Category Archives: 2023

Sorcery

Sorcery  4 stars

From Chile comes a story of witchcraft set in the historical setting of the 1880’s on the Chilean island of Chiloe. The actual events feature a crackdown on the indigenous Huilliche natives by the ruling Chilean authorities and the German settlers.  The fictional story features a young Huilliche girl, Rosa, whose father is murdered by one of the German settlers. She is sheltered by a lone indigenous man,  Mateo and learns about the ways of witchcraft practiced by her people going back centuries and vows to seek justice for her dead father.  It is a very dark and sad story that is aided by a threatening score.  It is yet another example of the unresolvable clash in cultures between native people and the white settlers who came to seek a new life. The story includes acts of the supernatural and the use of trained animals. I found it an effective and haunting way to tell the story. 

Missing

Missing                 2 stars

For my first 2023 release I saw Missing. Just five years ago the groundbreaking film “Searching” brought us a mystery told in the unique way of viewing images on computer screens and surveillance cameras as a father goes searching for his missing daughter. Now filmmakers Will Merrick and Nicholas Johnson have made Missing, using a similar approach to story telling about a mother (Nia Long) who goes missing while on a vacation to Columbia with her new boyfriend, leaving 18 year old daughter June (Storm Reid) to try to find what happened to her with only a little help from the FBI. June, however, is quite accomplished at using social media and various online apps, making use of them to find clues as to what happened to her mother. She has clever ways to break into the boyfriend’s online accounts and find previously hidden details about him. And she is aided by a Columbian freelance investigator by way of Taskrabbit who is very helpful, leading to even more discoveries. About every 20 minutes or so a new startling revelation is discovered that completely changes June’s perception of some person or other including her mother. The movie feels like the ultimate in Things Are Not as They Seem genre as we follow things further and further down the rabbit hole. Unfortunately, this movie goes beyond the breaking point, with events that are just too much to be believed. I wanted to like the movie but by the end I felt that it had gone too far with the various twists with too much for me to accept. I am betting others will be disappointed by the ending. For a better treatment of this type of online mystery, go back and see 2018’s “Searching”.

Cocaine Bear

Cocaine Bear      3 ½ stars

The title of the hit horror “Cocaine Bear” tells just about everything you can imagine about this movie. “Inspired by true events”, in 1985 the body of a drug dealer with a failed parachute Is discovered in Tennessee, accompanied by a duffle bag of cocaine. Somewhere in a forest in Georgia the rest of the plane load of cocaine was dumped leading to a trio of the dead man’s drug dealer colleagues going in search of the missing drugs. Unfortunately, for them and the rest of the characters in this comical and bloody situation, a 500 pound bear has discovered the drugs first, getting stoned out of its mind after eating at least one brick of cocaine. What follows for the next hour and a half are some of the most hilarious encounters between said bear and the humans unlucky enough to cross paths with the ravenous animal. Besides the drug dealers (including the late Ray Liotta) there are the two teenage kids, Dee Dee and Henry, Dee Dee’s mom (Keri Russell), the local park ranger (Margo Martindale) who has gotten a raw deal on recent mishaps in the park, her activist friend, Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), a trio of teenage boys who get their kicks out of attacking park visitors and a local cop (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) who aims to get to the bottom of the bizarre happenings in his jurisdiction. All find their way to the woods where the insane bear is hunting its prey. Although it is a comedy, Cocaine Bear deserves its R rating since there is no shortage of blood and gore as one person after another meets their fate at the claws and teeth of the angry bear that includes some missing limbs and at least one disembowelment. There also may be some valuable lessons to be learned when confronted by a bear in the woods, though I wouldn’t be real sure about that. The movie is directed by longtime actor and occasional director Elizabeth Banks known mainly as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games movie series and is much in the tradition of recent horror comedy movies Werewolves Within and Shadow in the Clouds.

Creed III

Creed III               4 stars

Creed III finds Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan, returning as the star but also directing) retired from his world championship and now the owner of his own boxing gym ad quite well off with his music producer wife Bianca (Tess Thompson) and young daughter. It is the third in the series and the first that his mentor, Rocky Balboa does not appear in. The story starts with the young teenage Adonis at a group home with his buddy Damian who is making it in the boxing world when things take a bad direction and the two of them get caught up in an act of violence. Skip ahead about eighteen years and Creed is preparing world champion Felix for his next title match when a figure from the past, Damian (Jonathan Majors) appears at his door. Having just gotten out of prison, it soon becomes clear that Damian is interested in more than getting reacquainted with his boyhood friend. He has dreams of reaching his goal of becoming a champion and will stop at nothing to get it including exploiting Creed’s feelings of obligation toward him a well as cheating in the ring. Creed is warned that trouble awaits if he follows this path, but that matters little to him. Tragic events follow in a movie that is also about race in addition to being a boxing film. It is about two connected lives that took very different paths because of a single event involving young black men and the justice system. Inevitably, the film goes to the final confrontation between the two fighters in a showdown of a fight that is filmed like it is disconnected from the real world around them. The fight scenes are not as good as in the first Creed movie, but how could they be? That was a legendary film. The events surrounding these two characters may seem implausible in the real world making it quite a stretch, but it is entertaining to see these two talents and very well-conditioned actors performing together.

