Category Archives: Action

Leonor Will Never Die

Leonor Will Never Die    3 ½ suns

Leonor Will Never Die received the World Cinema Dramatic Innovative Spirit Special Jury Award. The movie fits in well with the name of the award as the premise was especially creative. Set in the Philippines, elderly Leonor Reyes was once a major screenwriter for Filipino action movies. But now she mainly stays at home and can’t pay all her bills to the frustration of her son. One day she takes renewed interest in one of her old movie scripts after reading that the studios are looking for new scripts, but then she ends up in the hospital in a coma after being struck in the head by a falling television. It is then that the film takes us into uncharted territory as Leonor goes about creating an action movie in her mind concerning an action hero names Ronwaldo. She appears in her own movie, manipulating events to her own liking, occasionally reworking scenes that didn’t work out right. The imagined movie then sometimes blends with real life to somewhat resemble ideas out of The Matrix. The film is something of an homage to seventies action movies from the Philippines which was quite an industry in those times. It is especially violent and heavy on heroic scenes for its action stars. I certainly did not know what to expect with this one.

Drive-Away Dolls

Drive-Away Dolls              3 stars

If you are going to see a Coen brothers movie you know you are going to get some violent scenes often with inept crooks, some dark humor and some rather odd characters. Just think of The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading or Fargo. With this year’s Drive-Away Dolls we only have Ethan Coen directing, joined by Tricia Cooke’s writing, but we do get most of the usual elements. What we also get is a road buddy movie with a pair of lesbians on a mission to get laid, combined with plenty of dick gags. We start out in 1999 with a “Collector” (Pedro Pascal from The Last of Us and The Mandalorian) receiving a package in a briefcase but is quickly robbed and murdered by a pair of goons (Joey Slotnick and C. J. Wilson). We cut to our two heroes, Jamie (Margaret Qualley of The Nice Guys and Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan of Bad Education and Cat Person), who are both lesbians and best friends. Jamie is the adventurous one always looking for her next sexual exploit and Marian is the high strung, but intellectual one. They have a plan to do a drive away from New England to Tallahassee, Florida. This is a cheap way to travel by driving a car that the car’s owner needs delivered to another city. Hence, the title: Drive-Away Dolls. Only Jamie also plans to find all the lesbian hangouts along the way so that the repressed Marian can get laid. In Coen fashion the plan gets complicated when by accident the girls pick up a car that was intended for the pair of goons identified earlier and happens also to contain two special “packages” in the trunk. The boss of the criminal enterprise, (Colman Domingo) is none too pleased by the turn of events and tasks the goons to track the girls down and retrieve the packages. What follows then are the sexual adventures of the two women that happens to include an interlude with an all-lesbian soccer team, combined with the total ineptitude of our two goons trying to find them. (They get a little help from another lesbian friend of Jamie’s called Sukie (Beanie Feldstein of Booksmart) who also happens to be a cop. But this meeting doesn’t go well for the goons.) I must not neglect to mention that there is one additional character that appears briefly but is very pivotal to the story. And he is played by Matt Damon. (Also, this character’s penis figures prominently into the plot.) So, anyone who is a Matt Damon fan should not miss it. Overall, the movie has its moments, but it seems like a mixture of two films that don’t mesh very well. It’s good for a few laughs.

