I’m not a big follower of short films, so I missed the original Marcel the Shell with Shoes On when it came out in 2010, but as soon as I saw the trailer for the new movie, I knew I wanted to see this one. It looked adorable, and hearkened back to the feel-good kinds of kid movies from my youth (and not just because it is an old-school stop motion movie). I was not disappointed.

The movie follows Marcel, a tiny living shell, less than an inch tall, who lives in a vast house with his grandmother, Nanna. Doing the filming is Dean, an amateur filmmaker who’s decided to tell Marcel’s story. Dean has recently rented the house (an Airbnb), not knowing he’d have a “roommate.” Marcel is an eternal optimist, almost to a fault, and his innocence is completely charming. Despite have a hard couple years, Marcel always looks on the brighter side of life. He and Nanna used to live in the house with a huge extended family and friends, but some time ago, everyone was lost. Marcel and family used to watch 60 minutes every week (“Leslie Stahl is fearless”), but one night, when the home’s original owners got into a huge fight, Marcel and Nanna noticed no one else showed up for the show. They soon realized that everyone was in the sock drawer, the “safe place” to go when the owners were fighting, and the man emptied the drawer into a suitcase and left, never to return. It’s just been Marcel and Nanna ever since, and while it is obvious that Marcel misses his parents and everyone else, he keeps a stiff upper lip.

Dean is moved by Marcel’s story, and while he knows the chances of ever finding Marcel’s parents is slim in the big city, he does what he can. First, he uploads a video of Marcel, and when it goes viral, Dean takes Marcel out of the house to see what they can see. It’s a long adventure, and while it seems hopeless at times, Marcel never despairs. Along the way, he even coaxes Dean, who is living in the house because his own relationship is on the rocks, to open up about his personal life.

To say this movie is cute is a total understatement. Marcel’s complete guileless demeanor takes everyone and everything at face value. For example, when his YouTube video blows up, he doesn’t understand why so many people would comment without really helping him find his parents. It is easy to root for him from the very opening scene, and when something doesn’t go right, you feel his pain along with him, even as he tries to move on to the next hopeful idea. Awesome, fun movie, for kids and kids-at-heart. You’ll laugh a lot, you might cry, and it is one of those rare movies that you can watch over and over. ★★★★½

Awhile back I sat down and watched all the Rambo movies. Thought I would do the same for Stallone’s other franchise, the Rocky movies. I won’t do the Creed movies, as I’ve seen those more recently (and enjoyed them, you can find those reviews on my blog), but it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this series (and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rocky Balboa).

Up first is the one that started it all and which put Stallone on the map. Written by and starring him as Rocky, it starts with him boxing for scraps at a local club. Rocky is an everyman and easily relatable. He has eyes for a pet store worker (Adrian) and is making money by being an enforcer for a local loan shark, but he is barely scraping by. His fortunes look like they may change with the chance of a lifetime. World heavyweight champion Apollo Creed is supposed to have a title bout in Rocky’s hometown of Philadelphia, but Apollo’s opponent backs out with just 5 weeks to go before the event. Playing up the whole “America is the land of opportunity,” Apollo has his team pick a new opponent at random from the local boxers, and it is Rocky’s name that is called. No one gives Rocky much of a chance, but as a local trainer puts it, Rocky always had lots of talent, but he’s wasted it to this point. Rocky takes his training seriously, and when the day comes, he’s ready to give Apollo one hell of a fight. The dialogue is honestly choppy and doesn’t come of f as genuine (it was 1976 after all), and while distracting in the beginning, by the end of the film, I was still completely hooked and ready for the big fight. ★★★★

I always try to avoid major spoilers in my blog, but obviously when you are talking sequels, that’s not possible. You’ve been warned. Rocky II picks up right at the end of the first, and in fact shows the final moments of the big fight, where Rocky holds his own against Apollo but loses in a judge’s decision. He seems content with his life afterwards though: he and Adrian get married and have a kid on the way, and they live large off the money he got from the fight. Meanwhile, Apollo is dogged by questions that he wasn’t the legitimate winner in the fight against Rocky, and he wants to squash those questions by challenging Rocky to a rematch. Rocky resists as long as he can, but he can’t help what he is: a fighter. When Adrian gives her assent, he starts training again, and the rematch is set. Much of the film follows the same pattern as the first movie, so while there’s some rehashing here, it’s not bad. The ending is a little too Hollywood. ★★★

At the beginning of Rocky III, Rocky is now the heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky has defended his title 10 times and made lots of money. Up-and-comer Clubber Lang (portrayed in awful stereotypy villain style by Mr T) has his eyes on him though. Rocky blows him off until he no longer can, and then learns a hard truth: the 10 fights he’s had in defense of his belt have been hand-picked by his trainer Mickey, so he’s never really been challenged since beating Apollo. And with the fight coming up, Rocky has gotten soft. He’s in love with his fame and his training is half-hearted, even as Clubber is shown pushing himself as hard as humanly possible. Predictably, Rocky loses, in part because he is distracted by the death of his trainer Mickey. Wanting a rematch to win back the title, Rocky gets help in his renewed training from an unlikely source: his former rival Apollo. Apollo will make sure Rocky is ready to face Clubber this time. Clubber is the franchise’s first real bad guy (Apollo was an opponent, but still painted as a good guy in previous films and again here). With a whole non-relevant scene involving Rocky fighting a wrestler (Hulk Hogan) for charity, if the series hasn’t jumped the shark yet, it’s at least headed towards the ramp. ★★½

….and the shark has been jumped. Rocky IV turns on the heavy 80s cheese (there’s a frickin’ robot!) and whittles down the plot to a single element. At the top of the mountain, Rocky has gotten the attention of everyone’s favorite 1980’s villain, the USSR. Their steroid-induced super fighter, Drago, challenges Rocky to a fight, but when he doesn’t immediately sign on, Drago fights Apollo instead, and in a gruesome fight, kills him in the ring. Rocky wants to avenge his friend, so agrees to go to Moscow and fight Drago on his home turf. Everything is 80s sludge, from the cheesy robot (a gift from Rocky to his brother-in-law Paulie), to not-one-but-several video montages of past events and current training (complete with the worst songs you can imagine), to our hero standing up against Communism, and getting cheered by Russia’s own people as he does it. Look how great America is! Only worth watching because it obviously sets up the later Creed films. ★½

If Rocky IV was derided for not having much of a plot, they tried to make up for it by throwing everything but the kitchen sink into its sequel. Like seemingly all of these movies, Rocky V picks up right where IV ended: Rocky has beaten Drago, but after the fight, his hands are shaking so bad that it worries him and Adrian. Returning home to the USA, they are greeted by a new boxing promoter George Washington Duke, who wants to make some money and get Rocky back in the ring. Of course, it is now obligatory that Rocky is dead set on retirement in every movie, so that’s the line they toe. Unfortunately Rocky is broke — a bad business decision by Paulie while Rocky was in Russia squandered all their millions, and they are back to living in the slums in Philly. Rocky starts training a bullish young fighter named Tommy Gunn, while also trying to build a better relationship with his son Rocky Jr (who is also dealing with bullies at his new school). After Tommy starts having success in the ring, he is lured away by Duke for promises of riches, leading to a confrontation between Tommy and Rocky right on the streets. Rocky’s return to the streets where he started is such an obvious ploy to make him an underdog again (hard to keep up the underdog act when he’s a millionaire fighter who never loses a fight), and there’s just so much going on that nothing ever is allowed to breathe or develop. All of the characters are paper thin, and when there is a moment that could go somewhere (Rocky trying to talk sense into Tommy) it doesn’t go anywhere. ★

Many thought Rocky V (released in 1990) would be the last, especially after how awful it was. But Rocky had one more fight in him, and Rocky Balboa came out 16 years later in 2006. This is probably the movie that Rocky V should have been. In his 50s, Rocky seems content in his life. He runs an Italian restaurant named after his wife Adrian, who died from cancer a couple years ago. He’s still estranged from his son Rocky Jr; as an adult, Jr seems to have to be in a rut and blames everyone else. But the crux of the film is current heavyweight champ Mason Dixon. He’s undefeated, but a lack of quality fighters has him beating scrubs, and boxing fans know it, booing him at his matches. An ESPN computer simulation throws fuel on the fire, showing that if Mason were to fight a “true” champion (Rocky in this example, of course), he wouldn’t stand a chance. Rocky hears this, and since he’s already been feeling that he still has something down in the gut to get out (“in his basement” as he says), he agrees to a big-ticket exhibition match against Mason. No one expects Rocky to win — Rocky doesn’t expect himself to win — but he does want to prove that even in his 50’s, he has heart and courage, an example to his son, and an example to Mason of what makes a true champion. It’s a solid final entry in the first Rocky series, before the Creed spinoff started in 2015, and my second favorite Rocky film behind the original. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Ms Marvel (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps going strong, with Thor: Love and Thunder being the 29th film in the series (to go along with 19-and-counting television series, many with multiple seasons). It could be overload at this point, because the films have felt a bit uneven of late. The latest Thor film suffers a bit from this too, bit it is still very entertaining.

The film starts with setting up the bad guy right away. Gorr (played deliciously evil by Christian Bale) is a caring father who sees his daughter die as their planet has, but Gorr keeps the faith to their god, Rapu. About to die himself, Rapu follows noises to an oasis in the desert, and sees Rapu holding court. Gorr confesses that while he has lost his family, he has kept his faith, but Rapu scoffs, saying that the gods don’t care for their followers anyway. Gorr inherits the dreaded Necrosword, a weapon made to kill gods, and slays Rapu with it. Gorr then makes it his goal to kill all gods.

Meanwhile, Thor has been out fighting bad guys, teamed up with Starlord (Chris Pratt) and the other Guardians of the Galaxy. Drawn back to Earth to fight Gorr’s minions, who are attacking New Asgard there, Thor runs into his old girlfriend, Jane Foster. Jane, who has terminal cancer, has become the new bearer of Thor’s old warhammer, Mjolnir. Mjolnir has made Jane strong again, but it is temporary strength. Jane and Thor team up, along with Thor’s sidekick Korg, and Asgard’s king Valkyrie, to fight and defeat Gorr. Their struggle will take them to Omnipotence City, realm of the gods (including their leader, Zeus, portrayed by Russell Crowe) and then to the Shadowrealm, Gorr’s domain.

Some of the negative reviews focus on this film’s comedy, calling it just a continuation of Thor: Ragnarok (director Taika Waititi’s first Marvel endeavor). I gave that film high praise, because it felt very fresh. I’ll admit, in the beginning of Love and Thunder, the comedy did seem to distract more than enhance, but once the death and destruction settled in and the team had a villain to conquer, the movie picked up for me. The final half or so was very engaging, and the end credit scenes set up what could be yet another Thor film. Many of the major Marvel characters have had trilogies; if another Thor happens, it will complete his 6th “solo” movie (or second trilogy!), and Chris Hemsworth’s 8th appearance overall in the Marvel series. He’s got the role down cold, and while this one was a bit rocky, I’m still hoping for more. ★★★½

At first, I thought The Worst Person in the World was a coming-of-age film for the new generation. There’s been a few of these in the last 20 years, about a person approaching 30 who is taking longer to find their aim in life than most did in prior generations, but this film turned out to be a lot more than that. Julie is a bright college student who doesn’t know what she wants in life. She bounces between majors like she bounces between lovers. Eventually she settles for working in a bookstore, and lands with her latest beau, Aksel. Askel is in his mid-40s and initially tries to warn Julie off, saying they are at different points in their life (he has a successful career as a comic book artist and is ready for a family, whereas she’s still figuring it all out) but Julie doesn’t listen and falls hard for him. However, a chance encounter with a man named Eivind at a party, and then seeing him again a couple years later, has her ready to bounce from Aksel onto the next “new” thing. At the breakup, Aksel tries to tell Julie that he’s been around and knows what they have is special, but the spontaneous Julie doesn’t listen. Eivind is good to her, but Julie may come to realize what she gave up. For a romcom, it’s light on comedy but heavy on the drama, and there are some fantastically emotional scenes. I’ve seen just one other film from director Joachim Trier (Louder than Bombs), but I’m thinking I need to check more out. ★★★★½

Everything Everywhere All at Once, for me, is one of those movies that shakes up what you expect from a film, because it hits on so many levels and checks off everything you’d want. It takes the considerable talents of Michelle Yeoh and lets her show her stuff. Evelyn is a Chinese-American woman who ran away with a young man years ago, leaving her parents in China and coming to America to open a laundromat. Unfortunately that business never paid off and now, 20 years later, the business is on the rocks, her husband Waymond is prepping to divorce her, and her daughter Joy will hardly give her the time of day. Evelyn goes a million miles an hour trying to keep everything floating when the unexpected happens. In an elevator on the way to the IRS regarding a problem on their audit, Waymond turns into someone else. Or I should say, he looks like Evelyn’s husband, but he has a completely different personality, and he quickly tells Evelyn that she is in danger. So begins a wild ride for the next 2 hours. Apparently an evil being known as Jobu Tupaki is intent on killing every Evelyn across every multiverse, and the Alpha Waymond has been jumping between multiverses to find an Evelyn who can stand up to her before getting killed. Might sound confusing, and I admittedly was in the beginning, but you catch on as the film goes, and it ends up being one of the most fun movies I’ve seen in a long time. Super funny, tons of drama, edge-of-your seat thrills, and, most surprisingly, extremely touching as well. In the special effects field, it’s hard to wow me these days, as it seems like everything’s been done, but this movie is completely fresh. I remember watching The Matrix in 1999 and feeling like that movie was so ahead of its time, and I came away from Everything Everywhere All at Once with the same sense of having seen something that sets a new bar. ★★★★★

Usually the small indie films are rewarding, but every now and then I land on a dud. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is the latest culprit. It’s from the viewpoint of a teen girl and the camera is mostly her computer’s cam, as she video blogs about her participation in the latest internet “game.” You are supposed to prick your finger, smear blood across the screen, and repeat the phrase of the movie’s title, and then sit back and watch what happens over the ensuing weeks. A quasi-horror film, we see Casey struggle with what is or is not happening around her, much of which can be attributed to just a girl fighting depression. In any case, her thoughts turn increasingly dark as the film goes along, which gets the notice of a man following her vlogs and gets worried for her condition. This “scary” movie is about as boring as they come. I don’t mind that it seems to have been filmed on a $100 budget, but you can at least speed up the pace a bit. Watching Casey ramble on with long pauses in between sentences doesn’t work. ★½

Good Luck to You Leo Grande is a very interesting movie, but I’m not sure how remarkable it is. It stars Emma Thompson as Nancy, a 60-something woman who’s longtime husband died 2 years ago. She’s also recently retired as a teacher at a religious high school. Those 2 events have made her think about things she’s never done in her life, and in particular, sexual experiences she’s never had. Her husband, the only man she’d ever been with, was very much a “wham bam thank you m’am” kind of lover; he did missionary and that’s it, and even the same way every time, with nothing else done in bed ever. To experience more of what’s out there, Nancy has hired a sex worker, Leo (Daryl McCormack), for a session in a hotel room. Leo is everything that Nancy is not: young, confident, and completely at ease in any situation. Nancy, a strong Type A personality, wants to plan everything, and at first wants to know more about Leo: what made him choose this job, what do his parents think, and how he can find an older lady like herself attractive enough to “keep it up” during sex. Leo, in fantastic shape and extremely good looking, gives all the right answers, but whenever Nancy isn’t looking, we see him glance in the mirror or become thoughtful, and we know something is going on under that exterior. Over the course of 3 meetups in the same hotel room, the two get to know each other, and Nancy is able to check off items from her sex wish list. There’s some graphic scenes near the end, and obviously a lot of frank talk about different sexual moves and experiences, so this ain’t your family drama, but it is eye-opening about the sex worker business, as well as finding beauty and confidence in yourself even as you age. There’s some good lessons in here even if the content will turn quite a few people away, but I’m not sure I’d ever watch it again. ★★★

Rise is the newest in the long tradition of Disney sports films with an uplifting story, and like many of them, it is based on a true story. It follows the Adetokunbo family as they leave Nigeria and start a new life in Greece. Illegal immigrants, they are under constant fear of being caught and sent back, a fear that grows as they birth a few boys, Thanasis, Giannis, and Kostas. The film’s focus transfers as the boys get older, and follows them more, especially the two eldest, as they become involved in basketball. Thanasis and Giannis both show talent enough to maybe play professionally one day, but their parents are weary that too much attention may get them all deported. Some of these Disney sports flicks I really like (Million Dollar Arm, Miracle, McFarland USA), but too often some of these films feel very rote, and that’s the trap Rise falls into. The acting is very uneven, and the story pauses at weird moments to keep hitting home the family’s predicament, and speeds up at other times. For instance, Giannis seemed to get awfully good, awfully fast. For you non-sports fans, he would grow up to become an NBA champion and two-time MVP of the league, so it was interesting to see where he came from, but the film unfortunately just isn’t very good. ★½

• TV series currently watching: Stranger Things (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

Minions: The Rise of Gru is the latest in the Despicable Me film series. I (mostly) enjoyed those movies about Gru, though I skipped the first Minions film because I thought it looked dumb. Should have stuck to my initial reaction on this sequel too.

The film follows young Gru as he tries to get into his first group of supervillains. The Vicious 6 need a new member as they just betrayed their last, Wild Knuckles, who was the founder but who the rest of the group thought was getting too old. Gru is turned away during his interview and scoffed at for being too young. In an attempt to woo them over, Gru sets out to find at the missing Zodiac Stone, a coveted treasure that the Vicious 6 would love to get their hands on. But the plot is secondary to what this film is really about: the minions and their antics.

The kids movies that really work are those that have jokes for the young ones, but which still have some kind of message or something that engages the parents too. This film has nothing for anyone older than about 8 or 9. All of the minions’ gags are dumb, playing off continual fart jokes or shots of the minions’ butts when their pants fall down. The kids in the theater with me were laughing hard, but I was bored about 10 minutes in and it never got better. As close to a complete waste of time as a movie gets. ★

Up today are a few films from Japanese director Mikio Naruse, who had a long career spanning some of the biggest names in the biz (Ozu and Mizoguchi to name a couple), but who doesn’t get mentioned in the same reverence as those for some reason. I’ve got 4 of his silent films from the 30’s, and a later film from 1960.

No Blood Relation is about a woman, Tamae, who, 5 years ago, abandoned her husband and infant daughter to pursue an acting career in the United States. She has had a successful run, but has always missed her daughter Shigeko, and has now returned to Japan to try to pick up the pieces. However, her ex-husband, Atsumi, has remarried, and his wife Masako is the only mother Shigeko has ever known. The viewer doesn’t think there’s any way Tamae will find an in, until Atsumi’s business lands in bankruptcy. Unable to pay his debts, Atsumi is jailed, and his mother, Kishiyo, who has always lived in luxury, will do anything to stay away from the slums. Kishiyo approaches Tamae about reuniting her with Shigeko, in exchange for a better lifestyle for herself. Tamae, however, refuses to see the bonds Shigeko has developed with Masako. I tend to prefer silent film comedies, but as dramas go, this one is decent enough. ★★½

Apart From You packs a much harder emotional wallop. The film has 3 central characters: Kikue, an aging geisha who is hanging on, trying to keep working until her son graduates high school; the son, Yoshio, who resents his mother for her occupation and has fallen into a local gang; and Terugiku, who is a younger geisha working with Kikue, but who is like a sister to Yoshio. Kikue knows her time is just about up, as she fights gray hairs and a diminishing supply of interested men at work, where she has to compete with much younger coworkers. She’s never liked her profession, but does it to support Yoshio. Terugiku also hates the job, but she has a different reason for staying at it: her drunkard father has plans to send Terugiku’s younger sister off to be a geisha too, and Terugiku refuses to see that happen. She’ll work all the harder to make sure the family has money enough to not have to send her sister. And in the middle is Yoshio. He seems to look past Terugiku’s work but can’t do the same for his mother. This film is rapturous from the get-go and kept me spellbound until the very end. If Naruse has more films like this one coming up, how come he’s not more well known?! ★★★★

Every-Night Dreams is about a single mother, Omitsu, raising her young son on her own. Omitsu is barely scraping by and relying on help from her neighbors to watch Fumio while she works at a bar. Her husband abandoned her years ago, but one day, he just shows up at her door. Mizuhara admits that he was a coward, but that he has missed his son and wants to start fresh. Omitsu denies him at first, but finally allows it, as long as he gets a job and supports them. Finding work in the Great Depression era is difficult though, and Mizuhara is unable to find work. Desperate, he’ll turn to anything to get money for his family, but will Omitsu accept ill-gotten money? Pretty straight forward film, and short at just a couple minutes over an hour, but, like Apart From You, it is very emotional in the end. ★★★½

Street Without End continues the trend of focusing on woman protagonists, this time following a cafe waitress named Sugiko. At the beginning of the film, she has a lot of prospects: a boyfriend ready to propose, and a chance to become an actress after a scout sees her at work. However, those plans all float away when she is struck by a car one day. Her fiancé leaves and the acting job goes to another girl at her work. At first, fortune seems to smile on Sugiko, because the person who hit her, Hiroshi, is a wealthy man who becomes smitten by her charm. Hiroshi marries her, much to the consternation of his mother and sister, who believe Sugiko is beneath their station. This leads to snide remarks and open hostility at home, driving Hiroshi to drink and enter a spiral that will be his downfall. Through it all, Sugiko remains strong. I liked the overall plot in this one, but, especially in the beginning, it felt a bit too “all over the place” and didn’t really settle down until the second half. The abrupt ending also snuck up on me. ★★½

Jumping well out of the silent era, up next is 1960’s When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. An absolutely brilliant film, it is about a woman named Keiko, affectionally called “mama” by her patrons. Keiko runs a bar in the hopping Ginza district. Only 30 years old, she is already a widow, and is supporting her mother, her no-good brother, and his son, who is confined to crutches after having polio. Keiko hates her job, but at her age, she knows she’s getting too old to get a proper husband, so she’s consigned to it. The first half of the film follows her daily activities and interactions at work, and we get to know her well. Keiko knows the ins and outs of running a bar and how to deal with its patrons, every one of which Keiko makes feel comfortable and important. She sees employees come and go, including one who opens her own bar as competition, but who flames out when she goes into debt. At every turn, whenever anything opens up that may better Keiko’s situation (the chance to open her own bar, rather than work for someone else, or to actually get married so she can give it up), something happens to knock her back down. The one constant, the one time in her life when she’s alone to think, is the climb up those stairs to the bar every day. Beautifully acted by Hideko Takamine in the lead, it’s a heart-wrenching film that will stick with you when its over. ★★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Mayans M.C. (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

Cha Cha Real Smooth is a romcom written and directed by, and starring Cooper Raiff, with a supporting cast including Dakota Johnson and newcomers Evan Assante and Vanessa Burghardt. After a truly heartwarming scene where a 12-year-old Andrew asks out the party host at a bar mitzvah, only to be rejected due to their age difference, the film kicks off 10 years later. A now 22-year-old Andrew is still living at home, working at a fast food joint, and has no job prospects. His girlfriend has just moved to Barcelona and seems to be living it up away from him. Andrew’s little brother, David, is now at the bar mitzvah age, so the summer is full of those parties for all of his classmates. At the first one, Andrew goes along (because he has nothing else to do) and becomes the life of the party, as he goes out of his way to get all the young boys and girls to dance with each other and have a good time. As such, he gets invited to host all the bar mitzvahs of the summer. Andrew sees a way to make money, but maybe more intriguing to him, he sees a young mother that interests him. Domino loves that Andrew stands up for her daughter, Lola, when she is picked on at a party for having autism. Lola takes an instant liking to Andrew, and he endears himself to Domino as well when he helps her out of a tricky situation. Unfortunately for Andrew, Domino is engaged to a busy lawyer who, while often out of town for work, seems to have a stranglehold on Domino. Andrew hopes to break that grip and get her to go for him, but he may not know what he is asking for. It’s a cute enough movie, with some good chuckles (Andrew not getting along with this mother’s new husband is a highlight), but as a whole, the film is fairly forgettable. The writing is just OK and the editing is pretty shoddy honestly. I do applaud the team for casting a girl with autism in that role (Vanessa as Lola) rather than Forrest Gump-ing it up, but while the cast gives it their all, the end result is nothing more than an average romcom. ★★½ 

I initially thought Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache would be the kind of slow, contemplative film that I often really get into, but for whatever reason, this one didn’t do it for me. It follows an entrepreneur in Nepal named Tenzin, who seems to anger some spirits when he visits an abandoned temple with the idea of turning it into a cafe. An earthquake set the temple and surrounding buildings to tumbling, and Tenzin knows he can buy it up cheap and turn it around. But now he has holy men, including a “cool” monk sporting large red headphones and California style sunglasses, telling him that his actions will bring about his fall. Unless Tenzin can hunt down a female spirit called a dakini, he will die in a matter of days. At first, the non-religious Tenzin scoffs, but as he starts to have visions that other people do not see, he starts to believe, and goes on the lookout for his spirit. I didn’t mind the buildup (and yes, it crawls at a snail’s pace), but the payoff at the end just wasn’t rewarding enough to warrant the journey to it. ★★

The Bad Guys looked like a good family film when it hit theaters, but I was busy seeing the latest Nick Cage film that weekend, and missed it. I’m glad I finally got a chance, because this one is a blast. The in-film “bad guys” are a group of bank robbers in a Zootopia-like city of animals, comprised of all the villains you see in children’s stories. There’s Ms Tarantula, Mr Snake, Mr Shark, Mr Piranha, and their leader, Mr Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf himself. Everywhere they go, people shrink away in fear, and rightfully so, as they have a reputation to uphold as being dastardly. However, during their latest heist, Wolf is reaching for an old lady’s purse when she begins to fall down some stairs. Wolf’s hand on her purse saves her from a tumble, and she gives him a friendly hug, and “thanks,” and calls him a good boy. Unexpectedly, and for the first time ever, Wolf’s tail starts to wag, and he likes this feeling of being a “good boy.” He and his crew are nabbed in the robbery anyway, but a motivational speaker, a guinea pig named Marmalade, steps forward to offer them a chance: let him prove they can be redeemed, and all will be forgiven. Wolf convinces his cohorts to “go along with his scheme” when in reality, he is hoping for redemption for them and himself. But even if they get it, there’s a surprise waiting down the road for everyone. Fun movie, with an animation style different than your typical Disney/Pixar flick, and lots of laughs for the whole family. I’m not sure it is one of those movies that I’d watch multiple times, knowing all the surprises, but it is definitely worth an evening in with the fam. ★★★½

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Belfast since it was the darling of the film festival circuit in late 2021. It does not disappoint. The film follows nine-year-old Buddy living with his family in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as The Troubles begin in 1969. Little Buddy doesn’t know what’s going on, but he hears plenty of talk from neighbors and friends. His family is protestant and his dad works across the channel in England, so naturally they are targets by those who want to see a united Ireland. There is violence on the streets, but Buddy’s parents urge him and his older brother to keep their heads down and avoid confrontations. It sounds like it could be a heavy film, and there are somber and frightening moments for Buddy, but there are plenty of moments of brevity too. Buddy has a crush on a girl in his class, but worries that his parents won’t approve of their future marriage because she is Catholic. And Buddy’s grandparents provide humor as well as wisdom, telling Buddy that, while times seem hard now, things always turn around eventually. This is a genuinely funny movie with a lot of heart; highly recommended. ★★★★★

Compartment Number 6 is another one of those quiet, international dramas that I so often love. This one is about a Finnish student, Laura, who is in a relationship with a college professor in Moscow. Laura and her girlfriend Irina had plans to travel by train to Murmansk to see some petroglyphs there, but at the last minute, Irina says she can’t get out of work, and Laura, who always seems to be the odd one out anyway among Irina and her friends, goes alone. On the train, Laura finds herself bunking with a rough-and-tumble Russian miner named Lyokha, who is going to Murmansk for work. Laura is immediately put off when Lyokha makes a crude, ill-timed joke, and though the trip is only a couple days, she doesn’t know how she’s going to make it. When the train stops for a couple hours in St Petersburg, Laura calls back to Irina hoping she’d get an invite to turn around and come back, but Irina already seems to have moved on and is having fun with friends. Getting back on the train, Laura finds a quiet corner to grab a couple hours of sleep, and only returns to the compartment the next morning. However, things do turn around, and eventually, Laura and Lyokha begin to warm up to each other. An unlikely friendship develops, and what follows is a funny and endearing film. The two are from completely different backgrounds, and Lyokha is at times uncomfortable, afraid to come off as uncouth to the “college girl” Laura, but by the end, each is able to set aside their initial impressions and let their friendship grow. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Obi-Wan Kenobi (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Elvis is the newest from director Baz Luhrmann, and is (obviously) a biopic on the life of “the King,” portrayed by newcomer Austin Butler. The story is told from the viewpoint of Elvis’s longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks, donned in a distracting fat suit). I’m not a big Elvis fan, but I was hoping to be entertained or at least learn something. Unfortunately, while not a terrible film, I left the theater with a shrug of the shoulders, and a bit disappointed.

The film starts on the road, where Parker is managing country singer Hank Snow. Snow’s son tells the group about this new singer on the radio that is taking the area by storm; his song is basically on loop on the radio due to all the requests. Parker goes to see Elvis perform, and immediately sees someone that he can turn into a star. Parker gets Elvis and his parents to agree to a short tour through the south, and in a whirlwind of events, it isn’t long before Elvis is signed to RCA and is headlining Parker’s tour. The ladies are swooning to Elvis’s hip thrusts and gyrations, but the same thing that made him popular lands him in hot water. A senator threatens legal action against Elvis unless he can perform in a more “proper” manner. When Parker tries to tone Elvis down and get him to showcase a “new Elvis,” Elvis rebels and goes back to what made him a hit.

The movie goes along like this, showing various moments in Elvis’s life as well as his interactions with Parker, and later, his wife Priscilla and others in his band. It shows his time in Hollywood doing movies, and his return to music later, as well as his run of Vegas shows at the end of his life. It never falls into the trap of a “paint by numbers” biopic, where it just presents facts, and manages to stay entertaining through most of the film. However, Elvis did a lot in his short time on this planet, and the movie is long at 2 hours 40 minutes, and I started to feel it by the end. And that’s not the only thing I felt. Unfortunately I felt some boredom by the end too.

As I said earlier, I think I was expecting more from this film. For one, Baz couldn’t help but “Baz it up.” Some of the fast camera work and short cuts that made Moulin Rouge so fun just don’t work in the telling of a real-life person. I seriously don’t think there was a single camera shot that lasted more than 3 seconds in the entire film; the camera zips around, cuts to different angels continuously, and never settles on anything or anyone for too long of a time. This may work for the young tik-tok’ers in the audience, but it was way too distracting for me, and I never settled into it. I think Austin did a fair job as Elvis, but honestly I couldn’t tell you if it was a great acting job or not, because the camera never stayed on him long enough to showcase his talent. And there are other odd choices in the movie, like a visit down famous Beale Street in Memphis, with the sounds of rap music playing over the film. Was rap around in the 1950’s (/sarcasm)? It may sound like I’m ragging on the movie. That’s not my intention. Again, not an awful movie, but I think it could have been so much more. ★★★

These are a trio of Mexican-born directors who are among the most popular of the country’s directors today (I’d obviously put Alfonso Cuarón here too, but I think I’ve seen all of his films already). I’m starting with Guillermo del Toro. I’ve seen everything he’s made since Hellboy in 2004, but today I’m going back to his first three films, starting with 1993’s Cronos. After an introduction setting up the invention of a mechanism by an alchemist in 1536, an item which made the guy immortal until his house collapsed on him in 1937, we see that the mechanism was lost to the world until it showed up in Jesús Gris’ antiquities shop in the late 90s. Jesús stumbles upon the item completely by accident, but when he starts playing with it, tiny pincers emerge and stab into his hand, freaking out his young granddaughter Aurora. Jesús pulls it off and throws it in a box. The next day, getting ready for work, Jesús notices in the mirror that he looks quite a bit younger than the day before. Knowing now the secrets of the item, he guards it, even as a sickly rich man, who has long sought this mythical item, sends his goons after it. Unfortunately for Jesús, long life isn’t the only gift given by the gold piece; he also begins to crave blood. This modern reimagining of the Dracula story is quite good. It is low budget, but well acted (with actors including Ron Perlman, beginning his long relationship with del Toro, and Claudio Brook, who was extremely prolific in his career) and engaging to the end. Even in this first film, del Toro knew how to set a scene. ★★★½

Del Toro followed with Mimic, a Hollywood film (everyone needs to make money, right?) that spurred a series of sequels. As I learned in The Shape of Water, not everything del Toro touches turns to gold, but Mimic may be the worst. In New York, cockroaches are spreading a sickness that is killing and maiming children. Hotshot scientist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) develops a genetically mutated roach which she dubs the “judas breed,” which is meant to go into roach hives and release an enzyme which will kill the colonies. This new breed is supposed to be sterile and die out in 6 months, but 3 years later, Susan will learn that things have gone very bad. It takes awhile to get there, but eventually, we learn that the ol’ roaches have learned to mimic their next prey: humans. Human-sized roaches are ready to kill! While del Toro still sets a great mood for his scenes, this movie is pure schlock. Events take too long to develop, and the whole thing is way too predictable and boring for a horror film. Save your time, watch almost anything else from this director. ★

The Devil’s Backbone takes that style and, thankfully, adds substance. Filmed in Spain and taking place during the Spanish Civil War, the film follows Carlos, a young boy newly orphaned, who is left at a remote orphanage by his parents’ former employees. The orphanage is run by Casares, a doctor, and Carmen, a duo who are secretly supporting the Republicans against Franco’s Nationalists. As it is looking increasingly likely that Franco is going to win this war, their position is tenuous at best, but they are currently scraping by, getting just enough food to keep the boys from starving. The only staff members are the groundskeeper, Jacinto, who has a mean streak, and his fiancée Irene. Carlos is thrust into this setting, and he quickly learns the building is housing a secret: a young ghost. The other boys talk openly about the ghost, though the adults seem to be unaware. Upon Carlos’ arrival, the ghost immediately seems to be reaching out to him, trying to tell him something. Can Carlos overcome his fear to listen? And what happens when the war comes to their doorstep? This movie is creepy (downright scary at times), and has a compelling story in one of Spain’s darkest days. I was chilled, exhilarated, and moved. ★★★★½

Up next is Alejandro González Iñárritu. Again, I’ve seen most of his stuff (Birdman was one of my favorite films of 2014), but not his debut, 2000’s Amores perros (“Love’s a Bitch”). The movie starts in the middle, so to say, with Octavio and his buddy fleeing in a car. In the back seat, their big black dog, Cofi, is bleeding out. The chase ends in a disastrous wreck, and then we rewind to see how we got here, and the movie is divided in three parts. In the first, Octavio is in love with his brother’s wife; Ramiro and Susana married when she became pregnant, but don’t seem to have much love for each other. Ramiro is out having affairs and his only source of income is robbing drug stores. Octavio decides to make some money and run away with Susana; to do so, he enters their dog into the local dogfighting ring. Cofi does well, but once the money starts coming in, Ramiro wants his cut, not to mention Cofi’s success puts a damper on a rival dogfighter’s pen, the same man who is chasing Octavio at the beginning of the film. At the same time, the movie is also following an older man as he tries to reconnect with this estranged adult daughter, after the daughter’s mom (man’s ex-wife) dies. A third storyline revolves around a businessman having an affair. The film plays out for an hour before we “catch up” to that opening scene. From there, we get the other 2 parts, which follow the businessman and his affair, and finally, the vagrant and his story around his daughter. All of their lives intersect the day of the car wreck. I generally liked Octavio’s storyline the most, and the film started to drag in the second half, but still, there are a lot of sublime moments, and not just because you are connecting dots along the way. Very well acted across the board (including by Gael Garcia Bernal, as Octavio, in his first leading role). ★★★½

Lesser known by most but with a lot of acclaim in film circles is Carlos Reygadas. His debut feature film, Japón, was released in 2002, and from the outset, I could tell this was going to be a beautifully shot movie. Talk about some gorgeous vistas! With a 2:88 aspect ratio, the ultra widescreen shows off some impressive landscapes in the barren Mexico countryside. The movie follows an unnamed man who walks with a severe limp, who has come to a remote, Godforsaken land, in order to commit suicide. He stumbles upon a tiny town in the mountains and asks for a place to stay for a couple days. The villagers point him to an old widow’s shack halfway up the mountain. She lives alone and has an empty barn, which our traveler finds will be perfect for his needs. All he wants is a quiet place to contemplate and set things right in his head before he does the deed. Unfortunately for him, he grows fond of the widow, who has to fight nature and her own family (her nephew wants to tear down the barn to reuse its stone, though the lack of the barn will expose her shack to devastating winds down the mountain) just to survive. It’s meant to be very contemplative, but I was bored out of my mind. It all seemed sort of pretentious, and, yes, it is a beautifully made film, but be prepared to fight to keep your eyes open. ★½

Reygadas’ third film, and probably his most heralded, is Silent Light. Filmed in Mexico but revolving around a Mennonite community there, it is in the Plautdietsch language. The film follows Johan, a man struggling with balancing his deeply religious upbringing/life and a newfound love of a woman outside of his marriage. Johan has long been married to Esther, who has given him a house full of children, but he is now attracted to Marianne. Esther is aware of the affair, but her love for her husband and faith that things will turn out well in the end is keeping her silent. Johan does not know what to do: follow his faith or follow his heart. This is a slow-moving, deeply introspective film, and by the ending, if you have the patience to go along for the entire ride, a profoundly moving one as well. The director lets the scenes breathe, and nothing is rushed, so many may grow bored. Somehow I avoided the fate of Japón, and was entranced. The payoff in the end is worth waiting for. Rushing to the end would not have left much of an impact. ★★★★

• TV series currently watching: Batwoman (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

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