Quick takes on Hustle and other films

Yes, it’s as bad as you’ve heard. Morbius is the latest from Sony’s little corner of the Marvel universe, which they are trying their damndest to tie into the “official” Marvel Cinematic Universe and its money-making machine. But with two Venom movies and now this one, none have been nearly as good as even the average Marvel film. This one stars Jared Leto as sickly doctor Michael Morbius, who is intent on finding a cure for his debilitating illness, a sickness that is about to claim his life. He’s been experimenting with mixing some bat DNA in with a human’s, something about blood clotting, and when he think’s he’s found the solution, he injects it into himself. While it does “cure” him and make him strong, it also turns him into a bloodthirsty monster intent on drinking blood. With new bat-like superpowers in hand, he wages a battle against an old friend who also took the “cure.” The plot is nonsensical; the bad guy goes from trying to “awaken Morbius’ powers” to wanting to kill him in less than a minute. While the action scenes are passably entertaining, the story doesn’t make any sense. The movie is chuck full of what seems to be writers throwing various elements against the wall to see what sticks (and very little does). And the end credit scenes? Dropping a big cameo for no reason at all isn’t exciting to me in the slightest, especially when it was heralded in every trailer leading up to the movie. ★½

Operation Mincemeat tells the compelling, based-on-true-events story of Britain’s deception of Germany in leading to the Allied invasion of Italy in World War II. D-Day and the landings at Normandy get a lot of deserved attention, but USA’s war in Europe started in Sicily nearly a year before. However, Germany was expecting a fight there, so it was up to a team of Brit’s to pull off an act of subterfuge to make sure the Allied armies weren’t heading into a death trap. Their idea: plant a dead body in the water off Spain, with supposed secret letters detailing an Allied attack at Greece. Obviously they’ve got to make it look convincing if Hitler is going to believe it, so the movie details all the little nuances they go through to pull off perhaps the biggest episode of trickery in the war. It’s a very wordy drama, and that may not be for everyone, but it is extremely well executed and lead by the always exemplary Colin Firth. I did not know about this operation and was fascinated. ★★★½

The Woman Who Ran, a South Korean film from director Hong Sang-soo, is an interesting film. It’s short, at just 77 minutes, and the whole film is dialogue. Gam-hee is a woman out to visit some friends for the weekend, friends she hasn’t seen in awhile. Married for a few years, she reveals at the first visit that this is the first time she’s been away from her husband since marrying; he’s on a work trip, thus giving her some free time. You don’t think much of it at first, and Gam-hee is fairly reserved at this first friend’s house. But she opens up a bit more at her second friend’s, and then more so at the third’s. As the film goes along, the director paints a portrait of a woman who has seen her freedom evaporate once she got married. In not-so-subtle other interactions between various characters, Hong doesn’t show men in general in a very good light, pointing to their power in relationships and the need to always be “right” and not expect pushback. For what seems to be a subtle movie, at times it was pretty over-the-top. I generally like a film like this, but this one seemed to go a bit too far in hammering the message home. ★★½

It’s been a long time since Adam Sandler delivered a comedy that I really enjoyed, but when he steps away from his bread-and-butter and goes for a more dramatic role, I’m almost always pleasantly surprised (Uncut Gems, Reign Over Me, and Punch-Drunk Love are examples). Hustle is the newest, a film about a longtime basketball scout who has dreamed of landing a job in a coach’s seat. Stanley is not just a scout, he’s a great scout, and he’s been doing the international circuit for a decade, working for the Philadelphia 76ers (fictitious) owner Rex Merrick. Stanley’s advice has always paid off, but some unknown event in Stanley’s past has kept him from getting the promotion he’s wanted. Rex loves him though, and is on the eve of finally making Stanley an assistant when Rex suddenly dies. His son, Vince, reneges on his dad’s promise and tasks Stanley with finding one more good international star-in-the-making. Stanley hates Vince, and the feeling is mutual, but Stanley hopes that a delivered player will get him that coaching job after all. He finds an unlikely star on the streets of Spain, where he sees a 22-year-old dazzling spectators at one of your typical asphalt courts. Wearing work boots instead of sneakers, Bo Cruz shows he has talent, but it is up to Stanley to prove to Vince he has what it takes. Vince will not be easily swayed, and it’s going to be a long struggle with a lot of bumps in the road if Stanley (and Bo) are going to realize their dreams. There’s plenty of laughs, but none of your typical Sandler goofball stuff. Just a solid sports drama. This film has a lot of sports people behind it (including Lebron), and is chuck full of basketball stars from today and yesteryear, playing themselves or versions of themselves. Good film for sports fans, but you don’t have to be a basketball nut to enjoy the story. ★★★½

I’ve never played any of the Uncharted video games, but I do like a good treasure hunter movie, so I was in for this film adaptation. It stars Tom Holland as Nate Drake, a boy raised, with his older brother Sam, at an orphanage, growing up on Sam’s stories of buried gold. As an adult, Nate still receives occasional postcards from Sam, who left years ago to find glory. In this setting, Nate is recruited by Sully (Mark Wahlberg), who is seeking the legend of a vast sum of gold. Back in Magellan’s day, apparently the crew had been funded by a wealthy Spanish family to find gold and bring it back, but the treasure never returned with Magellan’s crew after their route around the world. The living descendants of that Spanish family, led by a devilish Antonio Banderas, are hunting the gold too, so Nate and Sully have their work cut out for them. Their hunt takes them through ancient crypts in Barcelona to the islands of the Philippines. Based on a video game, there are plenty of moments where you have to suspend belief, but no more than your typical Indiana Jones flick (though there are action scenes that defy the laws of physics). Still, it’s a light hearted adventure with a charismatic lead in Holland, and is plenty of fun. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Station Eleven (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab