CIVIL WAR

America's at war with itself, the union against the Western Forces (made up of Texas and California). The reasoning for this highly unlikely alliance is to not single out any one party as well as show what we're capable of once we put our differences aside. The story follows 4 journalists: Lee (Kirsten Dunst), Joel (Wagner Moura), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) on their way to Washington D.C. (well, technically 3 as Sammy is only hitching a ride on his way to Charlottesville to see the fighting on the front lines). Joel wants to interview the President upon his arrival while Lee is a seasoned wartime photographer who takes young Jessie under her wing as Lee is someone whom he looks up to and aspires to be. Surprisingly, I was a little bored with the film. Jessie's character arc held my interest the most, followed by Lee, who was the team leader throughout. Some scenes are built for shock value which had very little effect on me. I'll again give the film credit as while it's dealing with a sensitive issue during these overly sensitive times, it doesn't take sides. The story focuses on us as Americans, not which party we affiliate with, which is effective in that regard as we're obviously stronger together than divided. 5.5/10

JOHNNY GUITAR (1954)

Leonard Maltin calls this "the kinky Western" and he's not wrong. Tough cookie Vienna (Joan Crawford) runs a saloon/gambling den on the outskirts of a town that's about to get a railroad station that'll bring her lots of business. She hires Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden), a former lover and a retired gunslinger, to entertain. But the local cattle baron, McIver (Ward Bond) shows up with the sheriff and a mob, demanding that she clear out in 24 hours. Vienna backs them off with her trusty six-shooter, but hell-in-skirts Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) puts the spine back in the mob--seems she and Vienna once were rivals for the Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady), leader of a desperado gang. All leads to a war, a fire, plenty of shooting, and a showdown between the two women, who are a sight to behold--they make the men look like wimps. Crawford is excellent--strangely decked out in black shirt and pants, but with those flashing eyes and perfect diction. McCambridge is a tornado of energetic hate (she and Crawford had a real feud on the set). Hayden is subtly restrained and humorous. Cast includes John Carradine and Ernest Borgnine, and a pack of familiar Western faces. Director Nicholas Ray brings all this bizarre stuff together in the first feminist Western. Fascinating.

THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE

Based upon the true story of the first, and what later became known as Black Ops missions, a group of 7 (primarily British with a Swed added) attempt to sink Nazi U-boats in Nazi controlled waters in an effort to allow resources to enter Great Britain via the Atlantic Ocean. Henry Cavill stars as the teams leader Gus March-Phillips, who rumor has it was an inspiration for the James Bond character that Ian Fleming would write soon after (Fleming is actually a real character is this film BTW). Cavill comes across as much more looney and unhinged in the trailer but those are only passing moments throughout the film. He's much more polished than what's advertised. And while I have nothing against the cast as they were all enjoyable, I am going to call out both the casting director as well as director Guy Ritchie. This film is based on true events and pictures of the real life people whom these actors are playing are featured during the closing credits. As such, I find it to be a great disservice to them, their memory, and their families that some have been DEI-washed in order to gain brownie points within a small sector of society. If this story wasn't based on real events I wouldn't have such an issue with it. But again, for the fact it's based upon real people and their real experiences, it's shameful. If the shoe were on the other foot where white actors were taking minority roles, people would be yelling "whitewashing." Well, allow me to hold them to the same standard. I like Guy Ritchie and even though some of his latest efforts have been a little more uneven in terms of quality (this being boringly average), he should have known better and done a better job at preserving the memory of these individuals who risked capture by the British and torture and death by the Nazis. Be better Guy Ritchie! 5.5/10

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

Halloween Night, 1977, New York City: late night host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) invites a sordid group of guests onto the show in order to boost his sinking ratings. The featured guests are a psychic, a skeptical former magician, a parapsychologist author and her subject. The film plays out as an unearthed, original recording of the show, with the commercial breaks taking the audience backstage to see what transpired during breaks. I was rather impressed with Dastmalchian as he's usually a supporting actor but really finds his stride as the likeable host who's doing battle with Johnny Carson for viewership. In addition, he's recently experienced tragedy himself, having lost his wife and this show seems to be the last thing keeping him going. I hope he continues to find leading work as again, he's impressive in this. Also, this was my first introduction to Carmichael Haig who hams it up as the skeptical former magician, critiquing all of the guests gifts as nothing more than mere parlor tricks, the consummate cynic. He's enjoyable with his over-the-top, know-it-all attitude. I had heard good things about this and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I've never liked anything put out by Shudder but this is easily the best they've released IMO. 6.5/10