Scream VI

Scream VI            3 stars

The sixth installment of the popular Scream series that debuted back in 1996 descends on us in what is referred to as the sequel to the requel. I haven’t seen all of them but I think I know all the rules that have to be followed. There is a series of murders committed by a costumed figure called Ghostface using a large knife that are based on the movie franchise “Stab”. Characters return from previous movies that are apt to become victims of stabbings to come. The potential victims are also potential suspects. Each entry in the series must be more spectacular than the previous one. And there must be numerous nods to other horror classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th. (Also, the murdering tasks are typically shared by more than one Ghostface.) Many of these rules are explained to us thanks to a monologue from Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) where she outlines the whole series to us. The surviving characters from the previous outing in California have all migrated to New York City (minus Sidney Prescott, sorry Neve Campbell) where Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega of Wednesday) is now attending Blackmore University. Older sister Sam (Melissa Barrera of In The Heights), who previously dispatched the Ghostface from last year, followed her here to protect here and shares an apartment with several other young adults. Sam and Tara just happen to be the daughters of Billy Loomis who was the original Ghostface back in the nineties. It doesn’t take long before the bodies start falling with the appearance of Ghostface along with his menacing phone calls. Also appearing is the infamous Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox making her sixth appearance) who is now a news reporter trying to get a story. And Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere of Bring It On: All or Nothing and Amanda Knox) shows up again only this time she is an FBI agent sent here from Atlanta to investigate the murders. Local police detective Bailey (Dermot Mulroney of My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Family Stone) becomes involved in the case after his own daughter becomes one of the victims. Before the killer or killers are revealed there are plenty of tension filled moments featuring confrontations with the masked killer and harrowing escapes, plus plenty of blood from all the stab wounds. Amazingly, some of the victims manage to survive deep knife wounds to the abdomen that should be fatal, leaving them with possible openings to return. But after six entries in this franchise things have probably gotten a little repetitive so it may be time to put Ghostface to rest.

John Wick: Chapter 4

John Wick: Chapter 4      4 stars

I have missed out on the John Wick movies until I saw Chapter 4, the latest in this action franchise featuring Keanu Reeves as John Wick, the greatest hit man ever. I have heard all about his grudge against a crime syndicate that was responsible for killing his pet puppy, but I didn’t realize the true scope of what is apparently the greatest action movie franchise of the past decade. The story is rather straight forward: There is an international crime syndicate called The High Table that has determined that John Wick must die so under the direction of the Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) hundreds of the organization’s best killers are gathered to track down and kill Mr. Wick along with anyone who helps him. However, the crime families have a rigid set of rules that will allow Wick to gain his freedom from The High Table and guarantee his safety. If he can challenge the Marquis to a one on one duel as a member of one of the crime families and defeat him he will be allowed to go free. The only problem is that there is an army of killers and assassins that have the incentive to kill Wick thanks to the bounty on his head that continues to rise as he kills each with amazing efficiency. The main point of the John Wick movies is to portray the high level of violence and the subdued way that the man in the well-tailored black suit is able to engage and defeat his enemies. The action sequences are done with long takes and moving camerawork that captures both the battling subjects and what is happening in the background. I greatly prefer this method to the closeups with quick editing done by so many action movies. Obviously, this requires painstaking attention to detail and some well executed choreography. (After seeing this movie, I will never think the same when I see France’s Arc de Triomphe.) There are some other important and colorful characters returning from previous outings that include Donnie Yen as Caine, a blind assassin and Shamier Anderson as Mr. Nobody who happens to have a dog that aids in the killing and then there is Ian McShane as Winston, Wick’s friend from the New York Continental Hotel who previously shot Wick. We also must say goodbye to Lance Reddick as Charon, the hotel concierge in one of his final performances. Now that I have a taste of the movie I think I will have to go back and view some of the earlier outings of John Wick.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant                         4 stars

If you have seen any of Guy Ritchie’s earlier films you know that they are action packed and have a style all his own. His movie The Covenant that includes his name in the title certainly lives up to his standards. This time we follow the exploits of an army sergeant, John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and an Afghan interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim) as Kinley and his squad are tasked with hunting down IED factories somewhere in the wilderness of Afghanistan. It is 2018 so it is near the end of the war and Kinley is dedicated to this near impossible task with the threat of a Taliban attack at every turn. Ahmed is there because he is drawn to the job for the money and the promise of a visa to the US for him and his family. He also hates the Taliban for killing his son. As the pair face this challenge they learn to rely on one another despite the great cultural differences especially when they are being hunted by every available Taliban fighter in the area. The characters are not based on any particular men, but their story is symbolic of how the American military came to rely on the Afghan interpreters who were promised relocation to America and safety from the Taliban. The real meaning of the film’s title comes later when Kinley is sent back to the US with his family after being severely wounded, but feels the responsibility to get Ahmed and his family out of Afghanistan. He personally endures the frustration of dealing with government red tape and finally hires high priced mercenaries to help find Ahmed who has gone into hiding and get him to safety. The movie is thrilling as a war movie should be and full of harrowing scenes, and also shows the dedication of an American soldier and the loyalty to his fellow man. This is one that comes highly recommended.

The Starling Girl

The Starling Girl                4 stars

The Starling Girl, the first feature film from director Laurel Parmet appeared at this year’s Sundance and was just released in theaters. It concerns a young seventeen-year-old girl, Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen of Little Women and Sharp Objects) who is coming of age in a small rural town in Kentucky where she and her parents are part of a fundamentalist congregation. Jem is very devout in her faith, but is starting to realize her sexuality and the limits placed on her in this patriarchal society. She takes pride in the dance troupe she is in, but must heed the warnings from adults not to make it about her and to keep God first. One must be very careful in this setting as straying from the fold can result in requiring a confession in front of the congregation and being sent to a disciplinary camp for rehabilitation. Owen Taylor (Lewis Pullman), a handsome thirty-year-old youth pastor returns from an assignment in Puerto Rico with his wife, having a deep impact on Jem’s world. It is then that the story takes a darker turn with Jem pursuing a relationship with the pastor which he is all too willing to accommodate. The naïve Jem sees it as part of God’s plan to get them together while the audience knows what Owen is up to and that only disaster can result. To some extent the story is predictable, but it is made believable because of the acting ability of the young Eliza Scanlen. I don’t know anything about Laurel Parmet’s background but the film was useful in framing the Christian fundamentalist view of life and the outside world and of the effect on young people within the fundamentalist community.

You Hurt My Feelings

You Hurt My Feelings     4 ½ stars

The new movie You Hurt My Feelings, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener first premiered at Sundance this past year and was one of those I heard good things about but didn’t get the chance to see. Now it is in theaters and thankfully can be seen and appreciated by movie fans. The previous Holofcener movies I have seen, Friends with Money, Please Give and Enough Said all have a special comedic style. They feature relationships between people that care for each other and have conversations where slight amusing cuts are made between them. They are not cute but also are not vicious; they are for the most part honest. In this movie Beth (Julia Louis Dreyfus), a writer and writing instructor is happily married to Don (Tobias Menzies), a therapist. Beth has written a memoir about her relationship with her father that was a success and is now working on a work of fiction but can’t get a publisher to accept it. Her sister, Sarah (Michaela Watkins) is an interior designer and is married to Mark (Arian Moayed), a stage actor. The couple discuss everyday things and go about their jobs until one day Beth and Sarah accidentally overhear Don telling Mark that he thinks Beth’s new book is awful but is afraid to tell her that and instead only gives her more encouragement. This causes great distress for Beth but she is afraid to say anything and is now worried that her marriage is all a lie. All of this is handled in comedic style with the combination of Holofcener and Dreyfus giving us plenty to laugh at. Dreyfus’s acting here is not at all like her angry character in Veep. She plays it more subdued and really brings out Beth’s insecurities toward everything. Holofcener and Dreyfus worked together previously on Enough Said and it’s great to see them collaborating again in a light comedy. I find Julia Louis Dreyfus to be one of the funniest actresses working today. This pair working together has given us a real gem of a comedy.

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid          4 ½ stars

In 1989 Disney started a new era in their animated films with The Little Mermaid, a fairy tale featuring a female lead that became an instant hit and a classic. Now they have continued with their latest trend of making these animated stories into live action films bringing The Little Mermaid to life with heavy use of CGI as part of their movie magic. The star of the film is relative newcomer Halle Bailey who previously has appeared in sit coms and in some movies as a child. Now she combines her very expressive face and angelic voice to this fairy tale. We follow the story of Ariel, the curious mermaid who longs to see what is out there in the world of humans and so challenges Triton (Javier Bardem), her father’s thinking about staying isolated from the humans. Her curiosity only grows when she spots Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) on a passing ship and has the chance to rescue him from drowning when the ship encounters a violent storm. Everyone knows the story of the mermaid and her transformation into human form, giving up her voice, so she can be with the humans. I will just mention some of the better performances as I saw them. Beside Bailey there is Sebastian (Daveed Diggs from Hamilton) the crab who must keep an eye on Ariel and follow along with her mischief. He does an outstanding job with the Disney classic song Under the Sea. The most comedic role goes to Scuttle, the confused pelican played by Awkwafina of Crazy Rich Asians. She combines with Sebastian to perform a rap number called Scuttlebutt that is very entertaining. Of course Melissa McCarthy is appropriately villainous and glamorous as Ursula the sea witch who schemes to get Ariel’s voice and doom her to captivity. We get a little of her backstory about her being Triton’s brother and a tragedy than befell their mother. Credit must go to the animation too with all the musical numbers that feature the various dancing sea creatures. While making them alive with color and movement, we still get the feeling that they are animated and not just realistic images of animals generated by a computer. Lin-Manuel Miranda, a producer of the film played a significant role in rewriting the lyrics, giving them a more modern take. The film has a length of two and a quarter hours having been expanded from the animated version. This may be a little long for very young audiences, but hopefully it will keep their attention. All this was put together by director Rob Marshall who previously gave us Chicago, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns. It looks like he has another hit.