Absolution is a slow-moving, yet interesting crime thriller directed by Hans Petter Moland and written by Tony Gayton. Liam Neeson is in the lead role and is joined by a cast which includes Yolanda Ross, Ron Perlman, and Daniel Diemer.
Neeson plays an aging gangster who learns that he is afflicted with a degenerative brain disease and is motivated to reconnect with his daughter and her son. He also has to dodge other gangsters who want to kill him. He also wants to make some amends for his violent past before he totally loses his mind.
It’s not a terrible film, but I would not call this one of the better additions to Neeson’s credits. It’s kind of slow, but it picks up in the second half when the bodies start piling up. Neeson is compelling enough to make this a little better than watchable. There is a repeated dream sequence with Neeson’s character talking to his deceased father on a boat, which seemed an awkward fit.
Also, this was one of those films where some of the lead characters apparently didn’t have proper names. Yolanda Ross plays someone just credited as Woman. Neeson’s character isn’t named either. I just find that a little distracting and frustrating.
This may be a film I need to watch again in order to appreciate it better. It was just interesting and unique enough for me to revisit eventually, but I suspect there are plenty of legitimate criticisms as well.
Venom: The Last Dance continues a string of mediocrity in the latest comic book films from Marvel. Tom Hardy reprises his role as Eddie Brock/Venom in what is promised to be the final entry into a trilogy. Kelly Marcel wrote the screenplay and serves as director. The cast includes Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifan, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, and Andy Serkis.
Basically, some imprisoned tyrant from Venom’s home planet has sent some strange, demonic creatures through these space/time portals to find something called a Codex. They find Earth where Venom has to elude these creatures and the government because he is wanted for murder due to some events in the previous film. There are battles across the country and mountains. Venom and Eddie are bonded, but that connection seems to be the catalyst for impending destruction of Earth.
Hardy is talented and interesting enough to make this at least watchable. The story is not that interesting, probably due to the main villain, a guy named Knull, not being able to move. The special effects were well done, and there were some cool fight scenes. I just don’t find Venom as witty or amusing as the writers intend for him to be. Venom has a hunger for brains but will only eat those of the most despicable of people. All kinds of symbiotes are introduced. Of course, this is what Venom is. He is an alien symbiote who bonds with a host and gives them superpowers. In the comics, Venom was bonded to Peter Parker and had abilities similar to those of Spider-Man. The initial introduction has been ignored in these films.
My reaction to the film was mildly amused, but this was not one of the better of the Marvel output. Comic book films require a lot of grace in order to find some enjoyment, but this one almost stretched my willingness to give that beyond endurance.
It’s not the worst film in the franchise, but I can understand why the enthusiasm and the box office returns have been somewhat lackluster.
Smile 2 is an adequate but forgettable horror film that is a sequel to a Smile which was released in 2022. Parker Finn is the writer and director with Naomi Scott in the lead as a troubled pop star named Skye Riley. The cast includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Ray Nicholson, and Dylan Gelula.
The film picks up about six days after the previous entry ended. A police officer is attempting to pass off the curse of the Smile Entity to a couple of notorious drug dealers, but that goes awry when one of their hapless customers gets the brunt. The police officer is killed, and the drug user passes the curse onto pop star, Skye Riley. Skye has a tragic past which involves drug addiction and the horrific death of a boyfriend when they were both in a car accident. Skye’s sanity starts to unravel when she notices the people around her approaching her with the unnerving, fixed smiles that is familiar to those who have seen the previous film.
I will start off and say this film is not that bad for another sequel in the horror genre. There were some genuinely creepy moments. It’s not that great, and we learn nothing all that new about this admittedly interesting entity. I will try not to give too much away, but the conclusion seemed rather pointless and predictable to some extent.
The performances were fairly compelling. The problem, as usual, is in the writing. There were not many characters I cared about ultimately. I didn’t find the main character to be all that sympathetic because a lot of her troubles she brings upon herself. No one seems to have a real chance to defeat this creature. Some of the scenes were just gross in a ridiculous way.
In spite of the numerous flaws, there was still a real effort to create a fairly unique menace. The film was not without some points of interest, but not enough to really warrant much enthusiasm from this viewer.
Joker: Folie à Deux is the musical thriller comic book film that has Joaquin Phoenix reprise his version of one of the most iconic super villains in entertainment. Todd Phillips directed this one and also co-wrote it with Scott Silver. Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener, and Brendan Gleeson are also included in the cast.
