption. He supervised the duel at the end of John Wick 4. And, of course, he’s the voice of Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants. Always good to see him AND to hear his amazing voice.

Regretting You is based on a book by the prolific best-selling author Colleen Hoover. Unlike the previous Hoover movie It Ends With Us, this new film will hopefully remain free of the bad vibes, controversy and litigation that followed in the wake of its production and release.

A spicier Hallmark sort of movie is how I’d describe Regretting You. If that sounds like something you’d like, check it out.

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Good Fortune

Cute, sweet, charming. Words to describe Good Fortune, the new film from Aziz Ansari. He wrote it, directed it and co-stars. Funny? Yes, occasionally.

Good Fortune is a fantasy. A light trifle, but amusing. 

Arj (Ansari) is a gig worker in L.A. He works at a Home Depot type store but also does food delivery and other tasks. He sleeps in his car.

Jeff (Seth Rogen) is a wealthy tech bro who lives in a cool house on a hill. After hiring Arj to clean his garage, he makes Arj his assistant. When Arj uses Jeff’s credit card for an expensive restaurant meal, Jeff fires him.

Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is an angel. His area of concern is driving and texting and he saves many distracted drivers from danger. But he’s ambitious and oversteps his authorized duty. He arranges for Arj and Jeff to trade places and their respective lifestyles.

Gabriel’s goal is to show Arj that wealth is not that important to one’s happiness but, of course, that backfires and Arj does not want to swap back. After his misstep, Gabriel’s angel boss Martha (Sandra Oh) demotes him to human status, leading to the movie’s funniest scenes.

Keke Palmer is appealing as Arj’s co-worker and romantic interest Elena. 

Reeves and Rogen are talented comic actors whose performances here are spot on. Ansari, whose talents are immense, is not quite the experienced actor as those two guys. But he gives it his best effort and is a likable fellow and in a film like this one, likability goes a long way.

As a director and writer, Ansari could’ve used a real angel on his shoulder to coax him into tightening up the movie a bit and offering a few more funny lines here and there. 

Does Good Fortune offer a real message about economic inequities? Mainly it just reiterates what most of us already know. But if, after seeing this film, you might be likely to tip your DoorDash delivery person or Uber driver more generously, then Ansari will have made his point.

Good Fortune is rated R, mainly for language. Runs just over 90 minutes.

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After The Hunt

After The Hunt is worthy of your attention because it stars Julia Roberts. She is, to use a Ron Burgundy term, kind of a big deal. And her performance in this new film is worthy of your attention because it’s pretty darn good!

Alma (Roberts) is a philosophy professor at Yale. There’s tension in her life as she waits to find out if she will get tenure. Her husband Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is supportive even though he’s aware of her catting around with fellow instructor Hank (Andrew Garfield). 

After a party at her home, grad student Maggie (Ayo Edibri from The Bear) walks home with Hank and later accuses him of sexual assault. Which puts in motion all the film’s drama. At the party, there had been a discovery that sets up a question that needs answering, lending suspense to the story. Hmmm. A mystery!

Alma’s relationships with Frederik, Hank, and friend and associate Kim (Chloe Sevigny) are examined but After The Hunt’s most interesting personal relationship is between Alma and Maggie. Their dynamic changes throughout the film… sometimes warm, sometimes not. The film touches on racial and gender issues. And on the way victims of sexual predators are treated. And, briefly, the topic of plagiarism in higher education. 

After The Hunt is more talk than action. Such movies are sometimes tedious but director Luca Guadagnino and writer Nora Garrett keep the pace moving. Audio from a metronome kicks off the movie and is used a few more times along with an often quirky music soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. 

After The Hunt is not a “crowd pleaser” type of movie and not even a “must see.” UNLESS you are a fan of Julia Roberts and her wide-ranging body of work. She’s strong in this meaty role and, along with a good supporting cast, her work here is  among her best efforts.

After The Hunt is rated R. It clocks in at 2:19.