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front  4 ½ stars

This time I went from the horrors of narcissistic billionaires to an even greater horror, the viscousness of all-out war, by viewing the 2022 film, All Quiet on the Western Front. This is the German language film based on the well-known novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. The book was made into the Academy Award winning film in 1930, and now we have the latest version, made with all the special effects of the present day. The film, by director Edward Berger, holds nothing back in presenting how horrible and devastating war can be. (I also happened to take a guided tour of World War I battlefield sites in France around this time so got a first-hand view of some authentic locations where The Great War was fought.) The opening scenes focus on a World War I battle between the Germans and the French showing us what trench warfare was like, with the soldiers seeing their comrades killed in an instant. But then we see the aftermath, with the bodies being gathered for burial as well as the gathering of the uniforms of the dead. The film then follows the path of the uniforms showing how they are cleaned and then mended so they can be reused by the next group of soldiers, giving us the feeling of a never-ending cycle of death. Like the book we follow teenage recruit Paul and his friends who are very enthusiastic about joining the army and the glory that awaits them. They are assured that the war will be over soon, and they will return to their homes as heroes. Of course, this is not to be as we are treated to one scene of horror after another showing the effects of modern weapons of war. Often the assaults result in scenes of hand-to-hand combat between the adversaries but based on my tour and readings, actual hand to hand combat was a rarity in World War I. More common were the artillery bombardments resulting in large casualties followed up with infantry attacks causing the enemy to retreat from their trenches. In this respect the movie and book are not accurate. We are also treated to scenes of comradery among Paul and his fellow soldiers during the quieter times in the trenches and the surrounding countryside. Against these scenes are those showing what life is like for the higher brass who issue the commands sending thousands of men to their deaths. These well-fed men with their large mustaches feast on their wine and cheese seemingly without a thought of concern for what the men are going through. They are only concerned about their own glory by achieving the victory in battle that forever eludes them. The frightening scenes of battle are backed up by an unsettling score and some of the best cinematography I have seen. The movie was the recipient of four Academy Awards which are well deserved. If you are at all interested in anti-war films, All Quiet on the Western Front must be on your list.

The Harder They Fall

The Harder They Fall       4 stars

Jeymes Samuel has created a fantasy western based on real people that existed in the Old West. This is a violence filled movie with heroes and villains much in the tradition of the old Hollywood westerns only with an all Black cast. It seems to be set in the Oklahoma territory where freedmen settled after the Civil War, featuring all Black towns but with white folks nearby. The film is all about style at the expense of historical accuracy, that is to say it is a crowd pleaser. The actual story is not that important, but it is about an outlaw, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) seeking revenge against a ruthless gang leader, Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) who murdered Love’s parents. Love is picking off Buck’s gang one by one until things change when Buck is freed from prison by his gang that includes badass Trudy Love (a wonderfully cast Regina King). There is plenty of tough talk, faceoffs and shootouts accompanied by a Reggae style soundtrack that will keep the audience engaged through the two and a quarter hour runtime. The dialogue is sometimes not true to the era drifting into more modern lingo, but accuracy is not the point of the film. The ending is a seemingly never ending showdown reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s westerns, stretching the limits of credibility. The all star cast is rounded out with Zazie Beetz as Stagecoach Mary, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Deadwyler as Cuffee, Damon Wayans Jr. and Deon Cole. If you are looking for a great action movie with some over the top violence, then you should not miss The Harder They Fall, available on Netflix.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once           4 ½ stars

The title is a good description of the Daniels’ (Dan Kwan and Daniel Schweinert) new movie Everything Everywhere All at Once because it seems like everything imaginable is happening. It’s a science fiction, action, comedy adventure that features a lot of kung fu fighting including that of action star, Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh is Evelyn Wang, who owns a California laundromat, along with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, who was known as “Short Round” in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and also “Data” in The Goonies) and is expecting a visit from her aged father, Gong Gong, and is planning a Chinese New Year party in his honor. (Gong Gong is played by James Hong who is probably one of the most recognizable character actors working in Hollywood today.) The thing is before the party Evelyn, Waymond and adult daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) must visit the Internal Revenue Service where the business is being audited by a petty inspector named Deirdre (played by a practically unrecognizable (and fat) Jamie Lee Curtis). It is at the IRS office that Waymond pulls Evelyn aside, slaps some Bluetooth receivers on her ears and explains that the fate of the universe rests in her hands. It turns out that Evelyn, Waymond and a host of other characters are all connected to thousands of other alternate selves throughout the multi-verse and these alternate beings can transfer their consciousness across the cosmos to one another. This sets up the opening battle between one alternate Evelyn with an alternate Dierdre plus a few security guards where a fanny pack becomes a deadly weapon. Eventually we meet Jobu Tupaki, the evil force who threatens the universe, also played by Stephanie Hsu. Evelyn’s alternate selves include a singer, a celebrity chef and many other people with talents that she can draw from in the colossal battle. Waymond says that she was chosen because she can’t do anything well. The many imaginative scenes include people with wiener fingers, sentient rocks, a racoon chef on Harry Shum’s head and battles involving sex toys that give the users certain extra powers. Then there is a giant bagel that seems to be at the heart of what is going on. The movie is almost non-stop pandemonium that pays tribute to many Chinese made action movies of the past. Veteran action star Michelle Yeoh has shown her fighting skills before in movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and dramatic acting skills in Crazy Rich Asians and Memoirs of a Geisha. She uses all those talents once more in Everything Everywhere All at Once plus a few more skills. Be sure you are up for it. The twists and turns and the non-stop fighting can get exhausting! But it is guaranteed to be fun.

The Northman

The Northman                  5 stars

When I heard that the new movie, The Northman was made by Robert Eggers I knew it was on my must list. This is the third feature by Eggers who previously made The Witch, set in 1630s New England and The Lighthouse, set in the 1880s. Both were highly stylized tragic stories done with painstakingly realistic sets. Both included haunting representations of mysticism. The Northman is his most ambitious and expensive movie yet. It is set in the tenth century at the time that Vikings ruled northern Europe. It follows the life of Amleth, the son of a Viking king (Ethan Hawke) who as a boy witnesses the king’s murder at the hands of his brother (Claes Bang). The boy escapes and vows to avenge his father and rescue his mother who has been taken captive by the brother. We flash forward a couple of decades and find that Amleth is full grown and is still bent on revenge. Before we get to the heart of the film we get to witness one of the most realistic battle scenes I have seen when a band of Viking berserkers attack and ransack a village, and perform all sorts of bloody atrocities. The extended scene with a camera moving slowly throughout the battle is just astounding. Eventually, of course Amleth finds his way to Iceland (as a slave) where the murderous Brother has settled and where of course the score must be settled. But not before Amleth meets and falls for Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), a fellow slave who turns out to be especially clever. There is plenty of mysticism having to do with prophesies, and communing with the dogs and ravens, something Eggers has captured very well in his films. The story may not be especially original, but I daresay the imagery and use of the Iceland green landscapes are stunning. The Northman has easily set the bar for one of the best movies of the year so far. I can’t wait to see what Eggers will come up with next.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness      4 stars

The world’s most powerful sorcerer, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch returning to the role after an outing as a cowboy in The Power of the Dog) makes another entry in the Marvel universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This second installment about the man who can control portals to other realities and can battle demons is directed by Sam Raimi, the man who brought us the Spiderman movies of the early 2000’s and a host of horror movies including the popular Evil Dead movies. This time out Doctor Strange crosses paths with a young girl named America (Xochitl Gomez) who is being pursued by demons and is forced to become involved and protect her. It seems that America has the power to travel to other universes that make up the multiverse, a reality that exists in the MCU. This power and a book that figures in the story is what some entity is seeking to obtain for itself, and it is Strange’s mission to prevent this union that could result in the destruction of the universe. (What else?) For help Strange goes to an associate, Wong (Benedict Wong) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson). I can’t go into the story much more than that except to say that the viewer is in for a real roller coaster of an experience as the characters travel to other universes, battle demons and meet alternate versions of themselves and other people in their lives including some very different Avengers. The movie is very action packed as one would expect in a Marvel movie and has a story that can be followed by most viewers. Fortunately, it does keep the number of characters limited, which can’t be said for two recent Avengers movies. The concept of a multiverse was used recently in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but with much greater comic effect than Doctor Strange, something I greatly enjoyed. Strange gives it a more serious tone which I also approve of. It has been nine years since Raimi’s last directorial effort, Oz the Great and Powerful. Let’s hope that he finds another suitable project without waiting that long. Be sure to watch for some interesting cameos, including one of a street vendor by Bruce Campbell!

The Lost City

The Lost City                       2 ½ stars

Anyone who pays any attention to the media has seen the promotions for The Lost City a hundred times by now. This is the newest lost treasure adventure rom-com that stars Sandra Bullock as an adventure/romance novelist and Tatum Channing, her book cover model. The movie follows a tried and true formula for these types of movies that goes back to Romancing the Stone. In this one Bullock’s character, Loretta Sage, is kidnapped by the billionaire adventurer Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, against type, cast as the villain) because he believes Sage can translate an ancient fragment from a lost civilization that can reveal the location of an ancient treasure. Thus, most of the action takes place on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. The dimwitted Alan, Channing’s character believes that he can rescue her pretty much on his own, setting up a variety of comic scenes between the two leads. Bullock does her best with her comic sense in this very predictable relationship. There is a decent set of comedic supporting cast that includes Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nunez of The Office, Patty Harrison and SNL’s Bowen Yang. Credit must also be given to Bullock’s wardrobe of the magenta sequined jumpsuit that she wears through most of the movie. It appears so often that it deserves its own credit, figuring into the plot of the movie. Anyone who has seen the promotions will recognize it. There is little that could be called original in this comic caper, but it can easily be watched on an afternoon when you don’t have to be completely absorbed with what is happening on the screen. And you certainly should not be thinking about what is credible in the story line.

Wolfwalkers

Wolfwalkers                       4 ½ stars

From the Irish studio Cartoon Saloon who brought us The Secret of Kells in 2009 comes their latest creation, Wolfwalkers, an animated tale set in Ireland about two girls from vastly different backgrounds who form a fast bond against troubling circumstances. Robyn is an English girl who has been brought to Ireland by her father who has the task of ridding the woods of its inhabitants of wolves. The wolves are very troubling to the local farmers as they attack their livestock. Robyn, being English is not at all accepted by the Irish children of the village, so she finds her own adventures. One day, disobeying her father’s instruction, she wanders into the woods where the wolves live and meets a strange redheaded girl, Mebh, who is very wild and outspoken and who happens to be one of the last of the Wolfwalkers, a mythical creature who is human by day, but transforms into a wolf at night when their human body falls asleep. Though very different, the two becomes fast friends and Robyn is convinced she must do whatever it takes to help Mebh and the wolves survive, even if it involves disobeying the orders and warnings of her father and the villagers. There is a villain involved in the form of the English Lord Protector, who believes he can only stay in power by gaining favor with the locals by having all the wolves killed or run out of the woods. It is an intense story about young people having to face the challenges of an adult world, but also about adults who have something to learn about the magic of childhood. I also enjoy the animation style of the movie as it is very colorful and full of movement and done is an imprecise manner. It is one that adults and children can both appreciate.

Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick          4 ½ stars

By now everyone has heard about Top Gun: Maverick, probably the most highly anticipated movie of the year. The sequel to the 1986 movie, Top Gun has been in the making for years and was delayed until it was finally released last month. Most have heard of the premise of the film, how Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is brought back to the military’s top flight school to instruct a group of the Navy’s best flyers, for a top secret mission against an enemy that goes largely unnamed, but is critical to US and NATO security. Maverick (Tom Cruise in his most famous role) is still a test pilot for the Navy having passed on promotions repeatedly and is still much the fearless risktaker he was in the original film. But certain events and relationships have had their impact on him, especially those related to Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of “Goose”, Maverick’s deceased wingman from over thirty years previous. One actor that doesn’t really have much to do is Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly who plays the woman that owns the bar where the Navy flyboys tend to hang out. I’m not really sure why she is in the movie. This is all background for the story, but the main impact of the movie are the thrills and performances of the navy jet flyers in the training exercises and the ultimate mission that involves the highest level of danger for our flying heroes. This is a movie that must be seen on the big screen to get the full experience of the speed and sounds of flying a jet at high speeds with the dangers of combat. Whatever you may think of Tom Cruise, you should not miss this movie while it is still playing in the theaters.