The DC Universe rebooted with last year’s Superman, where Kara (Supergirl) was given a cameo to introduce her. She gets her own flick in this year’s followup, fleshing out the character and giving her her own adventure. Unfortunately it does not reach the heights of her cousin Superman’s movie.

Enjoying her birthday week (turning 23), Kara has left Earth and is living on a planet orbiting a red sun. Red suns make Kryptonians “normal,” and without her superpowers, Kara is getting drunk and being a normal 20-something. Her party days are numbered though, when she gets drawn into a young girl’s plight. The girl, Ruthye, has just seen her entire family murdered, and is seeking revenge on the evil Krem, leader of an intergalactic gang of thugs. Kara lacks Superman’s sense of purpose to protect the weak, so initially she wants to stay out of Ruthye’s problems, but when Krem shoots Kara’s dog Krypto with a poisoned arrow, and only he carries the antidote, Kara signs up for the adventure. During the 3 day venture, we get Kara’s backstory.

Whereas Superman was sent away from Krypton as a baby, and thus has no memory of it, Kara was born amongst the destroyed planet’s few survivors, and lived with them for a decade as she saw them whither away and die, including her own parents. With no hope of survival, her dying father sent her to Earth to find her cousin Kal-El (Superman), knowing Earth’s yellow sun will make her strong. Kara’s been carrying that baggage around, which explains her cycle of self-destruction with booze. But if she’s going to help Ruthye, she’ll need to conquer her own demons.

The best part of the movie is when Kara goes all Supergirl on the bad guys, which happens 3 times. The rest of the movie is sort of a mess. It’s really hard to like Supergirl, as she’s often selfish and bratty and generally not a fun person to be around. There’s also a really poorly conceived idea of introducing the antihero Lobo into the universe, portrayed by Jason Momoa. With his gray skin and silly quips, he comes off as a superhero Beetlejuice. Even sounds like Beetlejuice at times. In the end, I didn’t care much for any of the characters. After I loved Superman so much, I hope this doesn’t mean bad things for a DC Universe that is supposed to just be getting started. ★★½

I said in my review of Toy Story 4 (7 years ago!) that the original Toy Story trilogy was perfect, but that the newest sequel was a good epilogue. I didn’t imagine a new story needed to be told, but the folks at Disney hit that money machine again with Toy Story 5. And it’s another hit, with a fantastic, timely story that stills tugs at the heartstrings as much as only this franchise can.

Bonnie is now 8 years old. Woody has moved on but the rest of the gang is still enjoying playing with Bonnie, with the centerpiece being Jessie the cowgirl (who is the focus of this new film) and Buzz Lightyear, who has grown feelings for Jessie but doesn’t know how to express them. Bonnie’s toys are thrown for a loop when her parents buy her a tablet, a Leapfrog, and she begins to play only with that. When Jessie reaches out to Woody out in the world, he confirms that he sees abandoned toys every day, left by the wayside when their boys and girls have left them to only play with tech. Jessie is devastated, convinced that just kids “playing” with their tablets in the same room but not interacting with each other isn’t really playing at all. Jessie, who’s the oldest of this particular group of toys and has seen three owners “age out” of her toys, can’t face that again and fears it is the end for her and others like her. If she is going to “save” Bonnie from a tech-dependent childhood, she must find a like-minded child who still loves to play with toys and get her to meet Bonnie.

The film touches on a lot of today’s subjects, such as screen time, online bullying, and the isolation that comes from not getting your kids out of the house to really play (and imagine) with others. And as always, lots of humor for all ages. I didn’t tear up at this one like I have for Toy Story movies in the past, but it still has lots of heart, and you can’t help but root for those plastic little beings as they love their little girl as much as she loves them. Once again, it will make Disney a boatload of money at the box office and in toys (we bought our granddaughter a Jessie when we took her to the theater to see it this weekend, and a Rex dinosaur for her little brother even though he is too young to go and stayed home with Dad). ★★★★★

I’ve been excited to see this film since its very first trailer, where star Emily Blunt, on camera, moves from spoken word to clicks and ticks, and no one knows why. And they kept the secret right up to when the movie was coming out. What was it about? A.I.? Aliens? Robots? Whatever it was going to be, I was down for Steven Spielberg’s triumphant return to science fiction. The movie did not disappoint.

At the start of the movie, the world is on the cusp of World War III, with saber-rattling by the US and North Korea. With tension in the air, a top secret agency is chasing after a former employee, Daniel (played by Josh O’Connor), who has stolen some proprietary tech from them. When confronted, Daniel pulls out the item, which looks like a sliver of metal of some kind, and immediately the agency’s goons back off, obviously afraid of what it can do. Daniel is able to get away with his girlfriend Jane in tow, but it isn’t long before the agency strikes back. Its head, Noah (Colin Firth), sits in a chair and pulls out a similar-looking metal device, and uses it to “dive” into Jane’s consciousness. He’s able to control her to look around and find out where she and Daniel are, and even control her movements and interrogate her within her mind. Noah wants Daniel back (or dead) and will go to any length to make that happen.

Meanwhile, weatherwoman Margaret (Emily Blunt) is getting ready to leave her apartment for work when a cardinal flies inside an open window. Margaret stares at the bird for a couple seconds, and when she turns to her boyfriend after, starts speaking fluently in Russian, without realizing she’s doing it. The boyfriend is confused, but before he can ask what’s going on, Margaret runs off to get to work. On her way, she is pulled over by a cop for speeding, but sees into his soul before he can write a ticket. Margaret has suddenly gained some kind of psychic ability and can now “read” people and provide comfort where needed, telling them how to deal with troubled moments in their lives. She can also instinctively speak whatever language is their first, in order to effectively communicate.