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The Smashing Machine

I’m not a fan of boxing but I have enjoyed a few great boxing MOVIES. I have a strong dislike for MMA fighting and wondered if I might be able to enjoy the new movie The Smashing Machine. I was NOT able to enjoy it.

It’s not that The Smashing Machine is necessarily a bad movie. It’s just that the depiction of the the “sport” of Mixed Marshall Arts is gruesome and, for me, off-putting. Seeing a man on top of another man, repeatedly punching the guy in his already bloody face is disgusting and cringey.

If you like that kind of thing, well, then, director/writer Benny Safdie has constructed a stylish film with several shots from a handheld camera and with an ethereal instrumental jazz audio track. And he and his crew deserve credit for making the fights seem realistic.

Dwayne Johnson (nee The Rock) has bravely stepped into a more serious role as Mark Kerr, a real-life MMA fighter who becomes addicted to pain meds, goes through rehab and tries to make a comeback. Yep, that old sports movie redemption cliché. Johnson’s look is different too. His hair makes him look a bit like André the Giant.

Kerr’s girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) has issues, too. Her support for Kerr is inconsistent. She wants to occasionally be a party girl while he tries to stay clean. Trouble ensues.

Fellow MMA fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) is effective as Kerr’s buddy and friendly competitor. 

The Smashing Machine received a 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival a few weeks back. And the superlative accolades for the film and especially Johnson’s performance from early reviewers have been splashed all over the TV and print advertisements for the movie. Is he award-worthy? To be determined.

The box office appeal of Dwayne “Don’t Call Me ‘The Rock’” Johnson will sell a bunch of tickets during TSM’s opening weekend. But will it have “legs?” That, too, is to be determined.

The Smashing Machine is rated R. There’s some language and, did I mention, the fighting is rather violent.

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Eleanor The Great

Can a lie ever be… the truth? Or maybe a version of the truth?

Like TV’s Dr. House says, “everybody lies.” You do. I do. Little lies. Big lies. In the new movie Eleanor The Great, Eleanor (June Squibb) unleashes a whopper that just keeps growing and growing. 

Eleanor had shared an apartment in Florida for several years with a lifelong friend (Rita Zohar), a fellow widow. When the friend dies, Eleanor, a spry 90-something, moves back to New York to live with her daughter (Jessica Hecht) and grandson (Will Price). When daughter sends mom to the neighborhood Jewish Community Center to make new friends, Eleanor stumbles into a Holocaust Survivors support group. 

The story she tells gets a strong response from the group AND from an NYU student, Nina (Erin Kellyman) who is observing. Nina interviews Eleanor, brings her into her classroom and soon becomes a chum. When Nina’s dad, a TV newsman (Chiwetel Ejiofor) begins to record a video with Eleanor, the truth comes out. But there’s more to be told beyond Eleanor’s simply being caught sharing a lie.

Eleanor The Great is not, in fact, great but it is good. It’s the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. It has the feel of many indie films with shots of subjects having pensive moments while quiet piano music plays. ScarJo, whose Jewish heritage was explored recently on PBS’s Finding Your Roots, and screenwriter Tory Kamen lean into Eleanor’s Jewishness to a degree one doesn’t often see in popular films. But you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this film.

The real charm here is June Squibb who turns 96 is just a few weeks. Her energy and good nature are irresistible. She was a true delight in last year’s movie Thelma and while this new film doesn’t require as much physical effort as that one did, she’s just a pleasure to watch. Speaking as a mid-century boomer, I hope I’m as eager to embrace an active life when I’m her age as she appears to be.

Eleanor The Great is rated PG-13.

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A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

It’s a shame, really. To have two attractive, talented actors like Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell and deliver this mess of a movie.

I like fantasy and I appreciate quirky elements in films, but A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a boring, tedious effort. It is glacially slow and features dialogue that might make you want to change the channel. Which is hard to do in a movie theater.

David (Farrell) and Sarah (Robbie) meet at a wedding, chat a bit, run into each other at Burger King and then begin their journey. They ride in a rented 1994 Saturn, equipped with a sentient GPS that guides them to various stops. (Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the woman at the bizarre car rental agency who insists he take the GPS.)