It’s five years after the first Joker film, and this sequel picks up a couple of years after Arthur Fleck dons the well-known persona. He has killed six people and is about to face his trial. He is incarcerated at Arkham Asylum, where he meets another patient named Harleen Quinzel, known as Lee, and enjoys a disturbing romance. In his imaginings, he is suddenly breaking out into song, and strange, demented musical numbers commence. Anyway, the Joker has gotten a fanbase due to his disdain for the government and the system which often exacerbates the sufferings of the downtrodden. His lawyer wants him to lean into his delusional tendencies so that she can get him off on an insanity plea. Lee wants to see more of the Joker identity and is encouraging Arthur’s more destructive proclivities. The trial is looming, and Arthur will have to decide whether or not fully embrace the Joker.
This has had a tough opening, and the overall reviews have not been kind. I have to admit I was a bit more drawn to it than I anticipated. Phoenix and Lady Gaga really are compelling together. I do sympathize with the critics in that some of musical interludes were rather distracting. Also, there is not that much action. There is a rather surprising twist at the end, however I recognized that twist from another iteration of the series. Of course, part of the problem is that the Joker really works best when he is actually having to contend with a certain batlike vigilante.
Phillips was going for a rather complicated character study and bring some attention to the failing of the mental health systems.
The charisma of the two leads does a lot to hold my attention in a sometimes rather slow story. It’s an interesting effort from Phillips to add his take on the legendary adversary of Batman.
Even though I can appreciate the efforts to try something rather creative and different, I found myself not entirely disagreeing with the criticisms from the professional reviewers.
Lady Gaga was a good choice as the female lead. She got to display her singing talents, and I have no objection to that. Phoenix seemed to not have any real difficulty picking up where he left off in his portrayal of his take on the Joker.
The film was not a total dud, Phillips would likely have done everyone a favor by letting the previous film stand alone.
Am I Racist? is an effectively satirical documentary starring Matt Walsh as he goes on a journey to see if the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) teachers have a point. The film is produced by The Daily Wire and directed by Justin Folk. Walsh and Folk writing credit with Brian Hoffman and Dallas Sonnier.
Walsh is a popular conservative commentator who had some success with a previous documentary entitled What is a Woman? which dealt with the topic of transgenderism.
After being ousted from a support group that discussed “white guilt”, Walsh dons a hilariously flimsy disguise and becomes certified to teach DEI himself. He encounters some rather notorious figures on this topic such as Kate Slater and Robin DiAngelo as he attempts to implement what he is learning during various sessions and interviews. He also interviews regular people of various races to get their reactions to these ideas.
One of Walsh’s gifts is his deadpan stoicism as he subjects himself to some of most absurd group situations and tries to relay these ideas to others. The interview with DiAngelo is awkward and hysterically funny as reported.
The film is careful enough to attack an ideology and not necessarily a race of people. Another fascinating interview is with Wilfred Reilly, author of Hate Crime Hoax. Walsh and Reilly would likely be in more agreement if Walsh still wasn’t in character as a DEI guy.
There are a couple of scenes that sort of fell flat for me. The film’s effort to ridicule the Jussie Smollett hoax could have been handled differently. I don’t disagree with mocking Smollett at every opportunity, but the method employed in this film could have taken a bit more consideration.
There are some scenes that seem to go on a little too long, but that was likely to help drive home the point the film was really trying to make.
Most of the major production decisions made in this film work rather well. There were a couple of moments where Walsh actually did some acting that would be convincing if one didn’t know the premise.
This film is not without a few flaws, but it is entertaining and educational.
Abigail is a horror film that has a promising plot and some decent performances, but it could have benefited from a bit of restraint on the gore. So, who do we have to blame here? Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett share the director’s seat. Stephen Shields and Guy Busick are the co-writers.
A young actress named Alisha Weir plays the title role and is actually quite good. The cast includes Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, and Giancarlo Esposito. There is also another actor in the film named Angus Cloud, who apparently has recently died.
A group of criminals who do not know each other are assembled to kidnap a young girl after her ballet practice. She is apparently the daughter of a mysterious and dangerous crime lord. The ne’er-do-wells get an even bigger surprise to discover that pretty little Abigail is actually a vampire who has her own plans to feast. The whole caper turns into a gruesome fight for survival as Abigail shreds her kidnappers one by one.
Obviously, this film is pretty ludicrous on the outset. It’s not entirely a waste of time. There are some notable performances and moments. I did find that Abigail was very well cast. Weir is actually pretty compelling and amusing as the bloodthirsty little creature. She is convincingly frightened at first but delivers a few delicious moments of real menace at times. Other notable performances are presented by Barrera and Stevens. The head games that go on are pretty clever.
My main problem is that the amount of gore gets really distracting and unnecessary. It felt like the directors were going out of their way to break some record when it came to the gratuitous dismemberments and beheadings as well as the foul language. I really don’t have a weak stomach when it comes to either of these facets in some filmmaking, but there are moments that it feels like the writers and directors of this film are seriously too deficient on creativity to show some restraint and shrewd subtlety.
The film is not without merit, but I think leaving a little more to the imagination would have been a welcome improvement.
Twisters is a disaster film that ended up being more entertaining than some would expect. It is billed as a sequel to the 1996, Twister, but it doesn’t really touch on that one, which I think was a smart call from the producers. Mark L: Smith is the screen writer with Lee Isaac Chung serving as directed. The story was apparently conceived by Joseph Kosinski.
The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Maura Tierney, Anthony Ramos, and Brandon Perea.
Edgar-Jones plays a former storm chaser who had quit her favorite activity due to the tragic deaths of her team members. Five years later, she is working in New York as a meteorologist for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when an old friend calls on her to join him on an effort to test a new tornado scanning device. Kate is understandably reluctant but decides to take the trip to Oklahoma. She then encounters a self-proclaimed tornado wrangler named Tyler Owens and his team. At first, they get along like chalk and cheese until they start to bond as the story develops. Kate has to put the past behind her as she revives her own experiments that were designed to tame the tornado, as she puts it.
I am dubious as to how the science behind the story is presented, and there are some typically outlandish escapes. The film works pretty well overall in spite of that. There is an issue with the predictability when it comes to how the relationships evolve. There are not that many surprises when it comes to these relationships. The actors are charismatic enough to pull it off. I ended up liking the ragtag group led by the reckless, arrogant Owens. Powell consistently manages to be likeable in spite of the immature arrogance of his character. Tyler actually reveals a more compassionate side of his nature that actually was portrayed rather believably. I am not that familiar with Daisy Edgar-Jones, but she also proved to be a good casting choice.
Some of the other characters were rather eccentric, but they managed to not be distracting enough for me to want to see them swept away by the tornadoes.
The visual effects and stunt work was well executed for the most part. My attention was pretty well captured through the whole film.
There are elements that are a bit ridiculous, but the film overall is quite entertaining. As far as popcorn entertainment goes, the film is one of the better ones and is a bit of a rare gem compared to much of the recent offerings coming from Hollywood.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F manages to somewhat redeem the beloved franchise after the cinematic dumpster fire of its immediate predecessor. Eddie Murphy reprises the role of Detroit detective Axel Foley who keeps having reason to bring his distinctive style of mayhem to Beverly Hills. The screenplay was written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican, and Kevin Ettan. Mark Molloy is at the helm as director and at least does this with some competence and care for the series.
John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot are the returning cast members from the previous films. Kevin Bacon, Taylour Paige, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are newer and effective additions to the world.
Axel Foley has managed to somehow stay on the Detroit police force for these past several decades. At some point since he was last seen on screen, he had gotten married, sired a daughter, and divorced. He and his daughter have become estranged in recent years. She has moved out to California and has become a defense attorney. Her latest case has her mired in a deep nest of police corruption and drug trafficking. When she is getting a little closer to proving a client innocent of murdering a police officer, she is threatened rather dramatically. Of course, that isn’t going to set well with the relentless Axel Foley, which brings him back to Beverly Hills, much to the chagrin of his daughter.
Foley manages to catch up with his friends, Chief Taggart and now private investigator, Billy Rosewood. Rosewood has landed into some trouble of his own since he was helping Axel’s daughter and was on the scent of some dirty cops before he disappeared.
Taylour Paige, who plays Foley’s daughter, holds her own alongside the undiminished charisma and talent of Murphy. There were some interesting character moments as the script tries to fill in the background between the estrangement of father and daughter. Although he is still recognizably Alex Foley, there is some evidence of maturity mixed into the familiar brashness.
The script does a good job of evoking the affectionate sense of nostalgia for these characters and showing that they are not frozen in time. Relationships ebb and flow, and circumstances are always changing. It was interesting to get a sense of what Foley would have been like as a father, and he wasn’t that good at it, but the audience can still root for him to be better.
