Author Archives: Doc

Friday Night Titans #16

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SPOILERS

Major events happened on this week’s Friday Night Titans. The opening match was Robert Parker TKOing Moose in an Innergeekdom match. This was a basic IG encounter to show the strength of “The Spider.”

However, the main event saw the team of King Arthur, including King Kan and “Downtown” Griffey Neums, defeating Shazam, who had held the team titles for about a year and a half and had successfully defended them four times.

Shazam, who are William “The Beast” Bibbiani and “The Kid” Brendan Meyer, have been dominant over this period of time and had been in argument as the greatest team of all time. They were chasing the Patriots’ record of six consecutive title defenses. Unfortunately, they have come up a little short for that.

They lost by two points, 44-42. In the end, what cost Shazam was the movie Boss Baby: Family Business. The question was what the the subtitle of the sequel to Boss Baby. Both Bibbs and Brendan put down “Back to Business” which is a Netflix show, but King Arthur both got it right. This was the only point Brendan missed in the first round, costing them a chance at the bonus point. If they had gotten the Boss Baby question and the extra point in round one, they would have been able to hold off King Arthur.

Shazam is usually one of the best round one teams around, but this time, they ended up with 17 points, trailing King Arthur by 4. They were near impeccable the rest of the way, but that first round made the difference.

King Arthur has been an impressive team and they deserved that victory. They have some deep knowledge and could develop into one of the great teams in the Schmoedown. Since they have dumped Gucci, they are much easier to root for and they have been very entertaining and funny. King Arthur will be a very challenging team to defeat for those titles. Shazam indicated that they would be using their automatic title rematch down the line so King Arthur-Shazam III will happen.

I also wanted to weigh in on Shazam’s place in team history. I do believe they are the best team of all time. The Patriots had more title defenses, but they were not face the number of powerhouse teams that Shazam has and, to be fair, there was a couple of technicalities that allowed the Patriots to keep winning. They could have (should have…even may have) been beaten by Team Trek and MODOK. The game has evolved from when The Patriots were here and it is a much more difficult task with all the studying and the depth. I do have The Patriots at number two overall, but Shazam is still number one because the number of defenses would be the only thing holding them down and the game is so different now that a comparison is unfair.

The Boys S3 E6

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SPOILERS

“Herogasm”

Seventy years ago. Founded by Soldier Boy. Poor Frenchie.

This is what a lot of the fans of the Boys comic book series have been waiting for. This episode of The Boys goes much farther than just a gimmick.

Are there sections in the show that have to be pixeled out by the YouTube watch along groups in order for their videos to be allowed? Absolutely. There is a ton of nudity and some graphic sexual moments. However, there is a ton of character bits and plot going on around the Herogasm.

Soldier Boy, Butcher and Hughie head to Vermont to try and find the Twins from Soldier Boys’ team. Soldier Boy has decided to kill all of his team and Butcher agrees to help if he adds Homelander to the list.

The battle that ends up at the Herogasm site between Soldier Boy, Butcher and Hughie against Homelander is awesome. They almost got Homelander, but he is able to escape, but he does – though clearly shaken.

So much happened here including:

  • Annie posts a streaming video showing the world the havoc that happened when Soldier exploded and she told the truth about everything, including Homelander. She announced that she was quitting the Seven. This was a shocking ending to the amazing episode.
  • The Deep and the Octopus. Come on…
  • Starlight and Hughie have a major fight as Hughie’s insecurities seem to be getting in the way.
  • Kimiko is grabbed by the same Russian thugs that grabbed Frenchie last week. She kicks their asses but thinks that she is a monster. She did stab that guy a few times…
  • A-Train out right murders the Blue Hawk by brutally dragging him at super speed across the road. But… is that the last straw for A-Train’s weak heart? Does he die?
  • Imagine there’s no heaven…
  • GPS, Bluetooth and Internet are made up words according to Soldier Boy.
  • Ashley ripped out her hair as she yelled at A-Train.
  • Black Noir cut out his tracker and he is in the wind after hearing about Soldier Boy going after former team. Is Black Noir scared of Soldier Boy or is there more to this?
  • Homelander stepped and squished Termite.

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (2021)

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June 24th, Movie 25

An absolute icon.

West Side Story. Electric Company. The Rockford Files. The Muppet Show. Oz. E.G.O.T. winner. Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Rita Moreno was always a personal favorite of mine. I loved Electric Company and a child and I am sure that is where I got to know hoer so well.

This documentary on Netflix was a great trip down memory lane of one of the greatest performers in my lifetime. Spoken directly in Rita’s own words, as well as several others including Morgan Freeman and Linn-Manuel Miranda, the documentary talked about all aspects of her life, not only the high points of her career, but the way she was treated early on, and the sexual assaults that she had to handle. It spoke about a 19-year marriage that appeared to be perfect on the outside, but was far from it on the inside.

This documentary was paced quickly and involved a lot of humor and music, even when dealing with the terribly serious subjects. Everything came together to make her Rita Moreno.

This is an amazing woman who never lost the energy and never gave up on becoming more than what anyone expected. A Latina role model to be sure.

Elvis

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That’s all right, Mama.

The biopic of Elvis is is the most Baz Luhrmann-film that I have seen in years, probably since Moulin Rouge. The film has so much style and such great music that you almost get swept away by that.

However, there are at least two brilliant performances at the center of this movie as well. Austin Butler as the King of Rock ‘N Roll, Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as the slimy Col. Tom Parker.

Anyone who says that Tom Hanks is just to much of an American beloved figure to ever play a bad guy has no leg to stand on any longer. Tom Hanks made this character so slimy, so unlikable that I wanted him to get his comeuppance the entire time.

But I do not want to blow past Austin Butler because this young man gave us a performance of a lifetime as Elvis. He was absolutely stunning in every minute that he was on screen. He was not doing an imitation of Elvis, he was tapping in the essence of the character. I believe that Butler is destined to be nominated for an Oscar for this role.

There was a lot about Elvis Presley and his relationships (especially with Col. Parker) that I did not know, and it was fascinating to watch things develop. How much Colonel Parker took advantage of “his kid” Elvis was just obnoxious.

Now, I do think that the movie is too long. It could have done with being 20 minutes or so shorter. There were a couple of moments that I would have liked to have had more depth, but the middle of the film could have been tightened up some.

However, that is a small issue because I enjoyed so much of the film. I enjoyed the stylish version of the story, the great performances and the music. It is a long film, but it is worth the time.

4.3 stars

The Black Phone

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Scott Derrickson, director of Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Doctor Strange, returned to Blumhouse with a new horror/thriller film called The Black Phone, based on a short story pf the same name by Joe Hill.

It is 1978 in a suburban town near Denver, Colorado and the town was being terrorized by a child kidnapper that had been dubbed “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke). After five kids had been taken, Finney (Mason Thames), a soft-spoken, timid teen with a sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), became the next kid abducted.

Gwen had been having some dreams that, at times, came true, but this was something that her abusive father (Jeremy Davies, Faraday from LOST) was very angry about. However, the police were interested in how Gwen knew some details from the case that had not been released to the public. Gwen was not the soft-spoken member of the family and she showed off her serious spunk.

Finney wound up in a basement with the Grabber, who wore a changing devil mask, not knowing what was going to happen. There was a disconnected black phone on the wall that kept ringing and Finney eventually discovered that the phone was a way to communicate with the Grabber’s previous victims. The other kids tried to give Finney ways to escape before it was too late.

This movie was just full of tension and thrilling moments. Scott Derrickson did an outstanding job of creating such an atmosphere of anxiety that you were desperate to have Finney survive his encounter or for Gwen to be able to make sense out of her visions. The scene between Madeleine McGaw and Jeremy Davies early in the film was so uncomfortable it made you just feel it.

The first act of this movie truly was mostly character situations as we saw a couple of other kids get taken before Finney was and this section of the film helped us understand our protagonist and the people in his orbit.

Speaking of our protagonist, this film is almost completely placed on the backs of Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, and these two young actors absolutely dominated their roles. They provided us with distinct personalities that were easy to root for and showed us the strength of both of them. Gwen may have stolen every scene she was in in the first half of the movie when she exhibited the passion inside the young lady.

We got a great character arc for Finney too as he has to develop from a punching bag into someone who would not take it any more.

I have gone this far without talking about Ethan Hawke and that is wrong, because he is brilliant as the antagonist of the movie. The Grabber shows several sides to his personality as he is interacting with Finney and he wears different masks with different facial expressions depending on his emotional states. It is an amazing character detail, and helps the character out since we do not see Ethan Hawks real face until right at the end of the film.

The film is shot beautifully, especially since the bulk of the movie takes place in a small basement with nondescript walls. So much is done with this setting that the production design is fantastic.

This was an exceptional film with great performances and a huge level of suspense.

4.5 stars

Hustle

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If you know me, then you know that I have hated most of the films made by Adam Sandler. I can’t say all of them because he had Uncut Gems a few years ago that was really great. It seemed that when Sandler wants to make a movie for an adult instead of for a 13-year old child, he can do good work.

I was still fairly uncertain about Hustle on Netflix. It was released a few weeks ago and I have looked at it several times. I had it on my Netflix queue. I heard some positive word of mouth and yet I was not in a rush to watch it. I just had that sinking feeling.

So when I watched it today on Netflix, I was ready for anything. I am pleased to say that I didn’t just like Hustle, but I found it to be an excellent film.

Stanley Sugarman (Adam Sandler) was a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, on the road constantly looking for that “next big thing” in players while he desperately wanted to be a coach. Team owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) had a special spot in his heart for Stan and gave him an assistant coach position. Unfortunately, Rex died and his obnoxious son Vince (Ben Foster) took over the running of the team.

Vince wanted Stanley to head back out on the road to find the Sixers the final piece for a championship. Not leaving Stanley much of a choice, Stanley headed back out on the road, heading to Spain to scout a specific player. That player was injured and not playing that night, leaving Stan to float around the city on his own. On his travel, he came across an outdoor basketball game where a tall and noticeably skilled player named Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez) who was hustling other players for money. Stan saw that Bo had amazing abilities and he followed him to his home for a chance to sign him.

Stan had to go through plenty of adversity to try and get someone to notice the talent that Bo had.

The film is a lot of fun. Adam Sandler gives a extremely mature performance in a role that kept tossing challenges in his way. He had some great chemistry with, not only Juancho Hernangomez, but also with his on-screen wife, Queen Latifah.

Then, as if I wasn’t already enjoying the film, they trotted out “Dr. J” Julius Erving, one of my all-time favorite athletes and the man from where my own nickname came from, in the film a couple of times (Sorry Chris, no Larry Bird).

The film was produced by Sandler and LeBron James and featured a plethora of NBA stars and legends including Charles Barkley, Dirk Nowitzki, Doc Rivers, Mo Cheeks, Anthony Edwards, Seth Curry, Trae Young, Jordan Clarkson, Boban Marjanovic, Luka Doncic, Aaron Gordon, Shaq O’Neal, Tobias Harris, among many others.

If you are an NBA fan, this film is going to be a potpourri of highlights for you. However, you do not have to love the NBA to have this story of the underdog strike you. The film is about redemption. It is about family and how important they are to your life. It is about sticking to it and never giving up something that you love.

My opinion of Adam Sandler would change if he continued making quality entertainment like this.

4.2 stars

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)

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June 23rd, Movie 24

I started to watch this movie/comedy special last year, but I did not get very far into it. It had trouble grabbing my attention when I watched it. My mind must not have been in the proper state to watch it then because, when I watched Bo Burnham: Inside from Netflix for the June Swoon today, I thought it was outstanding.

Bo Burnham spent a year recording his comedy special with no crew or audience and what he came up with was an amazing time capsule of the thoughts and feelings the world faced when confined to their houses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The special contained comedy and comedic songs detailing the frustrations, the depressive states, the mental anguish, and the boredom of life during the isolation of the pandemic.

Burnham also skewered internet culture and phenomenon that came into the zeitgeist during the pandemic such as video reactions and playing along with video games.

Music was, at the same time, catchy and depressing, but no matter the feeling the music elicited from the viewers, the overall concept was that it was funny. Really funny. Undeniably relatable funny.

One of my favorite visual gags was Bo drawing a Venn diagram of Malcom X and Weird Al with “ME” at the intersection. That felt like the perfect cross of worlds for this special.

I do not know for sure why when I tried to watch this special last year it just did not grab my attention. Perhaps I wasn’t ready for it yet. Bo Burnham: Inside certainly grabbed my attention today. It is a spectacular Netflix comedy special/film that takes one of the most difficult eras of our lives and satires it while embracing the mental state it placed many of us in. It is not just inside the house, but inside the mind.

Old Henry (2021)

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June 22nd, Movie 23

Today, for the June Swoon, we jump into the Western genre with a film called Old Henry which was written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli.

Henry (Tim Blake Nelson) was a widower raising his teenage son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) on a normal farm, living the peaceful life of a farmer. When Henry comes across an injured man named Curry(Scott Haze) with a satchel of money and a gunshot wound, a posse of men arrived, claiming to be the law. Henry did not know whom to trust, but, as things became more violent, a secret from his past was revealed changing the balance of the situation.

There may be some familiar moments in this movie, but it is extremely impressive in the way it carries itself off. Tim Blake Nelson is outstanding in the lead role as he reveals the darkness behind his squint. You can see that Henry wanted to be a good man for his son, but the situation pressed him too far.
I did not even begin to guess the surprise twist in the third act and I absolutely loved it.

The relationship between Henry and Wyatt was believable and understandable, especially after you learn the truth at the movie’s end. Both Nelson and Lewis do a great job of interacting, Nelson trying to protect the boy and Lewis looking to be allowed to be a man.

There is a solid cast along with Nelson, Wyatt and Haze. Other actors appearing in the movie included Trace Adkins, Stephen Dorff, Richard Speight, Jr., Max Arciniega, and Brad Carter.

Nicely paced with some wonderful shots, Old Henry takes the typical Western genre film and peppered it with great performances and a great reveal. If you are a fan of Westerns, you should give Old Henry a shot.

Obi-wan Kenobi Episode 6

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Spoilers

“Part VI”

I have been up and down on Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Disney + series that dropped its finale for this (possibly) only season of the show. Some episodes were great, some were not good at all, and most had something worthwhile. The biggest issues I had with the series has been the writing, which feels as if they are not going too deeply and are having characters do some stupid stuff.

I felt the same way about the finale. There were parts that I thought were tremendous and other parts that just did not work for me. Overall, this was not as bad as some of the tweets I saw afterwards, but it was not a total win either.

Tremendous parts:

  1. Obi-Wan vs. Vader lightsaber fight. This is easily the best part of the show. Obi-Wan got his groove back and they had a knock down battle. The conclusion of the fight with Obi-Wan slicing open the Vader mask and seeing the scarred face of Hayden Christensen was epic and a beautiful way to leave it.
  2. We get to see the criminally underused Uncle Owen, played by Joel Edgerton.
  3. Did I mention that lightsaber fight?
  4. Should go without saying but Ewan McGregor is fantastic. Hayden Christensen got a chance to redeem his earlier performances.
  5. Qui-Gon Jinn.

Middle Ground:

  1. Leia. The use of the young actress in this episode was fine although I would have liked to have seen the reunion with her father.
  2. Kumail Nanjiani. It is always good to see Kumail, but his character here is reduced to a babysitter. He is the Stranger Things’ Steve here.
  3. Vader orders ship to follow Kenobi. This made no sense since we know Vader could have followed Obi-wan himself; However, I give a break to this since it fits right in with Vader’s anger overwhelming his logical sense.

Poor:

  1. The whole Reva bit going to try and kill Luke. That made no sense to me and it was meant to try and show Reva in a better light, but it was way past time for that to happen. This has been easily the worst written character on the show. Moses Ingram did the best she could with what was here.
  2. Obi-Wan able to get back to Tatooine in such a quick fashion.
  3. Why does Vader start to leave Obi-Wan under the rocks. This was the only weak point for me during their lightsaber duel. After all this, why leave Obi-Wan beneath the rubble. Don’t you want to see him die, Vader.

Overall, I liked this more than The Book of Boba Fett, but it was nowhere close to the Mandalorian.

Ms. Marvel S1 E3

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SPOILERS

“Destined”

Another fantastic week of Ms. Marvel! I love this show. There were some awesome character moments with Kamala and her family as the wedding of Aamir gets underway, some exceptional Bollywood dance routines and some serious action.

We learned of Najma, the identity of the mysterious woman who was the mother of Kamran. She is a member of a group of Jinn called the ClanDestine. The Jinn existed as invisible creatures or demons in early pre-Islamic religion and mythology. We saw a flashback to 1942 British controlled India, where Najma and Kamala’s eventual grandmother Aisha originally found the bangle on a chopped off blue hand buried in a ruin.

So when Najma helped rescue Kamala last episode, we find out that she wants Kamala to help the ClanDestine to get back to their own dimension. She left out the fact that this could be terribly dangerous, a fact that Bruno found out about later (shout out to Dr. Selvig!)

Kamala texted Kamran that she needed some time, but when Najma discovered that Kamala was not immediately wanting to help them, she and her group went to force her to help. This turned into a disruption at the wedding.

I loved the wedding scenes. They were so wonderful and colorful and full of love and life that is was totally charming. The dancing was such a treat. I am glad that they waited until “Brown Jovi” (Ha Ha) started to bring in the ClanDestine.

The fight between Kamala and the ClanDestine was really tense and exciting as Kamala used her hard light to keep them at bay. Both Bruno and Kamran helped in the battle, but it was not until Damage Control arrived that allowed Kamala to sneak out the back. This was also where Nadia saw Kamala use the hard light and realized that she was “Nightlight” the whole time. You could see the hurt in Nadia’s eyes because her best friend did not tell her about this.

This show has just been so great and it only continues to improve every episode. Again, Iman Vellani is unbelievably charming and full of so much energy and life. Knowing that this is her first acting job is mind-blowing and it goes to show that Marvel clearly knew what they had in her.

Justice Society: World War II (2021)

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June 21st, Movies 22

As I was searching through movies for 2021 that I may have missed, I came across the DC Universe film Justice Society: World War II. I always enjoyed a good JSA story so I thought this would be a good film to include in the June Swoon.

The story kicks off with Barry Allen (Matt Bomer), aka The Flash. He was on a picnic with his girlfriend Iris (Ashleigh LaThrop) when he hears an explosion. He takes off to discover Superman (Darren Criss) fighting with Brainiac (Darin DePaul). During the battle, Flash runs really fast to catch a Kryptonite bullet, but he runs so fast, he transports himself accidentally to a different location.

At first, he thought he time traveled, but eventually, Barry realized that he crossed to a different world. In this world, he finds a group of heroes calling themselves the Justice Society was fighting against Hitler’s forces during World War II. The group was led by Wonder Woman (Stana Katic) and included Hawkman (Omid Abtahi), Hourman (Matthew Mercer), Black Canary (Elysia Rotaru), and Jay Garrick, the Flash (Armen Taylor).

Barry teams up with the JSA and their battle takes them to face off with King of Atlantis, Aquaman (Liam McIntyre).

As always, the DC Animation is very well done and this is no exception. The animation was better than normal, I thought and the characters are used in a wonderful manner. I loved seeing some of the JSA characters (although, I would have been up for a few more extra ones).

I liked the story. It was simple and straightforward. The voice acting was fine.

I do think that some of the story beats were rushed and that this could have been stretched out to a two-parter. I know they have done that before. The use of Dr. Fate was too much of a tease and I wanted way more with him. They had several “Batman Leaps”- which is a term we dubbed to describe a time where someone makes an unlikely, impossible, somewhat illogical inference of a clue (like they would do on the old 1966 Batman series). When Barry Allen met Superman in the “past” and realized that there were some differences, he immediately jumped to “different earth”.

Still, these complaints are nitpicks. I enjoyed the film well. I still think this could have been outstanding of they had done a few extra steps, but it was still a lot of fun.

Encounter (2021)

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June 20th, Movie 21

I had two choices this morning. I had dropped down to Encounter or Old Henry. I wound up choosing Encounter, that featured Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, and was directed by Michael Pearce.

Malik (Riz Ahmed), a former Marine suffering from PTSD, showed up in the middle of the night, taking his children, Jay (Lucian-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada) on a late night road trip. Malik was here to protect them from an alien infestation of little parasites that he claimed had taken control of the boys’ mother and step-father.

Malik was taking the boys across the state toward Nevada and the base where he said scientists were working on ways to prevent the bug-like creatures from taking over people.

When he discovered that the boys’ mother was pregnant, Malik called his probation officer Hattie Hayes (Octavia Spencer) to go check on her. Hattie told Malik that he had missed his last meeting and that he was in trouble. This is the first indication that we had that perhaps the idea of parasitic bugs from space may not necessarily be reality.

I was having some initial issues with the story at first, but this switch in tone and direction worked really well for me. They spent a good chunk of the second act of this movie trying to show that the reality could be either direction.

I worried that the film would make us think one way and then throw a wrench into the story at the end and change everything. I definitely wanted one way and I was afraid that if they made that decision, the film would take anything positive and wreck it. Thankfully, it did not go that way.

However, the ending was a little silly and there were some things done by characters that did not make much sense. While the ending was weaker than I had hoped, it did not damage the remainder of the film.

Riz Ahmed is fantastic in Encounter as he always seems to be. Lucian-River Chauhan is excellent playing opposite Ahmed as Jay. Aditya Geddada had a few moments, but the character of Bobby does some things that did not ingratiate himself to the audience. Octavia Spencer was terribly underused and should have played a bigger role than she did.

I was happy to have included Encounter in the June Swoon because I did enjoy most of this movie. There were some flaws here and there, but the relationship with Malik and his to boys was a standout piece of the film and it kept me wondering exactly what was real and what was not.

Red Rocket (2021)

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June 19th, Movie 20

Um… okay.

I guess I did not know what to expect with Red Rocket, directed by Sean Baker. For some reason, I thought this was a French speaking film. I am not sure we could get further away from a French speaking film than this.

Former porn star Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) returned to his hometown of Texas City, Texas, to try and get his life back on track. He goes to his ex-wife (although she told him that they were still married) Lexi (Bree Elrod), who was living with her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss), and talked them in to letting him stay, promising to help pay rent.

He struggled to find employment as his porn star reputation got in the way, a reputation that he was actively trying NOT to hide. He winds up selling pot for a neighborhood dealer (Judy Hill) he knew from his days in Texas City.

When the money started coming in, Mike and Lexi started having sex again. However, after a trip to a donut shop, Mike met a seventeen year old girl Strawberry (Suzanna Son) who he fell for quickly and envisioned her as a porn star that he could manage, bringing him back to the top.

Simon Rex is a good actor and has some charm about him, but I so hated the character he played that I could not get past that. Mike is a horrible human being who is selfish, crude, cared only for himself, obnoxious… any sort of negative comment you could male about Mike would fit him well. He does not go on any sort of journey as out main protagonist, unless you consider him only getting worse. Not only is he having sex with the seventeen year old, cheating on his ex-wife, but he is preparing to take Strawberry to Hollywood and get her involved in the porn industry.

The other problem is that there just are not any characters here worth rooting for. Trailer trash, drug dealers, low lives. The only character worth anything turned out to be next door neighbor Lonnie (Ethan Darbone), who worshipped Mike and went out of his way to help him and eventually protect him. Mike did not appreciate poor Lonnie, and just uses the terrible thing that happened to Lonnie as a way to manipulate Strawberry.

The film ended with a scene that almost made me think that Mike would pay for his being such a jerk, but the movie does not take it far enough (although Mike running through the streets at night is pretty hilarious).

The actors all did exceptional jobs with their roles, but I just did not like anyone on the screen. The production of the film was top notch, and even if it is a metaphor for the Trump years, I just did not enjoy the trip. I was hoping it would end throughout the film.

Valkyrie (2008)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 8

Around the time when Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie came out, I had not been going to the theater much. Instead, I had been going on Tuesdays to Wal-Mart and picking up DVD copies of new releases, many of which I had never seen. I amassed quite a collection of DVDs and many of them were films that I did not like or had never seen. In fact, there have been several that I never wound up watching. Valkyrie was one that I did watch, but was never engaged with. It has become the next film in the Do Over binge series.

Valkyrie was the story of the final attempt by Germans to assassinate Adolf Hitler. This true story was directed by Bryan Singer and starred Tom Cruise as Colonel Stauffenberg, one of the major architects behind the coup attempt against Hitler and the attempted use of Operation Valkyrie, a national emergency plan to maintain the German government in case of Hitler’s death.

After watching the film for a second time, I found the initial half of the film a little slow and the set-up lacked the intensity of the second half of the film. The second half of the movie, specifically when the bomb went off, increased the level of anxiety and suspense despite the fact that I knew historically the assassination plot had failed. The end of the film was much stronger and compelling.

Tom Cruise is solid as the German Colonel and he was joined by an outstanding cast including Essie Izzard, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terrence Stamp, Carice van Houten, Kevin McNally, David Bamber, Jamie Parker, David Schofield, and Christian Berkel.

While this was a good translation of events, I can’t help but think this could have been more intense and compelling than what we got. It was better than I remembered, but it may not be one that I remember fully movie on.

Spiderhead

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Chris Hemsworth and Netflix has had success in the past with the movie Extraction from a few years ago. This weekend, the streaming service dropped the next Hemsworth film where Chris played a different type of character than we have seen from him before.

Spiderhead finds Chris Hemsworth playing Dr. Steve Abnesti, a scientist at a experimental facility that takes volunteer prisoners and run drug trials on them trying to find a way to manage their emotions to allow for their redemption. Jeff (Miles Teller) was one of the prisoners who allowed the experiments to be done on him. However, Jeff begins to learn details about what was going on in the prison that started to have him questioning the morality of the experiments.

I found this movie to be okay. Are there some areas that are difficult to believe? Sure, but the suspension of disbelief never took me out of the film. In fact, I found myself more engaged with the characters because of the unlikeliness of everything. As we find out more about Jeff’s past and see how he was making connections to fellow convict Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), I found my personal feelings deepen with him. Miles Teller does a decent job with his portrayal of Jeff and you believe the anguish that the guy has been putting himself through.

I found Chris Hemsworth to be pretty decent as Abnesti. He had the charm that you would expect someone like this would have to have and he played his own troubled background well.

The story was not as deep as it could have been and did not take the risks that it could have, but it was solid enough to make Spiderhead a decent watch. It is certainly better than many of the films released on Netflix. Tat may not be the best complement in the world, but it is ana ccurate one.

Spiderhead was based on the short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, and was directed by Joseph Kosinski.

3.2 stars