Yes we have arrived in Oscar season when those movies that believe they have Academy Award chances start coming out, many of which had already debuted at film festivals around the world. One of these films that have some Oscar buzz (and well deserved too) is The Banshees of Inisherin.

According to IMDB, “Lifelong friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and troubled young islander Dominic (Barry Keoghan), endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.”

The basic story is how one day, from out of nowhere, Colm, played by Brendan Gleeson, decided that he did not want to be friends with his longtime friend, Pádraic, any more. That was truly a strange plot point, and things truly do get out of control soon after that.

While Brendan Gleeson was excellent here, if Colin Farrell does not receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, something is truly wrong with the entire process. Farrell was unbelievable in this role of a blindsided man who just could not understand why his friend decided to cast him aside for, what seemed to be, no reason.

Farrell had every emotion imaginable, from confusion to anger to hurt, and you could see how the events of the situation took pieces of his heart away. He ended up doing things that the Pádraic at the beginning of the film would never have done, all in the grief over the loss of this friendship.

Colm was clearly unbalanced too as he does some things that I, of course, will not spoil, but were shocking to say the least.

There were a couple of real standouts in the cast despite the two main actors. Kerry Condon played Pádraic’s sister Siobhán with a ton of passion and Eternals’ star Barry Keoghan played the local island dimwit, Dominic.

The shots of this fictional Irish island Inisherin were gorgeous and brought some special imagery to add to the drama of what was going down. The Irish landscapes were brilliantly used by cinematographer Ben Davis.

However, this was not just a dramatic story. In was actually quite funny with these oddball characters reacting to the insanity with lines and decisions that were both right in character but also hilarious.

Of course, there were some Irish brogues going on that, at times, made the dialogue difficult to understand. It was as if we needed to translate what they were saying to each other, but we did not get it. Sometimes the Irish dialogue really popped and you could see where it was intended to go.

The story was set in 1923 and had the Irish Civil War as a backdrop, which probably is meant to echo the splitting apart of the friendship of Pádraic and Colm.

The dark comedic film was directed by Martin McDonagh, who reteamed Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell from In Bruges. You can tell why this is an important fact considering how excellent this pairing worked. The Banshees of Inisherin was funny, shocking and dark. At first, the film seemed to be very small and unassuming, but the stakes for the characters rose rapidly as the film continued.

The Banshees of Inisherin should most definitely receive its share of Oscar nominations.

4.3 stars

William Shakespeare wrote several classic plays, but few are more well-known than Romeo & Juliet. The tragic results of the love between the warring families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are considered one of the great love stories of all time. There was a movie that debuted last month on Hulu that took the Romeo & Juliet story and turned it on its head. By telling the story through the POV of Rosaline, Romeo’s jilted ex-love and Juliet’s cousin.

Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) was in love with Romeo (Kyle Allen), but the fates were against them. When Rosaline stood Romeo up at a masquerade ball because she was on a father-organized date with Dario (Sean Teale), he was crushed. However, he then met the fair Juliet (Isabela Merced) and fell in love with her.

Rosaline was angry and jealous over the betrayal and she wanted Romeo back so she planned to break apart the young lovers.

This was a funny film. I really enjoyed Rosaline. Kaitlyn Dever did a great job as the leading protagonist walking her way through the famous story of Romeo & Juliet. She and Sean Teale had some great chemistry with each other and you could tell immediately where this was heading. This was a good example of how predictability is not always a bad thing.

The writing of Rosaline was very clever as it weaved the new narrative with Rosaline into the existing story by Shakespeare seamlessly. They blended together beautifully and led to a third act that was very funny and well constructed.

Of course, Rosaline had more present day ideas and beliefs than you would expect someone to have in the days of Shakespeare. She was outspoken and unwilling to go along with the day’s expectations. It reminded me of Catharine Called Birdy, a film I saw a few weeks ago, as Rosaline was sabotaging the men her father (Bradley Whitford) was trying to set her up with as a husband to be.

One of the funniest things was one of the drawbacks many people have to Shakespeare. Romeo showed up to Rosaline speaking in the well-known vernacular of a Shakespeare play and Rosaline immediately asked him why he was speaking like that. The rest of the film the characters spoke in normal language, removing that obstacle for many viewers.

Kaitlyn Dever showed her skills in this picture and she carried much of the film on her shoulders. I had a lot of fun watching this movie on Hulu. You do not have to be a Shakespeare aficionado to enjoy this.

4 stars

I went to Apple TV + this morning to see if there were any movies on that streamer that I needed to watch. Apple TV + does not seem to promote their films as well as some of the other streaming services, or, at least, I don’t come there as much as I do the others and I just miss some films. I found one this morning that, apparently, debuted on Apple TV + this past Friday starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry called Causeway.

I did not know anything about Causeway, so I was intrigued. I do not have a problem with JLaw, but she does not automatically mean her film is a must see either. I do like Brian Tyree Henry though and it was an A24 film, which is usually a positive sign.