Separately, Daniel’s former boss at the super-secret government agency (Hugo, played by Colman Domingo) is trying to bring Daniel and Margaret together. He has a plan to out his former employers and bring what they’ve been hiding (Daniel’s device, as well as video footage he’s carrying) to share with the world on what he is calling Disclosure Day. But is the world ready for that. Knowledge? Absolutely tremendous film, I was hooked from its very opening moments. Some great action scenes, including an incredible train scene that will have you holding your breath, and while the ending is predictable, it is compelling enough to keep you hooked. ★★★★½

The Cranes Are Flying is a 1957 Soviet era anti war film, taking place during World War II. Boris and Veronika are deeply in love and planning marriage when war breaks out. Veronika worries Boris will be drafted, but he inexplicably freely enlists out of a sense of patriotism. He pledges to return home safe, but he’s only gone a short time before Veronika loses her family during a bombing. Boris’ family takes her in, but this turns out to be more of a curse. Boris’ cousin Mark, who somehow has avoided getting drafted, has long has his eye on Veronika, and he takes advantage of the opportunity and rapes her. In the next scene, we see that the family has relocated to Siberia, away from the dangers of war in Moscow. Veronika is working at a nurse at a hospital and has married Mark, though she despises him and longs for any word from Boris from the front. Letters never come. When we finally see what Mark has been doing in the war, we get the bad news long before Veronika will. A heart-wrenching film and searing message against the atrocities of war, and its affects both abroad and at home. It received universal acclaim, and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1958. ★★★★★

After the success of Cranes, director Mikhail Kalatozov followed up with Letter Never Sent in 1959, and oh boy, another good one, again involving the indomitable human spirit. A quartet of Russians have come to Siberia in search of diamonds. Sergei and Konstantin have been there before, this is their fourth attempt in fact, but for young couple Andrei and Tanya, both geologists, this is their first time, and thus they are the most optimistic. They initially are dropped off by plane near a river in early spring, but panning it turns up nothing. They turn inland towards the mountains and start digging, and just as the dryness of summer sets in, they finally find a diamond. The team is elated, for the wealth it can bring their country just as the space race is heating up, but tragedy soon strikes. A wildfire breaks out, killing Sergei (the guide) and torching the area. Planes fly overheard regularly, trying to rescue the remaining trio, but the smoke keeps them from being spotted. As summer turns to fall, and eventually the cold, cold Siberian winter, hope is lost. It’s a thrilling picture that really gets the viewer into the bleak feeling of the team’s struggling, dwindling survivors. ★★★★

Wings is one of those movies which I’m not really sure what it’s about. Either nothing, or over my head. It follows a middle-aged woman in the 60s who is famous and respected by anyone her age and older, but gets no respect from the students at the school where she is now headmistress. She is definitely out of touch with the younger generation, who don’t know (and don’t care) who she is. We find out much later in the film that she was a fighter pilot for the USSR during World War II, and one of some renown (which explains her dream-like states of floating through clouds, which happen sporadically throughout). That’s really the film in a nutshell. Nothing much really happens. I just don’t get what it was trying to say. ★½

Despite not connecting with the above film, I gave the director (Larisa Shepitko) another shot with what is supposed to be her best, 1977’s The Ascent. What an about-face! This movie is spectacular, following two Soviet partisans in World War II, Sotnikov and Rybak, as they are tasked to search for food for the group with whom they’ve been traveling, which includes fighting partisans as well as women and children hiding from the Germans and their collaborating Belarusian locals. At the closest village, they end up at the house of a man named Sergei, who has been reluctantly working with the Germans in order to keep his family safe. Sotnikov is disgusted and wants to kill Sergei, but is convinced to let him live, and instead he and Rybak leave with with food. Before they can make it back to the group, they are found by Germans and shot at, wounding Sotnikov in the leg. The duo escape again, and hide out in another house, belonging to Demchikha. Demchikha is looking after her 3 young children while her husband is fighting at the front, and willingly hides her countrymen. However, they are all discovered by Germans before long, and the two partisans are arrested. Sotnikov is interrogated first, and he gives up no information despite terrible torture. Rybak goes next, and assuming Sotnikov already talked, he sings like a bird, without even the threat of torture. When he is reunited later with Sotnikov, he realizes his error, but by then his courage has already left him. It only gets worse when Sergei and Demchikha, along with a young Jewish girl found hiding in the village, are imprisoned with them, and the threat of death in the morning hangs over the group. A tremendous film about the lengths man will go to to save his own ass, and how different people face the end in very different ways. Some find courage, and some find cowardice. This triumph was to be Shepitko’s final film; she was killed in a car accident 2 years later at the age of 41. ★★★★½

The above films are all classics, but we get a lot newer with Khrustalyov, My Car!, released in 1998 (though taking place in the 50s and shown in black and white). All I can say with this one is don’t waste your time. I very nearly did. There’s a quick blurb in the beginning about how Jews were facing state-sponsored antisemitism under Stalin’s “Doctor’s Plot” program. So I’m think, good, here we go, a great Soviet historical drama. Well, after sitting through nearly an hour of a constant bombardment of silly visual gags based around a ragtag group of residents living in a tiny apartment building, with no real plot developing, I gave up. Does it ever get to the problems the Jewish community was facing in Soviet Russia in 1953? I’ll never know. ½

