Tag Archives: reviews

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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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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From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is NOT a John Wick movie. Although John Wick (Keanu Reeves) makes his presence known at a key moment of the movie. And while there’s a bit of ballet dancing, there’s not much.

FTWOJW:B is the story of Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) who, as a young girl, sees her father killed by an assassin. She vows revenge. Under the tutelage of The Director (Angelica Houston), Eve learns to dance and to battle.

As observed with John Wick films, the face-to-face, often hand-to-hand, combat is staged at times much like a ballet. The film’s pace is relentless and so is the cracking of skulls and other body parts. Eve’s battles involve strong physical skills and a variety of weapons including firearms and knives. Even a flamethrower! 

Eve’s goal of avenging her father’s death runs counter to the sort of detente between the Roma Ruska sect and the group led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). The Director (that is, Houston’s character, not Len Wiseman, the film’s director) tells her to cool it but she does not relent. She takes her revenge mission to a lovely European village where she encounters a knife wielding barista. And has a tense confrontation with The Chancellor.

Armas may be the most beautiful woman to be involved in the nasty business of violence and killing. She employs her skills well and appears to take as much, maybe even more, physical abuse than does Wick himself in his four films. And she knows how to handle a flame thrower!

Also appearing in FTWOJW:B are Wick regulars Ian McShane as Winston and, in his final film appearance, Lance Riddick as Charon. Norman Reedus of Walking Dead fame is introduced as Daniel Pine, a man who, like Eve’s father, hopes to keep his young daughter away from all the nastiness. Could he appear in any future Ballerina films? 

From The World of John Wick: Ballerina is rated R and runs just over two hours but it seems shorter because it moves so quickly. If you could use a good action movie, don’t miss it!

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The Phoenician Scheme

Director Wes Anderson dazzles with his zany new movie The Phoenician Scheme. A gaggle of wacky characters zigzag through episodes that are not always laugh-out-loud funny but are consistently bizarre, surprising, compelling and reassuring.

Reassuring, that is, that Anderson can still make a fun film. After his recent lackluster efforts, concern that he may have lost his touch can be put aside for at least one hour and forty-five minutes as Anderson pulls out some of his trademark tricks—overhead shots, tracking shots, maps, oddly titled books etc.—and introduces a few new ones. 

As is his habit, the director employs a large cast of his favorites including Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe and, in a brief appearance in a dream sequence as God, Bill Murray.

This time Anderson puts most of his eggs into one cinematic basket by making Benicio Del Toro the main star who does much of the film’s heavy lifting. He plays Zsa-Zsa Korda, a businessman who has many enemies, some of whom, he claims, are trying to assassinate him. Del Toro’s voice sounds, to my ear, almost exactly like Clark Gable’s.

Korda keeps his business matters in shoeboxes. (Hey, the film is set in the middle of the last century when people DID keep important papers and stuff in shoeboxes. And cigar boxes. Etc.) 

Also receiving an abundance of screen time is Mia Threapleton. Who? She’s the daughter of Kate Winslet and filmmaker Jim Threapleton. She plays Korda’s daughter, Liesl, who is a nun but who also wears red lipstick and heavy eye shadow.  

Korda also has nine sons who mostly stay out of sight and occasionally launch arrows down at Korda from the balcony above his table. What? Silly stuff, that’s what.

Bjorn (Michael Cera) is Korda’s assistant, who is charged with keeping control of a red satchel containing all of Korda’s liquid funds, but who frequently misplaces it.

The plot involves Korda’s lining up an assortment of individuals to get them to buy into his scheme, um, plan to fund a large infrastructure project in Phoenicia. The script is by Anderson from a story he concocted with frequent collaborator Roman Coppola.

Any recommendation of The Phoenician Scheme must be prefaced with the words “if you like Wes Anderson movies.” He has made some good and clever ones such as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you have enjoyed either or both of those, you may find The Phoenician Scheme to your liking. 

This is a film I would’ve enthusiastically embraced when I was in high school and college. Because I still maintain a certain level of immaturity, The Phoenician Scheme is goofy enough and silly enough to tap into that part of me that goes for the nonsensical. 

I also appreciate the fact that the film’s credits include the names of the housekeeping staff at the hotel where the cast and crew stayed during its production last year in Germany.

The Phoenician Scheme runs an hour and forty-five minutes. Rated PG-13.

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Karate Kid Legends

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting, as the song goes. But Li Fong (Ben Wang) needs to learn Karate. And that calls for, yes, THE Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio) who points out that Karate and Kung Fu are “two branches, one tree.”

Karate Kid Legends has plenty of karate and kung fu (plus a bit of boxing) but also has family drama, budding romance and the classic face off between good and evil. And there’s the old “fish out of water” element of teenager Li moving with his doctor mom (Ming-Na Wen) from Beijing to New York City. 

Shortly after his arrival in NYC, Li meets a girl, Mia (Sadie Stanley) whose Dad Victor (Joshua Jackson) runs a pizza parlor. Mia’s ex-boyfriend is local karate expert Conor (Aramis Knight) who keeps encountering Li. Conor is the bad guy in this story, the evil to Li’s good. Although Li has promised his mom that he will avoid fighting in his new country, the inevitable occurs.

Of course it’s great to see Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) looking good and agile at age 63. And the all-time great Asian actor Jackie Chan also moving pretty good at age 71. Chan is Mr. Han, a Beijing kung fu coach who suddenly appears in New York to encourage Li to enter the 5 Boroughs karate tournament. 

And, surprise, the final match of that event features Li Fong versus his nemesis Conor. By this time, his mom is fully supportive.

Karate Kid Legends has Gen-X appeal for those who saw the first movie back in the 80s and maybe can even remember some of its lines. And Joshua Jackson was part of the Dawson’s Creek cast back in the 90s. With its robust action, teen angst and energetic music track—though no Carl Douglas—Karate Kid Legends is a fun, fast-paced movie. A tasty treat! Rated PG-13. 

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Novocaine

Jack Quaid has a problem. Or is it I who has the problem?

His highly entertaining new action/adventure film Novocaine is well-crafted and Quaid’s character is developed a bit more than is typical in movies like this one.

But throughout the screening of Novocaine almost every time Quaid appeared onscreen I saw… Bill Hader. They have similar builds, similar hairlines and even some similar facial expressions. Does anybody else have the Hader issue with Quaid or is it just me?

The movie is a treat for fans of violence, chases, gunplay, hand-to-hand combat and all that sort of stuff. It’s a real adrenaline rush. And there are laughs along the way, too.

Nathan Caine (Quaid) is a guy with weird genetic disorder: he cannot feel pain. This has led to some behavioral quirks. He won’t even eat solid food for fear of chewing off his tongue and not feeling it. His only friend is a fellow gamer Roscoe (Jacob Batalon), a guy he’s never actually met except online. 

Nate hooks up with a coworker Sherry (Amber Midthunder) who also has issues from a dysfunctional upbringing. They work at a bank in San Diego where Nate is assistant manager. Novocaine starts out as a sweet romcom.

Then a robbery occurs. The bank manager is killed. Several cops are gunned down. Sherry is taken as a hostage. Nate heads off in pursuit to rescue her—in a police car.

His effort takes him to a commercial kitchen with hot grease and a hot frying pan, a house filled with booby traps and a tattoo parlor where Nate takes on a tattoo artist who is a mountain of a man.

Co-directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and writer Lars Jacobson keep the momentum going from the robbery to the final face off on the San Diego docks. The work done by the film’s stunt coordinators is impressive.

Hader—um, sorry, Quaid—is good at comedy AND violence and at mixing the two in the same scene. Batalon’s first onscreen appearance late in the movie is a key element in the plot. And Midthunder is revealed to have abilities beyond being just a sweet, demure young babe.

Among the supporting players are familiar faces Matt Walsh and Betty Gabriel as San Diego cops. 

Novocaine is rated R.

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