Causeway featured the two main characters played by Lawrence and Henry at the center of a slow, psychological drama that dealt with trauma and the results of it. Both Lawrence and Henry had to face their own personal trauma and were suffering the after-effects of it.

Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence)was a soldier who returned from Afghanistan with a brain injury after being involved in an explosion. Her recovery was slow, but steady and she wanted to return for redeployment. She met James (Brian Tyree Henry) when her truck began smoking and she took it to James’s repair shop. She realized soon after that James had an artificial leg since his own had been amputated after a car wreck.

Of course, both incidents of trauma had much more involved than just the moment and their relationship grew while they tried to overcome the PTSD they faced.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence was solid in this role, but I definitely thought that Brian Tyree Henry was exceptional. He stood out from the film with enough realness that while he was on screen, the film really worked.

The performances carried this movie because it was slow and, at times, the story dragged. Both Lawrence and Henry’s performances were subtle and understated and fit amazingly with the tone of the movie. However, at times the film felt withdrawn from the audience.

There have been plenty of films over the years where the performances elevated the script and I think this is another example of that. Lawrence and Henry are the reasons to see this movie, but the deliberate pacing could lose some. Causeway does a strong job at looking at the results of trauma and how it can affect people. It feels like a shot of a normal life of a couple of damaged people, and that can be enough.

3.5 stars

I was on Peacock and I saw a giant picture of John Cena. I did not know what it was, so I investigated a bit. It was the link for a movie called The Independent, which, as I said, I had no idea about. I like John Cena and the film is listed as a thriller, which intrigued me. I placed it on my list and I was able to watch it this morning.

The Independent is a political thriller focused around the upcoming presidential election that involved the incumbent Democrat president (Victor Slezak), a Republican senator (Ann O’Dowd) and Independent candidate Nate Sterling (John Cena). Meanwhile, journalist Eli James (Jodie Turner-Smith) was teaming up with legendary Journalist Nick Booker (Brian Cox) to look into a major story involving the candidates and corruption.

This film has an excellent cast. Jodie Turner-Smith is fabulous and has been on the way up. John Cena is cast extremely well in this character. Ann O’Dowd is great. Brian Cox is always solid. There is also Stephen Lang, Luke Kirby, Margaret Odette, Timothy Busfield, Michael Gandolfini, Kecia Lewis, Zane Pais, Andrew Richardson, Julianne Arrieta, and George Aloi.

However, the rest of the film was average to below average. The story was fine, but the dialogue was weak. The direction was unremarkable. There were no shots or moments that made this stand out. It looked boring and simply felt like a normal TV movie.

The film is not offensively bad, but it is just nothing that will be remembered in the long term. The film is a fine time waster, trying to be relevant in the world of politics today, but it does not take any real steps to make this more than just another movie.

2.5 stars

Millie Bobby Brown is a star!

We knew that she was a special performer in her time as Eleven on Stranger Things, but her second time playing the role of Sherlock Holmes’s little sister has shown that Millie Bobby Brown is fully capable of leading a franchise and that the best days are still ahead of her.

In Enola Holmes 2, we return to London to see where the first film left off. Enola was struggling with her new detective agency because of her client’s expectations and her brother Sherlock’s (Henry Cavill) immense shadow. However, a little girl hired Enola to find her missing sister, Sarah Chapman (Hannah Dodd) and the situation gets out of hand quickly, engulfing Enola in a murder case that runs smack into Sherlock’s latest case.

As I mentioned, Millie Bobby Brown is all over this sequel and she works so well. She is charming and engaging. When Enola breaks the fourth wall, she makes the audience feel as if they are a part of the story. Brown worked very well with her on-screen brother Henry Cavill, who makes a really great, if not unconventional, Sherlock Holmes, as well as the returning love interest, Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge).

Then we have one of the film’s antagonists, Grail (David Thewlis), who is exceptional. David Thewlis has been an awesome force in such shows as the TV series Fargo, Wonder Woman, the Harry Potter franchise, and Netflix’s Sandman. Thewlis is such an easy adversary that the audience could root against. It was a great performance from a great actor.

The story had a lot of twists and turns, but I did not have issues following it. Many movies with a storyline like this would be convoluted and difficult to understand, but this worked well too. It was really mapped out beautifully and combined with the different sections perfectly.

There are a couple of things that the Internet trolls will probably hate, but, without spoiling any of it, I found all of it epic.

Helena Bonham Carter is back again and the sections with her are so much fun. She and Brown work brilliantly together and I totally believed their mother/daughter dynamic. Carter is just one more member of an exceptional cast that brings the goods in this franchise.

Enola Holmes 2 is a ton of fun and entertaining as can be.

4.6 stars

I am a huge fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic. I have been a fan since the early days of the Dr. Demento show with “Ricky” and “I Love Rocky Road” so I was extremely hyped for the “biopic” of Weird Al that was debuting on the Roku Channel today.

I was not disappointed.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is 100% an “unexaggerated true story” according to Al who introduced the film. He, of course, is exaggerating, if not outright lying. This movie is a parody of the biopic genre of films, taking many of the tropes of a typical Oscar-bait movie and turning it upside down. And while there are a few moments where there would be a kernel of truth in the life story of Al Yankovic, there is considerably more here that is basically fiction.

In truth, the movie portrays Al in a much more bad boy role, like many of the rock-n-roll biopics, which goes in total opposite of the real Weird Al, who is considered one of the nicest and most clean-cut individuals in pop culture, lacking any sign of controversy in his life.

The film takes us through the life of Al Yankovic (Daniel Radcliffe) from child to young adult to the most successful recording artist in the world. Al reaches these heights by taking other people’s songs and changing the lyrics to make them funny. Despite the objection from his ill-tempered father (Toby Huss), Al gets his hands on an accordion and begins to learn how to play.

Escaping from his father’s hard hand, Al roomed with a bunch of guys and wound up composing his first song, “My Bologna” by accident. Al was seen by radio host Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) while he was performing at a punk club and he saw something in the parodist.

Being dubbed Weird Al, Al started on a journey of success. He was rejected at first by music executive Tony Scotti (Al Yankovic), but almost immediately after that rejection, Al went on a meteoric rise. That was when Weird Al caught the eye of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood).

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was full of silly humor, outrageous characters and a ton of celebrity cameos. The humor is not subtle, as it smack you across the face, but it was almost always hilarious. Based on a Funny or Die short from 2010, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was a parody of biopics and told the story of the great parody singer of our time.

Daniel Radcliffe would have been one of the last actors I would have thought of to play Weird Al, and that is why it is a genius move to cast him in the role. Radcliffe has been in a ton of strange, creative films since the end of the Harry Potter franchise and he always gave his best effort, no matter how weird. This film is no different as Radcliffe throws himself into the role with a gusto and passion that makes him a perfect casting.

Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna nearly steals the film. She played the role wonderfully, turning the pop superstar almost into the villain of the film. It is funny how many people, after seeing the trailer, believed that Al and Madonna had a relationship in real life.

The music is fantastic. Weird Al Yankovic did the singing of the film while Daniel Radcliffe did the lip synching. There are a bunch of the classic Al parodies included in the soundtrack such as “I Love Rocky Road,” “Another One Rides the Bus,” “Eat It,” and “Amish Paradise.” The end credits include a new song by Weird Al called “Now You Know” which is very meta and basically talked about the movie that was just shown and how many credits there are.

The film is chocked full of celebrity cameos, dozens of them from some of the most well known comedic actors available. There were other cameos of actors playing certain 1980s celebrities. I won’t spoil any of these, but there is one brilliant cameo of an actor playing Wolfman Jack.

Weird Al co-wrote the film with director Eric Appel, who also directed the original Funny or Die short. Appel does a great job as director and set up some ridiculous scenes and situations and made it amazing. I loved Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and I am so happy for Al. No one deserves the success more.

4.85 stars

I have mostly enjoyed the DC Animated movies that come out in the direct-to-video market, but I have always found them to be a little cheap. What i mean by that is in many of them, the animation was nowhere near the levels that the stories deserved and brought the level of video down on many different occasions.

That problem may be in the rear view mirror now. The latest animated movie from DC Animation was Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, which featured the sons, Jonathan Kent and Damien Wayne, of the World’s Finest, Batman and Superman.

These characters have been involved in DC Comics for several years now and Damien Wayne has been included in some of the Batman animated movies over the last few years. This, however, is the debut of Jonathan Kent in the films.

Battle of the Super Sons gave us the details of Jonathan Kent gaining his powers, learning the truth about his father’s secret identity, and being introduced to Damien as Batman was analyzing Jonathan to see what powers he may have or will develop.

Jonathan Kent is voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer (of It Chapter One and Shazam fame) and Damien is voiced by Jack Griffo. Grazer, who has appeared in some major films, brings a real light-hearted and enthusiasm to Jonathan. Damien Wayne is a dramatically complex character, which is only touched on here. The pair of these young heroes are the selling point of this movie and they are truly great together. As much fun as it is to see Superman and Batman team up, the new generation is just as fun.

And what of the animation? This is the first fully CGI animated movie from DC and it is fabulous. I really enjoyed the look of this movie and it made this feel more important than some of the other DC animated films.

The story does not go too deep and it does not explore the characters with much focus, but the movie is still really fun and does a solid job of portraying Starro as the major villain once again (after the turn by the starfish in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad).

Other voice actors included in the film were Troy Baker, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Nolan North, Darin DePaul, Tom Kenny, and Myrna Velasco.

A simple story can still be well done and fully entertaining if done well and Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons is done very well. It was engaging, funny, and had some wholesome characterization between two young characters that are at teh different end of the spectrum and yet work great as friends.

I want more DC films like this.

4.4 stars