• TV series recently watched: Stargate SG1 (season 4), Margo’s Got Money Troubles (season 1), Spider-Noir (series)
• Book currently reading: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

As a child of the 80s who played the shit out of my He-Man toys, you know I was down for the new Masters of the Universe, cheesy dialogue be damned. This film’s a reboot, telling the origin story of Prince Adam, and is great for people like myself, mid-40s-ish who fondly remember Castle Grayskull, as well as younger, new fans, which Mattel will need if they want to grow the franchise. I won’t go into the story much, because I know this isn’t for everyone, but basically young Prince Adam is very athletically challenged, even though he is supposed to succeed his father and continue a long lineage of powerful kings. Before he can grow into his role, the city is attacked by the evil Skeletor and his minions, overrunning the forces of good. The good Sorcerous sends young Adam through a portal to Earth, where he grows up with knowledge of home, though obviously no one believes him. To return home, he needs to find the Sword of Power, which will unlock his path home and bring him power to take out Skeletor and restore order. There’s plenty of dialogue that will make adults laugh (if you remember from the cartoons, Skeletor was an evil bad guy but also a bit of a bumbling buffoon at times), and some off-color jokes that will be over little kids heads. Is the dialogue silly? Yes. Does it sometimes come off as a high budget B movie? Sure. But it is still a thrilling ride and a wonderful piece of nostalgia that I’ll watch again. ★★★★

Starbright is a, at times, charming movie, even if it is a very bad film. And it is bad. It’s marketed as sort of a modern fable, and I guess it is that. A young woman named Aisling is living with her aging grandparents (Ted Levine spotting! Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs) when she spots a falling star that seems to crash nearby. Suddenly, a man claiming to be the archangel Raphael appears (played by John Rhys-Davies), and says the fallen star is there to grant Aisling one wish. But first she must protect it, as it (and by extension, she) is being hunted by some recent jail escapees who want the star for its ability to turn objects into gold. Aisling is aided by Raphael and a well-intentioned young Italian man named Joshua. There’s a near-perfect write-up on the reddit /badmovies that I urge you to go read, because the author does a great job of hashing out the plot in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny but also shows how ridiculous this movie is, from beginning to end. Still, even though you have to suspend belief at the near-constant absurd scenes (during a sword fight (*chuckle*) why does the bad guy keep backing off and waiting for Joshua to pick up his sword and resume the fight, rather than kill him outright?!? This happens at least 5 times), the actress who plays Aisling is cute as a button and Rhys-Davies is a scene-stealer throughout. ★★

Josh O’Connor is hot right now, and his latest role is that if a down-on-his-luck cowboy in Rebuilding. Dusty has just lost his home and livelihood, 200 acres of a cattle ranch, to a wildfire. FEMA sets him and others like him in temporary mobile homes, built cheaply by the lowest bidders, with leaking roofs and shoddy cabinets. Right now though, it’s all Dusty has left. With nothing else to do, Dusty takes the opportunity to reconnect with his daughter Callie. Dusty’s ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law (Amy Madigan sighting!) encourage Dusty to do so, and while Callie is hesitant at first, she eventually begins to warm up to her father. In doing so, she gets Dusty to open back up to life in general, befriending the others in the temporary homes. But when FEMA money runs out and they are each given days to pack up and leave, Dusty and his new friends must discover what their lives will look like moving forward. Very quiet drama, one of those indie films where not much really happens, but instead focuses on the little moments and the human interactions that make up everyday life. Excellent film. ★★★½

Dead Man’s Wire is one of those movies with an incredible cast (Bill Skarsgard, Cary Elwes, Colman Domingo, and even Al Pacino in a small role) with an established director (Gus Van Sant), but which the parts don’t come together for a satisfying whole. Based on a true story, it follows a man named Tony who has a bone to pick with the mortgage company who sold him some land. Tony had planned to develop the land, but that never came to fruition, and when the mortgage company raised his rates for missed payments, Tony lost it. His plan: kidnap the company’s CEO at gunpoint, to force the company to issue a public apology and make things right. Tony is obviously not in his right mind, and Skarsgard plays it to a tee, but honestly the movie is boring. For what is supposed to be a high-tense thriller, it is distinctly lacking in thrills. It has some style, taking place in the 70s, with editing to get you to feel like you are in the time period, but the movie’s just not very good. Sorry Gus, Good Will Hunting this ain’t. ★½

Also based on a true story, I Swear is a biopic about the life of John Davidson. The movie begins near the end: in 2019, John is getting a medal from Queen Elizabeth II, when he nervously blurts out “Fuck the Queen!” Yes, John has Tourette’s. We then flash back to when John was a young teen in 1983, when his symptoms first started. We see the teasing he receives, the dissolution of his family (his father leaves, and his mother, unable to deal with John’s tics, treats him poorly), and we, like John, don’t see how his once-promising life will ever rebound. A decade later, it is just John living with his mom alone when he finally finds hope. He runs into an old friend, who invites him home for dinner. The buddy’s mom turns out to be a former nurse in a mental ward, and she knows what Tourette’s is, even if not many others do at the time. For the first time in John’s life, she doesn’t try to get him to suppress his tics and profanity, but accepts him for who he is and encourages him to accept himself. Finally, John starts to grow. He moves out of his mom’s and in with his “new” family, and gets a job. As the movie progresses, John finds his calling: to educate the police, teachers, and society in general on what Tourette’s is, and to talk to others like him to tell them that they can still accomplish much in life. This life work is what leads to him receiving his medal from the queen. We’ve all heard about this disability, usually as a joke about the kid who blurts out vulgar language and makes weird movements/tics, but this is an eye-opening film about what it really means and how hard it can be for someone who just wants to fit in and lead a normal life. Robert Aramayo (John) is a star in the making, a truly brilliant performance. ★★★★★