The new cast members seem to be enjoying the experience as well. Murphy still looks somewhat believable in his action sequences, although he isn’t quite as acrobatic as he was in the previous films.
The actual plot is a bit of a mess, but that’s not unusual for this franchise. It’s still better than Beverly Hills Cop III, Overall, it was fun to revisit this world even if I am instinctively suspicious of Hollywood’s insistence on resurrecting these franchises decades later. It’s not a great film, but it’s reasonably entertaining.
Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One is the beginning of what looks to be a pretty engaging and beautifully captured film series directed by Kevin Costner. He also co-wrote the script Jon Baird as well as stars. The cast is huge and includes Sienna Miller, Luke Wilson, Sam Worthington Jena Malone, Will Patton along with many others.
The film begins in 1859 when the town of Horizon is established in the San Pedro Valley. Four years after that, the town is raided by a tribe of Apache. Many of the residents are scattered as the consequences of the raid start to unfold. This is one of those epics where there are many groups of characters to follow. Costner plays a horse trader named Hayes Ellison who gets caught up in one of the disputes. This leads to him killing a man who was about to threaten the life of a young woman he had met. Ellison and the prostitute named Marigold have to flee Montana before the dead man’s crooked brother catches up with them. Various groups of characters are apparently going to converge on Horizon as the series progresses.
I am not going to be too much into trying to describe this plot because that will really test my patience. Costner is attempting to revisit an epic style of cinema with this complicated, romantic western. Although the story could use a little tightening up in some ways, it’s still a laudable and mostly successful effort. The scenery and set design look gorgeous. I have no complaints about the cast or their performances. There’s a certain gritty feel to the piece that comes across quite authentically. Many important pieces to a good film do come together quite nicely.
It is still too easy to lose the timeline when watching this. There is the sense that Costner has bitten off more than he can chew at times. The shift from various situations and stories can be a little jarring and distracting. I almost felt like I needed to keep notes to make sure I kept some of the relationships straight.
I: do appreciate the ambition that Costner has displayed here, and he pulls off most of it. It could be that much of my impressions is influenced by this being a very early introduction to the overall story and the characters, and it will be easier to follow once the next films are released.
I do recommend that more people see this film because it is better than much of what has come out of Tinseltown lately. It is a celebration of American history and an homage to the grit and courage of those early pioneers. The Native Americans also are portrayed with some depth and complexity as well. Costner created something that attempts to avoid a lot of caricature and shallow stereotypes. There are moments of moving compassion in the midst of the cruelty of the times.
If nothing else, Costner did accomplish something in that I am certainly looking forward to seeing the next installment.
Brats is an engaging documentary directed by Andrew McCarthy which explores the impact the moniker “Brat Pack” had on the group of young actors in the 1980’s who endured the unflattering label over the years,
The Brat Pack consisted of young actors such as Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, and McCarthy himself who appeared together in certain films which launched a genre of films that depicted the angst and complicated relationships of those coming of age during the 1980’s. Films such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and of course, The Breakfast Club are considered the creme de la creme of this category. I almost forgot to mention St. Elmo’s Fire as well,
McCarthy reconnects with and interview some of his old colleagues. Many of them avoided contact with the others after the article published by New York magazine stuck them with the label. A couple of prominent members such as Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson chose not to participate in the documentary, however McCarthy included them with archived footage.
McCarthy puts forth a pretty compelling examination of the past. He wanted to get a sense of what some of his fellow actors thought at the time and how some of their impressions have changed over the past few decades. McCarthy himself seems to have some complicated and nuanced view of the consequences of that article, and it was fascinating to see him wrestle with those emotions.
David Blum is the journalist who wrote the infamous article, and McCarthy sits down with him, which is great.
I have seen few of the movies themselves, but I was aware of the Brat Pack and generally enjoyed their works as separate films. Of course, I was too young at the time to appreciate the potential effect and consequences of the label at the time.
Emilio Estevez even agrees to talk to McCarthy. How long has it been since he has been in front of the camera?
It’s not the most earth-shattering documentary, but it is interesting and amusing. It’s even a little educational from a pop culture standpoint. McCarthy seems like a pretty nice fellow in spite of some of the lingering resentment over the impact on his career, which still ended up being pretty good.
Bigger fans of this group of actors will likely appreciate this film even more, however I was pretty impressed with the final edit. I still learned a lot and appreciated the sense of nostalgia the film evoked.
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