Tag: netflix

Film Review: Meet The Thursday Murder Club

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Thursday Murder Club is a charming mystery film that manages to stay pretty faithful to the novel written by Richard Osman. The screenplay is written by Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote. Chris Columbus is the director of this piece which stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as a group of retired residents in a village who meet on Thursdays to review cold murder cases. David Tennant, Tom Ellis, Naomis Ackie, and Daniel Mays are also included in the cast.

A small group of residents in a rather swanky retirement village meet once a week to review cold cases. Mirren plays Elizabeth, who once worked for MI6. Brosnan plays a rather brash former union leader named Ron. Kingsley is the empathic psychiatrist, Ben, and Celia Imrie rounds out the group as the recently recruited retired nurse named Joyce.

They are examining a case from 1973 in which a woman was apparently shoved out the window. While the small club is searching for new information, one of the owners of Coopers Chase is murdered nearby. The Thursday Murder Club have their first fresh case; however, they also learn that there are plans to redevelop their village into more luxurious apartments. Not only is there a killer lurking; the club has to find a way to save their new homes.

It’s hard to go wrong with the main cast. I am less familiar with Imrie, but she did great alongside the more familiar names such as Mirren, Brosnan, and Kingsley. Imrie may not have quite the same name recognition as her costars, but she is certainly no slouch when it comes to her charisma and ability. She certainly does have a lengthy filmography herself, so she should have no problem continuing her career.

I had read the book fairly recently, and the movie does follow it fairly closely.

Brosnan and Mirren are as reliably charismatic as ever, while Kingsley still maintains that quiet, yet powerful dignity that also makes him compelling.

In spite of some of this being somewhat of a comedy, there are plenty of somewhat poignant moments that are handled quite well.

Even though I knew the solution to the crime, the film may be worth a rewatch to just admire a group of long-time actors who can still appear to be at the top of their game.

I was just pleased that there were not enough alterations from the source material to evoke real annoyance.

Film Review: Axel Foley Turns The Heat Back On

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

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.

Film Review: The Battle Of The Generations Rage On

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Old Dads is an unsurprisingly raunchy comedy film directed by Bill Burr; however, it is not as funny as his stand-up routine. Burr co-wrote the script with Ben Tishler, who was apparently not much help. Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine co-star as his two best friends and business partners.

The premise here is that these three buddies are older that most typical fathers and their struggles to understand the younger generation, which includes their wives and significant others. The three friends had sold their company but were able to remain on as employees with a Gen Z supervisor who doesn’t respect their supposed wisdom or something. Burr’s character has gotten sideways with a progressive daycare principal. He has an erratic temper, which is what Burr relies on for his stand-up routine. All three of these guys have some friction in their relationships. Basically, they have to save their relationships, get their jobs back, and learn how to play nice with others.

There was no one I could bring myself to actually like or root for. I like Burr’s comedy generally, but somehow it didn’t translate all that well for this film. The profanity was a bit much, and I can tolerate a lot. There were times that I could almost sympathize with Burr’s character, Jack, such as when he called out his wife for not standing by him all that much. Just because he has a temper didn’t mean that he was always wrong.

I think there is a goldmine here with the idea of some of these older fathers with young children, but Burr didn’t seem to tap into it very effectively.

I didn’t have very high expectations for this one, but this still turned out to be surprisingly disappointing.

Film Review: The Brat Pack Revisited

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

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.