• TV series recently watched: ST Voyager (season 6), For All Mankind (season 5), Your Friends & Neighbors (season 2), Rivals (season 2.1)
• Book currently reading: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Star Wars is back, with The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film in theaters in over 6 years. It’s a continuation of the popular (at least, the first 2 seasons) Disney+ show, but even if you go in completely cold, you can figure things out pretty quickly. In the aftermath of the destruction of the Death Star (Return of the Jedi) and start of the New Republic, bounty hunter Din Djarin, often called just “the Mandalorian” to those who know of his reputation in the galaxy, is chasing down vestiges of the Empire generals and higher-ups. He is joined by Grogu, his young friend and toddler-sized alien, who is the same species as Yoda and also highly gifted in the Force, though he’s young and still learning. Djarin’s new bounty is for an Empire commander named Coin, but finding him will force Djarin into an unsavory alliance. Coin’s whereabouts are known to the Hutt Twins, who’ve been running things since Luke Skywalker killed Jabba the Hutt. Before the Hutts give up what they know, they task Djarin with rescuing Rotta the Hutt, who is Jabba’s son and successor. Djarin hates the Hutts but agrees in order to get to Coin. So starts the newest adventure long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars needs movies like this to succeed if they want to grow the franchise outside of Skywalkers and Jedi. As popular as the Star Wars movies are, if you pigeon hole the franchise to only doing movies about Jedi, there’s only so many directions that can go. This is a straight up action/adventure film set in the Star Wars universe, with hardly a mention of Jedi or universe-shattering events going on at large. I loved the movie. The action and fight scenes are incredible; it doesn’t get more thrilling than when you see X-Wings come down from the sky to start shooting up the bad guys. Plenty of comedic moments too (usually involving tiny Grogu; don’t mess with a winning formula) that had the (full) audience laughing. It’s a great ol’ Star Wars tale. ★★★★½ 

The Love That Remains is the newest from Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, someone I have a checkered history with. I keep coming back though, because *everyone* always says his movies are so good. This one follows a family living in a rural area of Iceland over the course of a year, as they are moving on from a divorce. At the beginning of the movie, Anna and Magnus have already separated, but are trying to find out what that means, while they continue to raise their three kids. Magnus is gone for long stretches of time, as he’s a commercial fisherman, and Anna is close to a starving artist. When Magnus is in town, he still visits regularly and tries to proposition Anna for sex; she turns him down, and internally battles her lost feelings for him with her desire to see him dead. The kids, meanwhile, amuse themselves with shooting arrows on the huge stretch of their land, and asking each other questions about their parents’ love lives. With all this going on, the film comes off more as separate vignettes, intertwined with the over-arching story about the failed marriage. Lots of surrealism going on here, with scenes of Magnus floating in the ocean (as aimless as he feels after his marriage) and whatnot. I liked this one more than the previous Pálmason films, but still not sure I get everything it’s trying to say, and I didn’t think it was as funny as everyone else seems to think. ★★★

It’s rare that a coda to a beloved film or series is able to pull it off, but this one does. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is a proper conclusion to the (excellent) British series that catapulted the great Cillian Murphy to stardom. A few years after the conclusion of the series, Tommy Shelby has found a life of seclusion, away from the violence that pervaded his life as the head of the crime gang the Peaky Blinders. In his absence, his estranged son Duke (recast and now portrayed by Barry Keoghan) is the new head of the gang in Birmingham, and he’s made a deal with the devil. It’s 1940, and Nazis are looking to break England from within; they are wanting to import tons of counterfeit British currency into the country to devastate its economy, and Duke has agreed to help make it happen, with the goal to enrich himself and his gang. Tommy’s sister Ada, a member of parliament representing Birmingham, beseeches Tommy to return to his old stomping grounds and confront Duke to right his wrongs, but to do so, Tommy will need to reawaken his violent side. Not a deep movie, no big “ah-ha” moments, but it is supremely exciting, and Murphy and Keoghan play off each other to perfection. There’s lots to be gleaned if you’ve seen the series, but you can easily watch this as a standalone movie too. ★★★★

Sometimes its the movies that you don’t expect much from that really surprise you. Remarkably Bright Creatures, based off a popular novel, looked like it could be a little campy for my tastes, but I had nothing else going on this particular morning and popped it on Netflix. It stars Sally Field as Tova, an elderly woman who has worked long past the usual retirement age because she has a hard time being alone, a result of her husband and son preceding her in death. For her son in particular, there are whispers around town that he died under mysterious circumstances. Tova cleans an aquarium in the evenings, though she doesn’t seem to need the money, and enjoys “chatting” with the marine animals, particularly the octopus named Marcellus. Though Marcellus obviously doesn’t talk back to Tova, he acts as the narrator of the story for us viewers. Marcellus is constantly escaping his tank, and Tova always guides him back. This quiet little existence is thrown off course when Cameron (Lewis Pullman) comes to town. Cameron is seeking his father, a man who abandoned him as a child, someone he’s never met. But Cameron has a clue to who it is, and it isn’t long until Tova takes him under her wing, seeing something of her lost son in him, and helps him in his search. The mystery of Tova’s son’s death, and the legacy he left, is revealed in the end. Lots of heart-warming moments, but also lots of truly funny scenes, which I didn’t expect. It’s a great family film for all ages, though I think its message of redemption will hit harder for the older (my age and up) crowd. Keep the tissues close for the end! ★★★★½

