One of the big Oscar possibilities for this year dropped this weekend on HBO Max, as well as select theaters. It is a biopic set in the racially explicit 1960s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X where the chairman of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, rises to the top of the FBI’s target list and an FBI informant is sent into the world of the militant organization to gather information.

Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) was a small time car thief who would pretend to be an FBI agent to make it easy to rip off the automobiles. Caught by the police, O’Neal was pressured into becoming an informant and sent into the Black Panthers. The film then records the tragic events that followed involving Hampton and the rst.

Daniel Kaluuya is wonderful as Fred Hampton, showing both his dedication to the ideas of the organization as well as his connection to his family. Kaluuya most likely will receive an Oscar nomination for his work here and it would be very deserving.

LaKeith Stanfield is compelling as William “Bill” O’Neal, showing us the conflict he had within himself over what he was being forced to do by the FBI, in particular, Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). It was obvious that O’Neal did not want to be in this situation, but he found himself stuck and he made a decision that put himself first.

The one actor who stood out like a giant prosthetic nose was Martin Sheen, who had a limited role as FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. I have always enjoyed the work of the former President Jed Bartlett (from West Wing), but as soon as I saw him with that nose, I was completely distracted and it pulled me out of the film. As I said, Hoover had very limited screen time and that was a good thing for me.

Unfortunately, Judas and the Black Messiah continues to feel relevant for the world today, as black people continue to be treated poorly, if not fatally, by police. You can see some of the outright cruelty shown by the police and the FBI of the time and the use of the black revolution as an excuse to attempt to keep them down and maintain the white privilege that has, sadly, remained active to this day. There are some shocking moments in this film and it is an important story to tell.

Some of the quieter moments of the film were less intriguing as the conflict within, but the film is elevated by some top line performances from both Kaluuya and Stanfield.

3.75 stars

John David Washington and Zendaya are the only actors in this film from Sam Levinson that arrived on Netflix this past weekend. It is shot in beautiful black and white, and both actors are strong. Unfortunately, the film is chock full of anger and resentment that it is simply an uncomfortable watch,

Malcolm (John David Washington) and Marie (Zendaya) are a couple, returning from Malcolm’s movie premiere, a “tour de force” that was certain to be a rave review from critics. However, as they return to their home, deep seeded issues come to the surface, threatening their relationship.

Both of these characters then proceed to rip into each other with a viciousness and a cruelty that made me really want to shut it off. It was brutal and off-putting. Malcolm was so verbally out of control that you could not help but wonder why Marie would stay with him. It made me think about the abusive relationships out there that are toxic and do damage to people’s self-image. However, Marie had her moments of destructive tendencies as well.

The film also had some strange obsession with a “white woman writer from the L.A. Times” as well as a couple of other critics. She is apparently based on a real person at the LA Times. They spent a lot of time in this movie slamming this writer for her opinions and her criticism. It was really ugly and truly petty. There was so much time donated to the attack on this critic that it feels as if it was nearly as important of a plot point as anything that came out of these two people’s mouths.

Malcolm & Marie is supposed to be a romantic film, but I did not find anything here romantic. Not even in the least. In fact, this had more moments of me felling dirty and disgusted that someone believed that this is what a relationship had to be. While Zendaya and Washington are really passionate and powerful while delivering their monologues (and oh, there are lots of monologues), there is little character development and I felt nothing in chemistry. In fact, it feels as if the film used some sexual situations and titillating imagery to force the chemistry between them. I never felt it. The anger and vitriol overcame any sensuality. It was an unhealthy relationship and I wanted Marie to just leave the house.

Whatever positives I get from Malcolm & Marie come directly from (to a lesser extent) John David Washington, whose Malcolm is an unlikable, verbally-abusive dick, and (to a greatest extent) Zendaya, whose Marie felt as if she was trying to defend herself more than just be cruel. Zendaya embodied Marie with a lot of sadness and her pain comes across considerably more than any professed love does.

There is just too much bile in this film for me. Bile between the characters and bile towards the “white woman from the LA Times.” It was not an enjoyable experience. Sorry if my criticism offends anyone.

2.1 stars

There was a new original science fiction film on Amazon Prime this weekend starring Owen Wilson called Bliss. I was unimpressed.

It had been a bad stretch for Greg (Owen Wilson). He had gotten divorced and then fired from his job. After making a huge mistake, he found himself in a bar looking to drown his sorrows. There he came across a mysterious woman named Isabel (Salma Hayek), who tells him that the world that is falling apart around him is not real, that he is trapped in a computer simulation.

I have to say that I think Owen Wilson does an admirable job here. Despite the silliness of the film, he is giving his very best performance and effort. The problem is there is just not enough here to justify it.

I have always enjoyed Salma Hayek too, but this character of Isabel is just not one that I can connect to. She seems to be all over the place and I am just not certain what she is meant to be. That maybe is done for a purpose, but it made her unlikeable and she was hardly written in a manner that made her someone I wanted to root for.

The story itself was was messy and lost my attention several times. Much of what happened felt coincidental and unearned while the movie spent more time explaining the rules of the film and then breaking them as it went. Some of the dialogue was unintentionally funny and really gave a disservice to Wilson and Hayek.

The third act just took the entire setup and just flushed it down the toilet. The ridiculousness of the third act took any of the possible good will from earlier in the movie or the potential of the premise and tossed it aside.

Bliss’ core premise has some possibilities, but the execution of this film does not come anywhere near those. Despite the likeable actors involved, Bliss is just not worth the time.

2.1 stars

Boy, oh boy.

I was watching Fatman Beyond last week, as much to catch Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin’s views on the new episode of WandaVision as anything else. Then, Marc Bernardin made a recommendation of a film on Hulu called In & Of Itself, and he said it the was the best thing he had seen that week. He said it was a filmed version of a stage show featuring magic and storytelling and he called it “revelatory and remarkable.” So with that recommendation committed, I wrote the movie title down on my notepad to remind me to catch it when I could.

Marc Bernardin was 100% correct. This was a masterful piece of entertainment that was both awe-inspiring and emotionally transcendent. This film grasped me and took me to a place where I didn’t know that I wanted to be. Honestly, the last film that has made me feel like this one did was the Mr. Rogers’ biopic documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor.

Derek DelGaudio is a magician and this is a one man show where he uses the magic he does, some of which is utterly amazing, to emphasize and illuminate the stories that he would tell. The idea behind the stories was to reveal to the audience not only who Derek DelGaudio was, but who they were are as well. The use of the audience in this film was part of the masterful manner DelGaudio makes these stories feel universal and connects us to the emotions and feelings of a group of strangers.

It is the type of interactions that we really need to have in this time in our history.

I do not want to go into too many specifics because part of the magic of the film is not being sure exactly where it is heading as it moves you along. The very first story DelGaudio tells us was tremendously gripping and carried through as a throughline, effectively connecting everything together. It was truly powerful.

The whole time, Derek DelGaudio looked haunted or ravaged as the stories continued, draining the emotions rom him. I cannot imagine how he could do this as a one-man play for a year and a half without being overcome with emotion constantly. It is an amazing performance.

The film is directed by Frank Oz and was executive produced by Stephen Colbert and Evelyn McGee-Colbert. Colbert had seen the stage show and was so impressed with the manner of the show that he wanted to help create the film version to preserve the experience.

In & Of Itself is a powerful film that is truly an important piece for the world we live in now.

5 stars

DC Animation continues to be a top notch storytelling company, bringing some extra special stand alone content featuring DC superheroes and characters.

Yes, many of them include The Batman, which only makes sense since the Caped Crusader is arguably the most popular superhero character in the world.

This time, they toss Batman into the world of martial arts and they created a film honoring the different types of martial arts movies that have populated the genre for years.

Batman: Soul of the Dragon features Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli) head back to his roots of his original training to recruit his former allies in order to stop a villainous cult from bringing back an evil god.

His associates included Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Lady Shiva (Kelly Hu) and Ben “The Bronze Tiger” Turner (Michael Jai white). Interestingly enough, three of these four characters are considered villains in DC Comics 9with Lady Shiva being an assassin). However, these characters are portrayed much differently here than they are in the comics.

The story is told both in present day and in flashbacks, featuring Bruce Wayne and his training with his O-Sensei (James Hong).

The film has some great animated martial arts action and does not skimp on the violence of the genre. I was shocked once at the decapitated head rolling off the screen. There are examples of all kinds of martial arts type films here, including Blaxploitation, snake monsters and Bruce Lee inspired action.

The animation itself is the regular DC Animated fare, passable, but anything but impressive. I have said for years that if the DC Animation company would invest some money in the animation, they could present some wonderful movies. As it is, the animation used here is fine. Unremarkable.

Batman feels like he is just a tag along on this adventure. He only dons his Bat suit a couple of times during the fights and he is far from the standout. While that is not the worst take for the character, there are plenty of Batman fans who may find this lacking because of the lack of Batman.

And the main villain of the story, simply put, looks just like a low budget Serpentor from the old G.I. Joe cartoons. I had a problem getting past that.

Still, taking this as a martial arts movie, Batman: Soul of the Dragon was a fun time and I was happy that I got a chance to watch it. The Elseworlds story could have been better, but it was a decent enough film.

3.75 stars

I was having trouble with the Apple TV app yesterday morning as I was attempting to watch their new streaming movie, Palmer starring Justin Timberlake. It would start up and then shut down saying that there was something wrong with the video (or that it was not available…something like that). It was frustrating and made me nervous for Cherry (with Tom Holland) which I am looking forward to this month.

However, I tried again last night and thankfully everything seemed to be straightened out and I was able to watch Palmer.

Eddie Plamer (Justin Timberlake) was a former star high school football player who got in trouble in college with drugs which led him to breaking the law. Eddie wound up in prison for his offenses and he spent 12 years behind bars.

During the time, Eddie was on his best behavior, straightening his life out. He was released and went back to his hometown to live with his grandmother Vivian (the always awesome June Squibb). Vivian, a wonderfully kind and giving person, temporarily took in the neighbor’s son Sam (Ryder Allen) when Sam’s mother Shelly (Juno Temple) ran off. This was something that was not uncommon, something that Vivian had done before.

So as Eddie is trying to find a job and rebuild his life, this young boy entered the picture. Sam was a unique boy, preferring non-traditional gender activities for a boy his age. Because of this, Sam was the victim of bullying at school and in the community.

The relationship between Eddie and Sam was the single most important relationship of the film. If it did not work, the film would immediately crash and burn. Fortunately, there is a strong connection between the actors and you can see how they bonded. I really loved the fact that Eddie, while uncomfortable at times, never looked down upon Sam because of his differences. Through the actions with Sam, you could see that Eddie was a really good person. Justin Timberlake and Ryder Allen gave us very strong performances and carried the film on their shoulders.

Again, I love June Squibb. Every time she is in a movie, I find myself drawn to her as an actor. I wonder if SPOILERS she ever gets tired of being cast in roles where she dies. It seems like she is always dying in the films she is in. Maybe she has reached a place in her life where she just does not give a crap. END OF SPOILERS.

Another great cast member here is Alisha Wainwright, who played Ms. Maggie, one of Sam’s teachers who fell into a relationship with Eddie. Wainwright glowed on the screen and there is just no doubt in my mind that she is a star in the making.

There were several moments in the film that I found to be so unrealistic in this type of film that took me out of it for some time. I had a hard time accepting that a school would hire Eddie as a custodian with his criminal record (especially with the violent nature of it). I love the idea of second chances and redemption, but I just have a doubt that it would happen. Especially in a community where we see a few times, including the sheriff, where people said to Eddie that he should not have been released from prison.

It also felt as if some of the conflicts of the story are handled in a simplistic way. I am not sure that everything would have worked out like it did most of the time. That gave the film a Lifetime movie vibe more than a big screen drama.

Though the story is simple, the strength of the chemistry between Timberlake and Allen do the heavy lifting for the film and you absolutely root for the pair to make it through their struggles. None of the problems I had with the situations took away from that and it did not affect my overall enjoyment of the film. Palmer was worth the effort of having to return to Apple TV to view it.

3.4 stars

Carey Mulligan is on quite the roll.

The actress just appeared in the sensational Promising Young Woman movie at the end of 2020, and now she stars in the newest Netflix film, The Dig, a true story about the discovery of a buried Anglo-Saxon ship just prior to the beginning of World War II.

Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) wanted to hire an excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate the mounds on her property at Sutton Hoo. She believes there are treasures in the mounds. Brown bonds with Edith’s son Robert (Archie Barnes). When they make the massive discovery, everything changes.

The Dig is a fantastic film with some wonderful characters dealing with pain and loss and worry. Carey Mulligan was amazing once again and Ralph Fiennes plays off her so well. There is a couple of wonderful scenes from young actor Archie Barnes, who brings the emotions of loss that is brought forward from an airplane crash.

There is an interesting secondary romance involved here as well including Edith’s cousin Rory (Johnny Flynn) and one of the archeologists on site, Peggy (Lily James). Peggy was involved in a marriage where her husband was too connected to his work and we see her loneliness develop. This was a solid secondary story in the film that build more tension with everything around it.

There is not necessarily one simple throughline of a plot here though as there are several subplots that are brought together in the story. We see the events of this group of characters’ lives and they are mixed together around the idea of this dig. I found the lack of a central narrative a little weak, but the subplots are all so intriguing and well done that it did not bother me that much.

The cinematography and the images of the British countryside are beautiful and elegant. It is a visually stunning film that places these characters into some exceptional settings. There is a plane crash involved in the film too and the sequence of Rory trying to save the pilot is one of the most dramatic instances of the film.

As I said, the scenes are all so great (one with Ralph Fiennes being buried alive is utterly tense) that you aren’t bothered with the limited overall narrative.

The Dig is a very entertaining and lovely film with some top of the line performances of a cast that strong together some brilliantly written scenes into a engaging, if not completely connected, canvas.

4.2 stars

The next film released both in theaters (where safe) and on HBO Max by Warner Media hit the screen this weekend with the new Denzel Washington movie, The Little Things.

John Lee Hancock reportedly wrote this screen play for The Little Things in the 90s, but could not get it sold to a studio. Finally, he made the decision to be his own director and, because of the differences in time frame, this movie certainly has a feel of a 1990s thriller.

Washington played Joe Deacon, a former homicide detective who had a mysterious case that caused him to leave the LA police and become a local sheriff’s deputy. The case stuck with Joe, leading to a heart attack and a world of pain and anguish. When another case arrived in which Joe saw similarities, he returned to the LA police in hopes of putting the past behind him. He met up with a young star detective Jim Baxter (Rami Malek) and they begin to unofficially work together. The investigation led them to a real lowlife named Albert Sparma (Jared Leto), who they believed was their man. However, the film continued to make it unclear whether or not Sparma was indeed guilty of the murders.

There is no doubt that the cast of The Little Things is the standout piece of the film. Denzel Washington, Jared Let and Rami Malek all exceed in their performances, elevating the material that is on the page. The story of this film is nothing that you haven’t seen before and the reason this is not a total waste of time is because of these three actors.

Denzel in particular was exceptional as the aging officer who is haunted by his past. You can see the weight of the world on the shoulders of this character and you can see how he did not handle the weight very well. It cost him his marriage, his job and health.

Leto too does his normal transformation into a sleazeball character that the audience can despise. Yet, the film does a strong job of keeping the uncertainty of the guilt of the character in question.

I have seen some complaints about the third act of the film being unsatisfying, but I did not get that vibe. In fact, I thought the end was decent as it gives us a hint at what was going on.

The film does an admirable job of creating the atmosphere of the moment, giving it that throwback feel and making you wonder how these detectives could maintain their sanity dealing with the horrors on a regulars basis.

Again though, the biggest issue with the movie is that the story is cliché-ridden and without the great cast, it would not stand out of the genre at all. This one is not for everybody, but if you are a fan of Denzel Washington, he provides his usual strong work and has a nice interaction with Rami Malek. For me, this one is right on the border between recommendation and not.

3 stars