Most of the stops are connected to David and Sarah’s past lives. At his high school, David butts in on the production of a stage musical. The two travelers visit with their former lovers at a restaurant and, before they move on, all four are chatting at the same table. 

David later visits with his father as he awaits news of the birth of his son (David). He spends a moment with his younger self in his old bedroom. And Sarah travels back in time to visit with her deceased mother, supposedly to make amends for not having been present when mom died. She relives the memory of watching Big with her mother.

Throughout the movie, each flashback episode begins with the opening of a door. And then at the end of the movie, a cover version of the Who’s song Let My Love Open The Door is played. That’s cute.

Should the director Kogonada and scriptwriter Seth Reiss be given credit for attempting to persuade moviegoers to buy into their fantasy? Well, maybe. The film does have a few nice visuals. And the two lead characters are likable despite their often clunky dialogue.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey lays a big egg, in my opinion. Would I have liked this movie if I were younger? Maybe. But not necessarily. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is rated R for language. No sex, no nudity.

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Jurassic World Rebirth

We have a new dinosaur movie Jurassic World Rebirth with Scarlett Johansson. Which begs the question: how good do the dinos look? Also, how good does ScarJo look?

Overall, the dinosaurs look pretty, pretty good! Some better than others. The key dinosaurs in the film are hybrids. Cross bred to create some new looks for dino fans. 

Zora Bennett (Johansson) is a mercenary who is recruited by drug company rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) to lead an expedition to an off-limits island in the North Atlantic. An incident caused human researchers to leave the island in the recent past. They also recruit a paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathon Bailey). Zora/Scarlett wears a few tight-fitting sleeveless tops that show off her figure. And she’s a pretty woman with a bright smile that turns up a time or two before the real action starts.

The mission’s goal is to extract blood from three different creatures: one from the sea, one from land and one from air (a bird or birdlike creature) on or around this island. Supposedly these bloods may be able to mitigate heart disease in humans.

Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) is the boat owner who is hired to pilot the expedition. He soon gets the team up close to a sea creature. In a harrowing sequence, Zora manages to procure a blood sample. Meanwhile, a family—dad, his two daughters and the older daughter’s stoner boyfriend—are sailing across the ocean. Suddenly their boat is capsized by the sea creature and they are rescued by our gang of adventurers and their crew.

As they approach the island, the family goes into the drink and is separated from the expedition crew. Both parties encounter perilous situations in the jungle. On the island, blood is taken from a land creature and from an air creature, the latter via a needle inserted into a dino egg. Mission accomplished? Gosh, no!

How will they all get off the island? And how will they escape the Distortus Rex, a huge and ugly dinosaur with a healthy appetite? This monstrous dino lopes like Godzilla but his (or her, maybe—how can you tell?) presence onscreen is one of the film’s money shots.

Jurassic World Rebirth was written by David Koepp who scripted the first two Jurassic movies back in the 90s. Gareth Edwards is the film’s director. His resumé includes Godzilla and Rogue One.

Why do another Jurassic movie? Hasn’t that intellectual property run its course? Two reasons: moviegoers—ticket buyers, that is—have in recent years been kind to films from franchises they’re familiar with. And today’s young movie fans want new dinosaur movies to give them a few jump scares and a few “ooh-aah” moments of their own (enjoyed with a tub of popcorn on their laps.) That first Jurassic Park movie came out 32 years ago!

Yes, we’ve seen movie dinosaurs before. And humans in danger in less than welcoming surroundings. Jurassic World Rebirth follows a familiar template. But it is fun and seems just right for some needed summer escapism.

Soundtrack is by Alexandre Desplat. And how about a hand for the sound design crew who make the speakers rattle? 

Jurassic World Rebirth runs two hours and fourteen minutes. It is rated PG-13. 

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F1: The Movie

Pure entertainment!

Brad Pitt’s new film F1: The Movie is a thrill ride filled with drivers-view shots from inside the cabs of these sleek race cars. Which are moving fast. The practice runs and the races look great in F1: The Movie. But is there a story here along with the adrenaline-triggering visuals?

Oh, yes!  A redemption story. A narrative with lots of sports movie clichés but a tale that’s enjoyable and fun nonetheless. 

There’s the grizzled old-timer Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt). Or should I say “chiseled” old-timer? A few shots of Brad with his shirt off. Rather fit for a 61-year-old. Sonny was a promising driver on the F1 circuit decades ago until a crash took him out of the driver’s seat. He has aches and pains and scars but he’s been working out lately and racing whenever he gets a shot.

Old friend Reuben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), now managing a slumping F1 team, recruits Sonny to come back to Formula One racing, halfway through the current season. Reuben’s team has a talented but raw rookie driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). There’s instant friction between the two drivers and their conflict is a key element of the movie.

Joshua’s mom Bernadette (Sarah Niles) counsels her son about his career and at a key moment steps into the rivalry between the two teammate drivers.

In F1: The Movie, the racing action moves from the UK to Hungary to Italy to Japan to Vegas to Dubai. Director Joseph Kosinski and crew have done a nice job of integrating Sonny and Joshua and their cars into actual race footage. For blood-thirsty race fans who love crashes, F1: The Movie has plenty.

The film is loud with revving engines, excited crowds, media and track announcers and a killer soundtrack from Hans Zimmer.

F1: The Movie is, like most of auto racing, heavy on testosterone. Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) is the attractive but seriously savvy technical director for the team. And although she tells Sonny there’ll be no hooking up, well… 

F1: The Movie feels big. Like many such action films, it will be better appreciated on a big screen in a movie house with good sound. At this point it shouldn’t be necessary to say that but consider this a gentle nudge. Sure it’ll be streaming on Apple TV in a few weeks but it’s good to get out of the house when you can.

Worth a mention here also is this: you don’t have to be an Formula One racing fan, nor a fan of any form of auto racing, to enjoy this movie. Also worth mentioning is the full title of the film is F1: The Movie so as not to be confused with F1 racing in general. Another movie that might’ve befitted from a better title for marketing and online search purposes.

F1: The Movie is rated PG-13. It runs 2:35.

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Materialists

Tell me what you’re looking for in a ROM-COM. Let’s see if we can find a match! Romance? Comedy? Yes, of course. Those are non-negotiables!

Attractive stars playing cool characters? How about Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pescal and Chris Evans? (As Lucy, a professional matchmaker;  Harry, a financier; and John, a struggling actor, respectively.)

A “meet cute”? For sure. At a wedding reception, no less!

A reunion with a lost love? Yep! At that same wedding reception.

A damsel in distress? Well, one of Lucy’s clients, Sophie (Zoe Winters.)

A clever script with memorable declarations and observations about love and dating and marriage and money? We may have a match here!

Are you willing to overlook a horrible title and occasionally slow pacing? Materialists? Really? Couldn’t writer/director Celine Song have come up with a catchier title for her movie than that? Hey, you can’t have everything!

Surprises? Shhhhh! No spoilers!

Sexual content? A smidge. No nudity. Mostly post-coital chat and some F-bombs. Ergo, an R rating.

Seriously, Materialists is several notches above the average ROM-COM. 

The film has fun presenting a few of the candidates for matchmaking and their very specific qualifications about whom they’d consider for dating. 

Dakota Johnson is excellent as a 30-something woman who is smart and successful in her work matching up couples but has low self esteem regarding her own value as a mate.

The characters that Pascal and Evans portray are both honorable, likable men. Neither is the “bad guy” or the less-than-adequate guy who often appears in ROM-COMs to add to the tension.

Would Materialists be a good date film? I say yes. It would likely generate conversation for couples who are either casually dating or getting serious. 

The final shot of Materialists is pure genius. It comes as the end credits roll and the new Japanese Breakfast theme song My Baby (Got Nothing At All) plays. Followed by the hilarious John Prine and Iris DeMent duet In Spite of Ourselves.

Materialists runs just under two hours.

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