Redux Redux has an interesting premise, and if you go in blind, you’ll have no idea what is going on for a little while. In quick scenes in the beginning, we see the main character, Irene, killing the same man over and over in various ways, whether it be burning him to death, shooting, or stabbing. Finally, she walks into a diner, sits at the counter, and spots him again. Before we can wonder what the heck is going on, Irene pulls out a gun and shoots him dead again. Unfortunately for Irene, this time there is a cop walking in at the moment, forcing her to flee. She evades them just long enough to get to a moving truck company, where she pulls a bag of keys out of her backpack, pressing key fobs until a truck horn beeps. She jumps in, drives like maniac back to her motel. As police descend on the motel room, she shimmies into a futuristic-looking metal box, presses a few buttons, and the box disappears. We soon learn the plot: Irene’s daughter Anna was killed by this man she’s been continuously murdering. Neville is a serious killer in every parallel universe, and in every one, Anna was victim number 12. Irene has made it her goal to kill him as many times as she can, until her luck runs out. If she ever dies, or gets arrested, then the game is up. This time is different though, because as she hunts down Neville once again, she finds that he has tied up soon-to-be victim # 13. Irene rescues the teenager, Mia. Mia wants in on the revenge tour, setting up some universe hopping hijinks The idea is good, but the execution is rough. The film is super low budget, which I normally don’t mind, but it is pretty hard to ignore. The cast is a bunch of people you’ve never heard of, and based on their acting chops, you probably never will. And there’s lots of weird side quests to increase the movie’s runtime, but serve no real purpose (like the universe-hopping machine losings its “flux capacitor” thingie, forcing Irene and Mia to sidetrack for some power). More than the minimum half star, just because it was interesting enough to get me to watch until the end. ★½

• TV series recently watched: Enterprise (season 1), Conbody vs Everybody (series), Love on the Spectrum (season 4), Marshals (season 1), Beef (season 2), Legends (series), The Testaments (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Sound of Falling is a German drama with the feeling of an epic, as it takes place over 100 years or so. Centered around the same little area and house, there’s four distinct timelines, and the events interweave seamlessly from scene to scene, but over all, death and its looming presence pervades. Sometimes from war, sometimes from old age, sometimes from sickness, sometimes sudden and unexpected, but death is a constant part of daily life. In 1910, stones are superstitiously used to cover the eyes of a dead person, and in the next scene, teenagers are playing with stones on a nearby river 100 years later, the same river where a girl drowned earlier in the 1940s. Each scene blends into the next in an almost surrealistic way. The movie also does a great job of showing the difference in childhood innocence, depending on the period/era, as kids in the early 20th century are generally much more world-wise than those in present day, but are still innocent in their own ways. All around a powerful, haunting film, full of trepidation and sorrow, with hints of a deeper meaning that would require multiple viewings to unravel. My favorite kind! ★★★★½

Mumu is a tearjerker family drama out of China. Xiao Ma is a single father doing his best to raise his 8-year-old daughter Mumu. Ma is deaf, which hampers his ability to get (and keep) a job to support his daughter, leading him to make poor decisions even when he thinks he’s doing what’s best. Ma’s ex-wife shows up 5 years after leaving him and suddenly wants her daughter back. Ma hasn’t been able to send Mumu to school, for lack of funds, so he’s afraid the court will side with his ex and take Mumu away from him. This leads Ma to getting involved in a car insurance scam, with the promise of big paydays (to afford his lawyer) but things go sideways quickly. I really liked the first half of the film, as the director and team do a great job of showing the restrictions Ma faces and even getting inside his head a bit, portraying how a deaf person reacts in a world full of sound (most of the actors in the film are really deaf), but the second half falls into the trap of being a bit too sensational. Still, it’ll tug at the heartstrings. ★★★

Send Help stars Rachel McAdams as Linda, a hard-working businesswoman who keeps getting passed over for promotions at her company, a victim of the “old boys club.” While she does all the work, others always get all the credit. The latest is Donovan (Dylan O’Brien), who is fast tracked for the latest promotion, though he’s a fairly recent hire, because he’s a fraternity brother to a higher-up. Linda will get her revenge though. On a private flight to finalize a company merger, the plane goes down over the Pacific Ocean. Linda and Donovan are the only survivors, scraping by on a small uninhabited island. Initially, Donovan is hurt and has to rely on Linda for everything, but thanks to her survival skills, she is able to build a crude structure, fish, forage, and even hunt a wild boar. However, Donovan doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life on a little island with Linda. One day he drugs her with some local foliage and tries to flee on a boat he built. He doesn’t get very far, and Linda becomes more resolute than ever to keep him her prisoner. But when others do come to their island, how far will Linda go? Over-the-top gore that is more comedy than horror, with some funny moments (often related to the bizarre horror elements of the story). Not terrible, but not the kind of movie I’d watch again. ★★½

Solo Mio is a family romantic comedy starring Kevin James. He plays Matt, a teacher who found the love of his life and is set to marry her in a destination wedding in Italy. Family and friends have gathered and Matt is standing at the alter, but Heather never shows. Literally left at the alter, Matt tries to “postpone” his planned honeymoon around Italy, but the monies have been paid and there’s no refunds. The hotel manager urges Matt to just do it solo. Matt befriends two other American couples in the area, and sets out to try to make the best of it. Of course there’s a new romantic involvement, a local Italian cafe worker, to help get Matt’s sense of self back on track. This is definitely an old-school family comedy, very safe with nothing that will offend anyone and lots of corny jokes, but it’s cute enough for a family movie night. ★★½