CHALLENGERS

From Italian director Luca Guadagnino comes the story of a love triangle between 3 tennis proteges: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), and best friends Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor). The story bounces back-and-forth between the present and the past, opening with Art married and sharing a child with Tashi, coming back from an injury but who's career is skating on thin ice. In order to boast his confidence, he agrees to play in a challenger event against inferior opponents. Patrick, having never made an impact in the sport and broke, needs to money while hoping he can still win and get a spot on the tour. Naturally they play each other in the finals and their interconnected story involving themselves and Tashi unfolds. The film starts out well with an intriguing setup and a little faux tennis to keep the audience awake; although by the end, its time has definitely expired and should have known when to throw in the towel. The cast was average, with no one really standing out much except Zendaya who is the biggest name on the poster and out of the three gave the best performance. In addition, Guadagnino, unwisely, choose a few times to have a camera act as a tennis ball while Art and Patrick play. I don't get motion sickness but I could easily see how others could while watching this unnecessary setup. The film had potential but ultimately lost it 2/3 of the way in. 6/10

TAROT

7 friends from Massachusetts rent an Airbnb in New York to celebrate one of their owns birthday. Once out of alcohol, the group decides to snoop around the mansion in order to find more; however, they come across old relics/obscure objects in the bowels of the basement (one of them happening to be a deck of tarot cards). Luckily for the audiences sake, group member Haley (Harriet Slater) previously taught herself how to read tarot cards and is pressured by the rest of the group into reading each of their futures. But an unwritten rule with tarot is to never use a deck that doesn't belong to you. The group brushes it off as superstition and has their fortunes read anyway. Once back in Massachusetts, group members begin dying in the same manner their fortunes were told. I took a flyer on this as the trailer looked decent enough to give it a shot and the film was mid. A PG-13 rating and plenty of DEI on display, I'm sure the studio and crew were hoping for a younger audience and they just didn't show. While not a lot of marketing was put behind this in order to keep the bottom line low, the film plays just as it is: a fantasy story. No emotional investment from the audience, a couple of jump scares, and while an original story idea, one that couldn't sustain the full 92 minute runtime. 5/10

THE FALL GUY

A love letter from director and former stunt performer David Leitch, gives us Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), a stunt guy who's on the top of his game when the film opens but soon suffers a devastating back injury that nearly costs him his life. In turn, he walks away from his career and his girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt) to remain in obscurity while he works as a valet at a Mexican restaurant in LA. He's given a call by the same producer who worked with him on the film in which he sustained his injury. The film's current stunt man has gone missing and they need him to fill in for him (he's also lured by the fact he's told Jody has personally requested him to fill in). He soon fly's to Australia to fill in as well as (hopefully) rekindle things with Jody. A lot of action and humor packed in here and I'm surprised it hasn't made more noise at the box office. It's not a classic film and may even be forgotten soon but it's still a fun time and with talent like Gosling and Blunt who've proven to hold their own at the box office, I'm surprised and a bit disappointed this hasn't been appreciated more. However, for all the men and women who take the bumps and make the stars look like a million bucks, I'm happy they finally got their time in the sun. 6.5/10

Great review Irish! Emily Blunt is my all-time favorite actress

I'm going to give Kingdom a shot this Tuesday in IMAX. It's beautifully filmed, so at the very least, I'll enjoy the scenery. (Senior Disc Price is $11.37)



To prepare to enjoy The Kingdom, I watched a film about humans interacting with compassionate, and violent apes...
The Legend of Tarzan

Thanks Gia. Did you see it yet?

ROAD HOUSE (1951)

Joe Peters (Charles McGraw, Eternal Tough Guy with Brains) is a hard-boiled but honest insurance detective who's conned at an airport by Diane Morley (Joan Dixon), an equally hard-boiled but conniving kept woman. She''s the mistress of Kendall Webb (Lowell Gilmore), a smooth-talking racketeer, and she tells Peters he'll always be a small-timer unless he gets richer and less virtuous. Peters falls hard for her, eventually scheming with Webb to pull of a major heist which, predictably, goes bad. This trim little (73 minutes) movie has all the elements of a good film noir--taut dialog, interesting twists, excellent photography on urban streets, credible acting. Very good!

ABIGAIL

A 6 person crew of criminals who don't know each other and in need of money, decide to take on a kidnapping job. Once they have the child, they only need to wait out a 24-hour period before they split $50 million between them. The only issue is, the young teenage ballerina is actually Dracula's daughter. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett (READY OR NOT, SCREAM, and SCREAM VI) bring another fun horror adventure to the big screen. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this but it turned out to be a more enjoyable ride than I expected. I'm not sure it'll have the same effect upon repeat viewings but I had a good time with it at least once. The cast is wisely chosen as everyone of these characters would stand out in other films but putting them together was a lighting in a bottle. Quite a bit of humor throughout to aid in the digestion of the story. Better than expected. 6/10

IMAGINARY

Children's author Jessica (DeWanda Wise) moves back into her childhood home with her husband Max (Tom Payne) and his two daughters: Taylor (Taegen Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun). Upon arriving Alice finds a bear named Chauncey, who soon becomes her best friend. However, Jessica soon suspects the bear is actually more dangerous to Alice than good. Another Blumhouse flop here and this was painful to sit through. The story crawls at a snails pace to unfold and the story (particularly by the third act) is rather out there. With a PG-13 rating, it's watered down for a bigger audience that never showed. The only credit I can give here is towards young Pyper Braun who put together an enjoyable performance for such a young actress at only 10-years-old. Outside of that, I cannot recommend this enough to avoid this snooze fest. Blumhouse better go back to the drawing board because the films they've been putting out as of late just are not working on so many levels. 4/10

BACK TO BLACK

Marisa Abela stars as troubled musician Amy Winehouse. From the jump, the audience is introduced to Amy's no nonsense personality. She tells you what she thinks and it's your problem on how to deal with it. Before long she meets the love of her life Blake (Jack O'Connell), whom a lot of her music was based upon. As with any musical biopic, Amy deals with fame, fortune, and addiction (the likes of which unfortunately got the better of her). I never listened to Amy's music before seeing this film (and truth be told, I didn't know much about her either other than the fact that she was the butt end of jokes back in the day). Abela did a fantastic job in her portrayal of the artist as I felt as I didn't know the real Amy, I just might through her performance. I've heard there are many people to blame for Amy's untimely death (Amy herself, her father, and Blake) and the film doesn't blame anyone per se but rather lays out the different influences in her life. Unfortunately, Amy was taken from us too soon as so many other great musicians. For me, this was a wonderful and breakout performance from Abela and I hope to see her work again soon. An average film that will probably be forgotten about soon but will stick with me a little while longer. 6/10

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

Anya Taylor-Joy stars as young Furiosa, a character made famously brilliant back in 2015 by Charlize Theron. Suffice to say, she had some mighty big shoes to fill and does just that! Having been captured by the film's baddie Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) she then becomes the property of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). We see the origins of this relationship and how she becomes the hard nose, badass rig driver for Immortan Joe when we are first introduced to her in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Anya and Chris both deliver remarkable and memorable performances. I've always been a fan of Anya's since first putting eyes on her work with THE WITCH and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching her grow as an actress over the years. This film only adds to her already accomplished resume which is saying something as again, she has to take over for an icon in Theron and handled it beautifully. Props to her for being able to continue the awesome work this character so rightly deserves. However, for my money, Chris' performance steals the show. Going against the grain and playing the villain, Chris is given more freedom (as any typecast actor who historically plays the hero and then turns to the other side) and his enjoyment easily comes across to the audience. He's having a great time with the role and we're having a great time watching him do his thing. I've heard fans complain about the length and pacing of the film and while some parts do slowdown and there can be an extended period between actions sequences, I didn't feel the film dragged or was overly long surprisingly. A couple of demerits to hand out go to Lachy for him stepping in to the shoes of the amazing Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe. He certainly looks the part and while through no fault of his own, I prefer the spine chilling voice of Joe from Hugh's mouth rather than Lachy's. In addition, the action scenes are not quite up to par as they were in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, which again, that film set the bar so high, it's difficult to repeat that without feeling repetitive. I'll surely be along for the ride if they decide to finally make that sequel to MAD MAX in the future. 7.5/10

MOTHERS' INSTINCT

Celine (Anne Hathaway) and Alice (Jessica Chastain) star as neighboring homemakers in 1960s New Jersey. They and their children, Celine's Max (Baylen D. Bielitz) and Alice's Theo (Eamon Patrick O'Connell) are the best of friends. That all suddenly changes however when Max has an accident and dies. Stricken with grief, the lose proves to be too much for their friendship to maintain as Celine begins to show signs she secretly blames Alice for his sons untimely passing. However, is it all in Alice's head or is Celine making a play to get revenge? It's a decent psychological brain teaser. Does Celine actually blame Alice or is Alice reading more into it than there is? 2 Oscar winners in Hathaway and Chastain, they are what intrigued me the most in convincing me to watch this. And while they're both passable, the story at times keeps you guessing but never enough to fully engage the viewer. Both actresses have put forth better work and while the ending had a neat little twist to it, overall, this felt very mid and somewhat disappointing based on Hathaway's and Chastain's prior work. 6/10

I always felt Fury Road packed a punch. Great review. Looking forward to watching this

By chance I watched Fury Road yesterday on Dutch TV. Third time I believe. Tarantino said it was the best film of 2015 I agree.

BOY KILLS WORLD

Bill Skarsgård stars as Boy, a deaf mute who watched his mother gunned down before his young eyes and was then separated from his younger sister during the annual Culling ceremony (yearly public executions). Knowing nothing but hate and wishing revenge against this totalitarian government led by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), he's trained in the jungle by the Shaman (Yayan Ruhian). Skarsgård does a phenomenal job getting himself into camera shape, as does Jessica Rothe who plays June27, Hilda's main bodyguard. Brett Gelman always brings his much appreciated levity to any scene he's in as Gideon Van Der Koy, brother of Hilda. H. Jon Benjamin is also enjoyable too as the Boys internal voice (other cuts are rumored to have featured Skarsgård's own voice as the Boy so I'm not quite sure why there's 2 different versions with 2 different narrators)? Other than that, there's some humor, decent action sequences, but overall, nothing that excited me too much unfortunately, which is a shame as I had some excitement going into this. The film unfortunately didn't find much footing at the box office but I can pretty easily see this becoming a cult classic. 6/10