Ridley Scott has directed the biographical film entitled Napoleon with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. David Scarpa is the screenwriter. The cast includes Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine, the emperor’s first wife, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett, Ian McNeice, and Paul Rhys.

The film chronicles the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to ruling France in the eighteenth century and his downfall after a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. In the midst of his conquests, he marries and tries to conceive an heir with his first wife. As most great men of history, Napoleon is revealed to be a rather strange and temperamental fellow. He also is quite dangerous, which is effectively depicted in this film.

The film is better than many of the recent offerings I have seen, however there are also some disappointments. A lot of scenes often felt cut too early. It was too hard keeping some of the other figures straight and determining who was significant outside of Napoleon. I often felt there were some events that could have used a little further exploration and context. It seems strange to say this since I am often complaining about movies dragging, however this particular one seems to have a way of tearing through the story at too much of a breakneck pace at times.

The battle sequences were extraordinary though. The scenery and period costumes were stunning. It did have a great look most of the time. Scott didn’t shy away from the gruesome consequences of having a horse struck in the chest with a cannonball, for example. I can appreciate the attempt to highlight the stark and gory realities of war, but it was a little tough to watch some of those battles.

Joaquin Phoenix is a talented performer, but I think he was undercut a bit by the frantic shift in scenes at times. His ability to command a movie like this is diminished only by the editing choices. Vanessa Kirby does fine as well, but it was hard to sense any real spark of chemistry between the two of them together. Once again, I think that was handicapped by the abruptness in a lot of the scenes.

Also, Napoleon isn’t the most sympathetic of historical figures. Phoenix endowed his performances with some strange mannerisms. I am not sure of the accuracy of the portrayal since I by no means an expert historian concerning this period or Napoleon. I suspect it plausible that Phoenix was pretty close to the target in his performance.

Overall, the film does have some bright spots, but I have to confess some surprising disappointment and frustration with Ridley Scott’s latest offering. The film felt like it only scratched the surface of the complexities of the period and Napoleon’s psyche. There was little revelation as to his background and motivations. This film felt replete with missed opportunities to make it more compelling. Napoleon is one of the most recognizable names in history, yet Scott’s film falls short on making him seem more fascinating. Napoleon just seemed a little weird and unpleasant at times, and I was just hoping for something a little deeper than that.

The Marvels is the latest offering from Marvel Studios and is directed by Nia DaCosta, who also co-wrote the script alongside Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik. Brie Larson suits up again as Captain Marvel. She is joined by Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani as Captain Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, respectively. Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury. Zawe Ashton plays the main villain known as Dar-Benn, a cosmic revolutionary rather angry at Captain Marvel who inadvertently destroyed her planet’s sun. Other cast members include Gary Lewis, Park Seo-Joon, and Zenobia Shroff.

Carol Danvers is the real identity of Captain Marvel and begins this adventure working in deep space checking out anomalies or something. Monica Rambeau is working on another project while Kamala is indulging her interest in superheroes and trying to make it through high school. Fury is on a space station trying to work out a peace treaty with a couple of alien civilizations. Anyway, there are alien artifacts, one of which Kamala possesses. The arrival of the anomalies causes the three super-powered women to be linked by something called a quantum entanglement. When their powers are used at the same time, the women switch places with each other throughout the cosmos. Captain Marvel, Monica, and Kamala have to come together to separate their powers, however they have to learn to work together in order to accomplish that. There is some family drama between Danvers and Monica that make their teamwork a little awkward. Kamala is just a kid who calls herself Ms. Marvel after her favorite hero. Then, Dar-Benn is hellbent on tearing the universe apart if she can save her own people.

The main storyline is a bit of a problem. It is confusing and wanders all over the place. I can’t even explain it that well in this blog. The performances are pretty good. There are some humorous moments that land rather effectively. I noticed that Iman Vellani is a bit of a scene stealer. She’s a bit of a diamond in pretty rough ground. Vellani manages to portray an annoying, overeager teen-ager quite charmingly. Really, the three lead women were quite good, but they were dealing with a poorly written concept.

There were a few charming moments. I liked the moment when the trio was sort of practicing how to coordinate their superpowers and make their sudden switches work in their favor. The film has a few charming moments, that usually showcase Vellani’s comedic timing.

Overall, the film was a little better than I had already heard, so I was relieved that I didn’t consider a complete waste of time. It still has some major flaws, but the performances and a few moments of charm and wit help considerably. It becomes precariously close to being too silly at times, but it is a comic book movie, so one must extend a little grace there. This one is by far not the best movie in the franchise, but it holds its own in some ways. It’s a bit of a roller coaster ride when it comes to the overall quality. The film is adequate entertainment, but it’s a far cry from a marvel.

The Black Demon is another shark attack movie and is directed by Adrian Grunberg. Boise Esquerra is the mediocre screenwriter who inflicted another mediocre scary shark script upon whoever was just curious enough to try it out. Josh Lucas is in the lead role as an inspector for an oil company who decides to bring his family along with him to visit an oil rig just off the shores of Mexico. Fernanda Urrejola and Julio Cesar Cedillo are included in the cast.

Lucas plays a pleasant enough family man named Paul Sturges, who brings his family to Mexico so he can enjoy a vacation at the same time he checks on a company oil rig. He is alarmed to find the town he stops in to be somewhat deserted and the people rather subdued. He of a local legend concerning a demon that has been roused by the drilling, which he dismisses. He finds it a little harder to ignore when he finds the rig in shambles, and he and his family end up trapped by the circling presence of megalodon shark that has been on a killing spree for some time before Paul’s arrival. Apparently, this film is based on some lore of a demon shark in Mexico. It just ends up delivering another not-so-subtle message about ecological irresponsibility.

Josh Lucas is a reasonably talented actor and does what he can with a script that just feels a little phoned in. The cast put in an admirable effort to make this mildly convincing. The visual effects were pretty good, and there are a couple of moments of real suspense. I sort of favor films that take place in some isolated structure with a terrifying whatever picking people off. Oil rigs are pretty good settings for this genre. I have no real issue with the performances and some of the technical efforts in this one, but the story was just a bit too familiar, and the characters sometimes had trouble getting to their point when sharing some discovered secrets.

I find that I am getting a repetitive reaction to the movies I have seen lately. Yet again, this is not really that terrible of a film, but the formula is little too familiar. The cast is just compelling enough to make this watchable at least. Also, really big sharks chomping on boats and people does tend to get the blood going in a somewhat enjoyable way as long as it’s just a movie. It’s another film that has some minor moments of nearly being entertaining and interesting, but it just doesn’t quite make it.

Nowhere is a Spanish film directed by Albert Pinto. It took five screenwriters to come up with this one. The authors of this little adventure are Ernest Riera, Miguel Ruiz, Indiana Lista, Seanne Winslow, and Teresa Rosendoy. Anna Castillo and Tamar Novas star as a young married couple fleeing a tyrannical government in Spain. Castillo’s Mia is quite pregnant, so they are even more motivated to hoof it out of what is becoming a warzone. Their escape involves being smuggled to Ireland in a shipping container. Mia is separated from her husband, and her fellow escapees are slaughtered. She manages to stay hidden, however a storm causes the shipping container to be dumped in the ocean. As predicted, there are some supplies that make survival possible. Also, her baby decides that this would be a good time to emerge into the world, so Mia has someone else to keep alive.

I am not sure why there needed to be five writers on this. The film turned out to be suspenseful, but Mia has some unbelievable luck in the midst of her unexpected sea disaster. It’s not explained how she knew how to rig some of contraptions she concocted throughout the saga. She demonstrated some skills that would make MacGyver envious. Of course, MacGyver was pretty hard to buy into at times too.

Castillo does put in a pretty impressive performance in spite of some dodgy plot turns. She is a good actress, and I was rooting for Mia to make it.

The visual effects were nicely executed. There was an encounter with a whale that was quite compelling. The film was quite stunning visually.

There were one or two moments I couldn’t quite predict, so that makes this a little better than many other movies with a similar scenario. The movie still has a few shortcomings in the writing. Castillo’s performance did help me forgive some of those flaws but not all of them.

Nowhere is not a terrible movie, but it still fails to make a lasting impression. Even Castillo’s performance doesn’t hit this out of the park for me.

Kenneth Branagh brings back Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot back to the big screen for the third time with A Haunting In Venice. He takes on the lead and serves as director for this script written by Michael Green. It is loosely based on the novel by Agatha Christie entitled Hallowe’en Party, and they really mean loosely this time. Joining Branagh is a cast that includes Tina Fey, Kyle Allen, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Yeoh, and Jamie Dornan. Anyway, this might as well be considered an entirely original story featuring Poirot, which is fine with me.

Hercule Poirot has retired to Venice and has obtained the services of a bodyguard to help make sure he is not roped into any new cases. That seems to work fine until an old friend, Ariadne Oliver, shows up to invite him to a seance. A wealthy, grieving mother has hired a mysterious medium to reach out to her dead daughter, who had apparently committed suicide. Poirot arrives as a Halloween party is winding down, and the medium, played by Michelle Yeoh, turns up to get the supernatural ball rolling. Of course, Poirot exposes the hoax but ends up staying for the murder he has to solve. He locks everyone in the house as a storm rages through the night and begins his investigation, however he is having his own visions and is not sure how much he can trust his own sense of reality.

First of all, the film editing can use some reconsideration because the quick cutaways and close-ups were rather overused. Also, Branagh has chosen to present a more morose and pondering version of Poirot than most of the other portrayals. Poirot wasn’t really like that in the original novels. Branagh does manage to bring out many of Poirot’s more recognizable traits. Poirot is still rather egocentric and fastidious, which was a relief to see. He still enjoys an audience when exposing a killer. Branagh still does a decent job as director and lead, but the movie has quite a few missteps for the most part.

Tina Fey does pretty well as Ariadne Oliver, who is a recurring character in Christie’s works. Ariadne Oliver is a mystery writer who occasionally assisted Poirot in an investigation or two. I thought it was kind of cool that she was included in this latest entry.

The house where this was taking place seemed a little outlandish, but maybe that is how they look in Venice. The first murder itself was a bit weird as well. This movie does require quite a leap to buy into the plot.

There are quite a few lapses in judgment in the making of this film, but all is not lost. Branagh stays pretty faithful to the spirit of Christie’s works. The cast was pretty good, and there are a couple of unnerving moments that causes a bit of a chill.

Branagh may do better just sticking closer to the book if he continues to bring his version of Poirot to the 21st century. It may be that I just don’t have it in me to bash a new Poirot completely, but I still managed to enjoy this one. It is still good enough to provide an entertaining diversion. Branagh has a different interpretation of Poirot that I would prefer sometimes, but he leaves enough for me to hope for another stab at bringing Agatha Christie to this modern audience.

The Nun II is the latest horror film included in The Conjuring franchise. Michael Chaves is the director of this film in which it took three people to write the script for some inexplicable reason. Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akela Cooper all put their heads together for this one and still managed to not hit it out of the park. Taissa Farmiga reprises her role as Sister Irene who encountered the demonic nun in the previous film entitled, somewhat unsurprisingly, The Nun. Storm Reid is introduced as the young, hip Sister Debra, who doesn’t mind an occasional cigarette. Jonas Bloquet, Anna Popplewell, and Bonnie Aarons are included in the cast. Aarons returns as the demonic nun and does a fine job of looking creepy and, well…. demonic.

Sister Irene has found a convent to serve in Italy after her previous encounter with the Demon Nun. Maurice, played by Bloquet, is working at a boarding school in France, but he is not quite himself since he has become a carrier for the Nun. A series of gruesome deaths has caught the attention of the Cardinal, and Sister Irene is asked to take a look to see of the Demon Nun was not yet out for the count. She is joined by Sister Debra, the almost obligatory streetwise nun, and the two of them set off to France to find an old friend of Irene’s and an ancient foe in a habit. They learn of the Nun’s latest unholy quest and try to get ahead of her so they can send her back to where she belongs.

A nun with a rebellious streak has become par for the course for movies steeped in Catholic overtures. Saying that, I did find Sister Debra’s spunk kind of endearing though not that original. Reid is rather interesting and charismatic addition to the cast. Farmiga did well enough in the lead role, but there was not much that was not seen before. There were some moments in the film that were effectively creepy but not terribly original. There’s a weird goat creature that shows up suddenly which I found to be more distracting than anything else.

This is another offering that I found to be a mixed bag. It was not without some merit. The special effects worked well enough. It was shot on location, so I enjoyed the background setting. The performances were pretty good. It does well enough on hitting all the expected notes for a film in this genre. Not everything in the plot made sense, but that’s also a somewhat expected crack when it comes to this series.

The overall film was pretty average, but at least managed to be somewhat entertaining and occasionally startling. Basically, this is not the horror film that’s going to keep me up at night. The film was still done well enough to leave me curious enough to see where the franchise goes, so all was not lost in this cinematic indulgence.

Director Antione Fuqua and Denzel Washington reunite for what is advertised as the final installment of The Equalizer films. The Equalizer 3 has finally hit the screens, and Washington’s Robert McCall doesn’t skimp on the body count. Richard Wenk is the screenwriter. Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea, David Denman, and Remo Girone are also included in the cast. The film takes place in Italy, which is a good location choice to wrap this series up if it is indeed the end. The film series was actually based on a television series that was created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim.

Robert McCall is finishing up a mission where he has already killed a bundle of bad guys. When he gets wounded himself, he is taken in by an Italian doctor living in a small, charming coastal town. As he begins to recover, McCall gets to know his surroundings and the people there. Naturally, he develops an affection for them and is not too pleased to find them bothered by a mafia-type organization known as the Camorra. The CIA is also in town investigating an unusual drug smuggling operation. Once McCall starts to regain his strength, the Camorra are going to be on the receiving end of the bloodshed that is about to ensue.

I have said over the years that Denzel Washington had enough talent and charisma to make a bad movie at least watchable. Fortunately, this really isn’t a bad movie, but Washington still helps bump up the enjoyment. Fugua manages to avoid a few tropes of the action film genre once the climax of the story arrives. McCall comes across as dangerous and weary which Washington plays so well. Washington still comes across as believably lethal in spite of him being older. There are a few spots that seem to drag a little, but there are also some great scenes where the dialogue is written cleverly enough to help one through those moments. The first scene between Washington and Fanning turns out to be rather fascinating as they engage in a friendly battle of wits and one-upmanship.

The location was absolutely stunning, and it certainly did not hurt to actually cast Italian actors to play the locals McCall encounters. The villains were actually pretty believable in their nastiness. They did not really seem all that cartoonish, which is often a problem in this genre. It could be that the actors being Italian really assisted in the authenticity of the characters.

The action scenes were well done. Some of the choreography required some suspension of disbelief, but it wasn’t terribly outlandish. Washington can still be a convincing killer even if he is closing in on starting his seventh decade on this Earth.

The movie was pretty solidly entertaining, and this may be one of the few franchises where the later installments almost measure up to the first.