The Punisher: One Last Kill is a short film (called a “Marvel Special Presentation”) at a bit under an hour, and it’s always a good thing when a movie leaves you wanting more. It continues the story arc of the MCU’s Punisher, portrayed by Jon Bernthal, carrying over from his Netflix Daredevil/Punisher shows as well as tying in to his future appearances in upcoming Marvel films. Frank Castle is a shell of his former self, suffering from severe PTSD and living in a crime-riddled area in Little Italy in New York. Crime is rampant, mostly because of his own doing: after Frank killed off the Gnucci crime family in the first season of The Punisher, the vacuum left by their absence has led to anarchy. Even cops are afraid to go into Little Italy right now, with gangs roving the streets, terrorizing its inhabitants. Frank is oblivious to all of it, haunted by his own demons, hallucinating about people from his past, and broken up over the deaths of his wife and kids. When Ma Gnucci comes calling, telling Frank that he will be hunted one night, retribution for killing her family, with a bounty on his head, Frank must confront those demons and rise up to protect the people that need protecting. This is (by far) the bloodiest, most violent film or show that Marvel has released in their Cinematic Universe, and it fits The Punisher to a T. I loved every moment of it, and hope Frank Castle shows up again in an R-rated vehicle (the more family-friendly upcoming Spider-Man film, where he will appear, notwithstanding). ★★★★★

• TV series recently watched: The Madison (season 1), Lost (season 3), Scrubs (seasons 1-2), Daredevil: Born Again (season 2), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (season 2), Dexter (season 1), Maul: Shadow Lord (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Knight of Blood by Richard A Knaak

Michael is the newest musical biopic, showing the life (up until the mid-80s, and thus before all the controversy) of Michael Jackson. A very entertaining film, even if it is a bit of a puff piece. If you are a child of the 80s and grew up Michael’s music, you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.

After a short scene taking place in 1988 where Michael Jackson is getting ready to go on stage for a massive concert, we zip back to his humble beginnings in Gary Indiana. In 1966, the Jackson family lives under the tyrannical figure of their patriarch, Joseph Jackson. He grinds his kids into a musical group, demanding perfection, or face a whipping from his belt if they don’t. Joseph starts lining up bar gigs in the area, and the kids are a hit, especially young Michael in the vocal lead. A rep from Motown sees them one day and immediately sees Michael’s talent, asking Joseph to bring the group in for a meeting, and thus it begins. The Jackson 5 starts touring, and their albums become chart-toppers.

By 1978, Michael is ready to branch out on his own, and releases the first solo album with Quincy Jones at Epic Records, Off the Wall, Michael’s breakthrough as a solo artist. Joseph is still his manager though, and he insists that Michael put his family first, forcing Michael to record and tour with the Jackson 5 rather than doing a solo tour. Michael still lives in fear of his father, and kowtows to him whenever confronted. It isn’t until 1981, when Michael goes behind Joseph’s back to higher an attorney of his own, that he gets out from his father’s shadow. 1982’s Thriller followed, cementing Michael Jackson as one of the strongest acts in the world; it would go on to sell 34 million copies, the second best-selling album of all time. The film wraps up a couple years later, after Michael goes on a final tour with his brothers, and publicly ends his musical influence under his father’s thumb, culminating in that 1988 sold-out Wembley stadium concert during his Bad tour in 1988.

For a film about a man embroiled in controversy, the movie avoids all of it. Doesn’t hurt that it ends in 1988 before most of that came along, but even the infighting and jealousies between Michael and his brothers is completely ignored. In the movie, they all seem to be united for their hatred/fear of their father. Colman Domingo steals the show as Joseph Jackson and is easily the strongest actor in the film. It is pretty obvious that Jaafar Jackson was chosen for the role of Michael based solely on his familial looks (he is Michael’s nephew, brother Jermaine’s son). Jaafar obviously practiced the moves and has Michael’s classic dances down cold, but he’s not going to win any acting awards any time soon. But as I said at the open, it is an entertaining movie, even if the more complicated elements of Jackson’s early life are whitewashed. ★★★½

After years of doing movies together, we got to see what writer/director Benny Safdie had to offer on his solo effort (The Smashing Machine), and now we see what brother Josh can do on his own, with Marty Supreme. Called by everyone “the ping pong movie,” there’s a lot more to it than that. Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a star table tennis player in 1950s New York, with aspirations of growing the sport and making lots of money. The British Open is about to take place, and Marty thinks that if he can win, it can spur the imagination of his nation and lead to financial opportunities. Sounds like it would be easy to root for this go-getter, if only he were even the slightest bit likable. Marty is a despicable person, willing to do anything and hurt anyone (friends, family, the girl (someone else’s wife) he knocked up) to get to the top. Thus, it is impossible to root for him on his journey. That being said, it’s a very entertaining movie, with awesome performances by the talented Chalamet and a surprisingly strong showing from Shark Tank alum Kevin O’Leary (his own personal views notwithstanding) as a cutthroat businessman. ★★★★

Charliebird is about a woman, Al (short for Alyse I think?), who is a music therapist working in the children’s wing of a hospital. She uses her guitar to uplift hopes in the ward, and it seems to work for all of the kids except one: Charlie. Charlie is 17 years old, been in and out of hospitals most of her life, and strongly suspects she is worse off than her parents are admitting, and that she won’t be leaving the hospital this time. She has no patience for Al, but Al will not give up so easily. Al is carrying around a lot of baggage too, about a sister who died tragically many years ago when they were younger, and she sees something in Charlie that reminds her of her long-lost sibling. Despite the hospital’s warnings, Al gets too attached to Charlie and becomes more of a friend than just a caregiver. Very emotional ending, even if you do see it coming from damn near the beginning of the movie. Strong acting from a bunch of people I’ve never heard of. ★★★½

Readers of my blog know I am a musical junkie, so of course I was going to watch Merrily We Roll Along. It’s a recording from a live performance on Broadway with its Broadway cast, including Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez in the leads; Groff and Radcliffe both won Tony’s for their performances. The musical/movie starts at the end, with a party celebrating the new hit movie of Frank (Groff). We quickly see, though, that Frank is surrounded by sycophants, and his wife Gussie (Krystal Joy Brown) craves the attention they bring. Frank’s old friend Mary (Mendez) is at the party, but she is working hard to get drunk as fast as she can, and once she’s had enough, she tells Frank and all those gathered around how awful they all are, including Frank, who is no longer the person she knew. Then we start going back, each successive scene retreating a couple years at a time, to see how we got here. It takes awhile to get all the details; as in real life, there’s rarely one moment that changed everything. Rather, it’s a culmination of things. Frank used to write songs with his parter and former best friend Charlie (Radcliffe), but the two had a serious falling out over Frank’s ambition, while Charlie was unwilling to give up his ideals and love of the art form for a chase of fortune. Mary has a big part to play in it all too, as does Frank’s first wife, before Gussie came along. The movie (and musical) is just ok for me. The music isn’t all that catchy, and honestly I’m not sure how this musical won so many awards. A minor nitpick too: if you are going to present a live performance, then let it look like a live performance. Too many close-ups try to make this show look like a movie instead of a stage performance. I’d rather have the cameras take a step back to show the whole stage. There’s another movie coming one (far away) day too. Richard Linklater is doing a movie adaptation, and since the show takes place over 20 years, that’s how he’s filming it, as only Linklater does. Maybe the next version of the film, in 2045, will be better. ★★½

Magellan is an artsy telling of the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan, portrayed by the always good Gael Garcia Bernal. It begins in 1511 in Malacca, where Magellan is fighting for Portugal against the local sultanate. He is gravely injured, which gives him a limp for the rest of his life, but survives. He returns to Portugal and begins planning his famous expedition around the world. There are lots of mutiny attempts and putting down insurrections along the way. After crossing past what later would be called the Straight of Magellan south of South America and heading out into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, many of the sailors lose hope, as weeks become months with no sight of land. When they finally hear seagulls, cheers go up. The ship makes land at Cebu, where they are welcomed by the indigenous people as the first white people they’ve ever seen. However, Magellan is reminded of Malacca, where they were also initially welcomed with open arms. On Cebu, he tries to convert them all to Christianity, but the people just nod and repeat the Sinner’s Prayer, not knowing what it means. When they continue to worship their gods, Magellan’s men round up the idols and burn them, angering and saddening the people. They try to scare Magellan away with their tales of a gruesome phantom that eats babies and whatnot, but the learned Magellan recognizes a ghost story when he hears one, and is unafraid. This will be his downfall, because when the Cebu people rise up against his crew, they are vastly outnumbered, leading to Magellan’s death. The movie goes in fits and starts, showing little scenes here and there both before and during the voyage, which can be hard to follow until you get into the flow of it. Some parts of the movie are amazing and breathtaking, other just don’t come together quite right. ★★★½

Afterburn is the kind of shlocky action flick that usually sees a straight-to-streaming release (though it did hit theaters first, where it bombed). But its a dystopian film, and I can’t resist the genre. It’s set 10 years after a huge solar flare took out all technology on our planet, and society has crumbled. Warlords have taken reign across Europe. Jake (Dave Bautista) has been fixing up a boat for years, in hopes of getting out of London to the safer open seas. Jake is great at finding things, and has been locating relics of the pre-destroyed world for a man (August, played by Samuel L Jackson) calling himself the new King of England. His latest assignment is the Mona Lisa, but Jake initially refuses, knowing how dangerous mainland Europe has become. He can’t pass up on the promise to finish his boat though, so he reluctantly agrees. What he finds in France may break him, as there are waring factions, and he’s not entirely sure he can trust the people he’s working for either. Sometimes you’re in the mood for these over-the-top bloody action movies; today I was not. ★½

Resurrection is marketed as an “epic science fiction drama.” Not sure it is that, but it is is a thought-provoking, leisurely presented Chinese drama, and those are some of my favorites. The premise is that it takes place in the future where mankind has learned to live forever by giving up dreaming, but some renegades would rather age than give up on their dreams. Thus, a special force is tasked with going inside the dreams of those people and find out why they don’t want immortality. We get 4 dreams of our protagonist, and so the movie is really 4 vignettes held together (loosely) by that overarching idea. But man oh man, those vignettes are so good. In the first dream, the dreamer plays Qiu, a man in a bombed-out city who is threatened and tortured to give up the code to unlock a suitcase of his friend. In the second, he is a former monk who has betrayed his old monastery to some looters, there looking for riches, but he has a chance to redeem himself with a spirit house in a Buddha statue. In the third, the dreamer becomes Jia, a con artist looking to pull one over (with the help of a little girl) on a wealthy patron seeking a psychic. In the final dream, he is Apollo, living life to the fullest on New Year’s Eve 1999, when the world thinks it might be ending, though his companion may be a vampire. Obviously the whole movie is very dream-like, much like the director’s last film (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), so much so that there are scenes that reminded me of dreams I’d had. Just the way the camera moves, or how events blend into each other, etc. Beautifully shot, beautifully told, just a gorgeous film in every way. The final scene of the last dream stuck with me. ★★★★

Miroirs No 3 is the latest from German director Christian Petzold and returns his frequent collaborator, Paula Beer. This one’s not one of my favorites from this team, but it is solid. Laura is riding down the road with her boyfriend after a bitter fight when he crashes the car and is killed. Laura is thrown from the car but survives with barely a scratch, and is taken in by a very friendly woman who lives nearby. The woman, Betty, obviously sees something in Laura, and tells her that she’s welcome to stay as long as she needs while she gets her bearings. This turns into several weeks, though something seems afoot here. Something’s not right, and you can feel it from the get-go. This leads to a lot of tension in the quiet moments, a feeling that something isn’t being said, sort of an “open secret” that Betty’s family is in on, but Laura and we viewers are not. Ending was a little uneven for me, but I’ll watch anything with Paula Beer in it. ★★★

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a gut punch of a film, based on a true story. In 2024 during the Israel incursion into Gaza, volunteers at the local Red Crescent (the Middle East branch of the Red Cross) receive a frantic call from a Palestinian woman trying to flee Gaza. Israel has told Palestine citizens to get out of the area, and that’s what the woman’s family was trying to do when they were fired upon by Israel’s army. The line goes dead and the Red Crescent folks think the worst, when they get a new call in. A small 6-year-old girl named Hind has survived the gunfight, though she says the rest of her family in the car “is sleeping.” Omar, the young man who initially took the call at Red Crescent, immediately wants to send in an ambulance to get the girl out, but the boss knows they have to go through the proper channels. Though the Red Crescent has certain protections as an international humanitarian group, and though Hind is just 8 minutes from the nearest Red Crescent ambulance facility, they need to notify the Israel Defense Force that they’ll be going into the zone, as well as the Palestine defenders on the other side, and a host of others. What should take just a few minutes ends up taking hours, as they keep getting hung up on red tape, all while Hind pleads for help. It is starting to get dark, and she is scared. Hearing a little girl begging for help, which should be easy to give, is heart wrenching, and the film drives it home by using actual audio recordings from that fateful day as Hind cries and Omar’s frustrations boil over. The inevitable end, which we all know is coming, just breaks you. I know Israel is supposed to be our buddies and a person can be ostracized for saying anything against them (and I also know that both sides commit atrocities in war), but damn. If this movie doesn’t boil your blood, I don’t know what can. ★★★★★

The Testament of Ann Lee comes from writer/director Mona Fastvoid, the “other half” of the writing team (with Brady Corbet) of The Brutalist, a film that was much hyped a couple years ago, but which didn’t blow me away. This film is like that one in a lot of ways, namely that (I think) it feels much more important than it really is. Which isn’t to say it’s a bad movie, but maybe a bit pretentious. (Probably loosely) based on the life of Ann Lee, it tells her story from childhood to death. Ann lived in the mid-18th century. Born in a poor family in Manchester, England, at a young age she witnesses her parents having sex, something that would shape her life. She grows to be very pious, and preaches celibacy as a way to grow close to God. This, of course, doesn’t sit well with her husband, and after her fourth child in a row dies young, she swears off sexually actively entirely. Ann starts growing followers, especially women (as she preaches them as equals in the eyes of God), and people are drawn to her version of “shaking Quakers,” or “Shakers” as they become known. After awhile, Ann feels like they can have more religious freedom in America, so she and her followers make the voyage in search of a new community. Amanda Seyfried is very good as Ann Lee, a woman who never learned to read or write but who stood by her convictions, even under persecution. However, the movie does come off as self-important and rubbed me the wrong way at times. A quasi-musical, it has some weird musical numbers thrown in, with music that often just repeats the chorus a thousand times. Still, worth watching for Seyfried’s performance, and maybe a bit of history, if you are so inclined. ★★★½

Christy was supposed to be Sydney Sweeney’s coming out party, a serious Oscar contender to show the world that she is more than just a pretty face and can carry a dramatic role. That didn’t happen, as it failed to wow the critics, but I think it is still OK. Sweeney is Christy Salters, one of the first stars in female boxing and someone who helped put the sport on the map. The film starts with her in college in the late 1980s, where she’s a good player but prone to getting in fights. A local coach and promoter, James Martin, sees her beating on someone and recruits her for boxing. It isn’t long before Christy is fighting for money, and marrying James to boot, this despite Christy being a lesbian; she is trying to please her homophobic mother by going straight. James shows his true colors soon though, becoming controlling and verbally abusive, which will soon become physical abuse too. Christy sticks with him, as he introduces her to Don King, after which her career really takes off. Things go sideways in 2003 after King books a fight for Christy to fight up-and-comer Laila Ali, who outweighs Christy by 30 pounds. Christy loses obviously, leading to a cocaine addiction and further abuse from James. When Christy attempts to finally leave him, James stabs and shoots her, leaving her for dead, though she miraculously crawls outside and flags down a car for help. Based on a true story, the film is moving in all the right spots but fails to really flesh out the characters. Christy always seems to do no wrong, and James is evil from the beginning, and every other character sticks to their little path with no deviation either. Sweeney is solid as Christy Martin, but the direction and writing doesn’t help her out. ★★½

• TV series recently watched: Dark Winds (season 4), Paradise (season 2), Stargate SG1 (season 3), Company Retreat (series), Jessica Jones (season 3), The Pitt (season 2), X-Files (season 2)
• Book currently reading: House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski