The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is programme for youth in Scotland founded in 1956 by Prince Phillip. Part of the programme includes a survival section where the group is left out in the Highlands of Scotland. Sounds like a good topic for satire.

Enter the black comedy, Get Duked! from rookie director Ninian Doff. Get Duked! is very funny and full of stoner jokes, hip hop and some truly wild satire.

Three loser friends are given the “opportunity” to enter the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Dean (Rian Gordon), Duncan (Lewis Gribben) and DJ Beatroot (Viraj Juneja) get teamed up with straight-laced volunteer Ian (Samuel Bottomley) and dropped into the wild with substitute teacher Mr. Carlyle (Jonathan Aris). However, the truth of what was ahead of the four boys was stranger than they ever believed.

It turned out that there were a couple of aristocrats (Eddie Izzard & Georgie Glen) hunting these boys for sport.

There are some really laugh out loud moments here. There is a distinct feel of British/United Kingdom type of humor here so if you are a fan of Monty Python or Mr. bean, this will be right up your path. There is a tone of absurdist humor peppered through he film, but it does not completely delve into parody.

The film weaves together some ridiculous situations into a great comedy with some excellent action and tense moments. I will say that I thought that the film did start a little slowly, but when it picked up, it picked up dramatically. As I was watching the ending of the film, I could see what was going to happen, but, when what I thought about DID happen, it was tremendously funny.

I watched Get Duked! on Amazon Prime today and I had a really good time doing it. In a weekend where there are a lot of new options both in the theaters and on streaming, Get Duked! is worth your time.

3.8 stars

After almost 30 years, the bodacious bros return to unite the world and save reality with one song, this time for sure.  Bill & Ted Face the Music is the third installment in the Bill & Ted franchise and, even after all of these years, this film captures the silliness and joyousness of the original two films.

I just watched Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey this past summer during the quarantine.  I watched them with the expressed purpose of preparing for this release.  I enjoyed the revelry of the films, which seemed to be unafraid to go out of its way to be ridiculous.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is right in step with the first two films despite picking up the action with older versions of Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves).  We see Bill & Ted still pretty much in the same situation as when we left them.  Little had changed for the duo, except their band, The Wyld Stallyns, had seen better days.

When the future came calling once again, Bill & Ted began their travels through time and space to attempt to find the song that fulfill their destiny and unite the world and preserve the timeline.

We had Bill & Ted’s daughters Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving) joining the search, as they, along with Kelly (Kristen Schaal), the daughter of Rufus (the late George Carlin) from the future, who returned to take the mentor role of her father, traversed through time to recruit the ultimate band to play the song.

Some of the scenes are really funny.  Others are totally silly.  None of them are flops though.  The return of Death (William Sadler), who was a standout in Bogus Journey, was welcomed, though I might have liked more interaction between Death and Bill & Ted.

I like the idea of music being able to be what unites us all and the message of unity and togetherness is a welcome one in our current time of divisiveness.

If you are a fan of Bill & Ted, this will be a welcome addition to the canon.  It is fun and engaging in its world of folly.  It is not a cinematic classic, but it is a good time with a movie.  Be excellent to each other.!

3.5 stars

I returned to the theater for the first time since March tonight.

I went back to see the long delayed and seemingly curse film, The New Mutants.  Based loosely on the “Demon Bear” storyline from the 1984 New Mutants comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, Josh Boone directed this movie…literally years ago.

Few movies of this size of fan following, (do not doubt that, in the world of comics, this is one of the iconic story arcs in the mutant world) have had the amount of chaos and drama behind the scenes as The New Mutants.  The film has been delayed numerous times, with the first trailers dropping in 2016.

The film had been delayed three years, and it got to a point where there were some moments when I thought that the movie was more of a urban legend, a myth, than an actual physical cinema experience.  Even when they said that The New Mutants was being released on August 28th, I doubted it.  I was unsure that it was ever actually going to be released in theaters.

It is the strangest of situations.  When first announced, I was very middling on The New Mutants.  I liked these characters, but I was not looking forward to it.  However, after the constant delays and the weirdness surrounding the film, I found myself anticipating this movie more than almost any other.

So when the reviews came out the last few days and they were a resounding “meh”, I was sad.  Perhaps that was a good thing, because it was able to manage my expectations, which had become unwieldy for sure, and I came out of it having had a great time.

Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt), after her Native American reservation was destroyed by, what was claimed to be, a tornado, found herself in a specific hospital, being overlooked by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga).  Dr. Reyes told Dani that she was a mutant and that her powers needed to be controlled.

Dani met four other mutants at this hospital, all with their own life struggles.  Rahne (Maisie Williams) can change into a wolf, Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy) has a real negative attitude, Roberto (Henry Zaga) is a wealthy, arrogant kid, and Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton) is a young man from Kentucky whose father died in the coal mines.

The young teens brought plenty of angst along with them, but it seemed as if the hospital had some frightening aspects to it as well.

There is an argument that could be made that the teen angst and the horror parts of this film did not blend together effectively, and I could see why some would make that argument.  While those elements were clunky at times, this did not distract from my enjoyment of the film.  I thought the young actors did a good job with their characters and their performances.  I knew more about these characters from my background with the comic books so I found the performances richer because of it.

I do think that there was too much exposition among the New Mutants detailing their pasts.  It was simply too many of them that were just telling their back story to the audience.  Plus, because they kept jumping to another character, it felt, at times, disjointed.  However, my own knowledge made this less offensive as many others who may not be as fluent in the world of the New Mutants.

I thought the CGI here was very well done.  The Demon Bear had some moments where it looked off, but most of the CGI was decent.  I liked the look of many of the horror characters in the hospital.  The smiling creatures were very reminiscent of the Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and they made a cameo in the movie) and they were frightening.

I enjoyed the use of the mutants powers and they were visually impressive.  Illyana’s Soulsword, the look of Sunspot, the use of Cannonball’s burst… all looked really good.

I found myself invested in the third act of the film and I was surprised in that fact.  And SPOILER the use of the name Essex Corporation (which is connected with Mr. Sinister) was a cool Easter egg for the comic fans out there.  END OF SPOILER.

The current Tomatometer has The New Mutants at 17% and that is way too low.  I will admit that I came in to the movie after hearing negative reviews from Dan Murrell and Chris Stuckmann and that helped bring my expectations down, allowing me to enjoy this more than I thought I would.  Certainly, when comparing The New Mutants to other X-Men FOX films, it is much better than many of them.  It is considerably better than Dark Phoenix, X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Origins.  I’d put it ahead of X3 as well (maybe even The Wolverine).  I am pleased that it proved to be real and that it finally got released.

And it was great to go to a theater once again.  When will I head back again?

3.6 stars

I saw the synopsis of this movie, The Vanished, and it sounded interesting.  So I found it on Vudu today and decided to watch it.

It was original and unexpected for sure.

A seemingly happy family head out to a camping trip in their RV, singing songs and preparing to go fishing.  Paul (Thomas Jane) and Wendy (Anne Heche), with their little daughter Taylor (Sadie Heim), arrive at the trailer camp park, coming across some questionable looking individuals.

As Paul was preparing to head out fishing with his daughter, he is distracted by an attractive woman (Aleksei Archer) who is from a nearby camper.  When Wendy gets back from the store, they realize that Taylor has disappeared.

Panicked, Paul and Wendy get the local sheriff (Jason Patric) involved in search of the woods and the lake for their missing daughter.

There were several red herrings presented to the audience as the police and Paul and Wendy desperately searched for the missing little girl.  The film does a good job of creating an uncertainty of what happened to her.  Jane and Heche do a good job here, but, it was strange because the two of them seemed to be inconsistent with their characters.  They were reacting in strange manners and you could tell that they were keeping something that we did not know.

One minute, Heche was acting strange.  Next minute, Jane was doing something weird.

They were not the only characters who were acting in odd ways.  Sheriff Baker had something going on here too.  I am not sure that we ever effectively discovered what his deal was.  Alex Haydon’s character Alex is another one that has some kind of mysterious underscore to his role.

I do not want to spoil anything, but the ending of the movie is wild and may feel to some that it comes out of nowhere.  I could see where some people may find the ending of this movie a cheat, but I must admit that I kind of enjoyed it.

There are some uneven aspects to the movie, especially the portrayals of the two main characters.  There are tense moments and you are never sure what has happened.  I thought this was better than I expected.  I saw the low Rotten Tomatoes score connected to this film but I thought it was better than that.

3.4 stars 

Chemical Hearts is on Amazon Prime this weekend and it brings a healthy dose of teenage angst and melodrama to the screen.

Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart is transfer student Grace, whose mysterious style draws the attention of senior Henry (Austin Abrams).  Both teens are named co-editor of the high school paper and brings them into each other’s orbit.  Henry discovers that Grace has a tragic past that continues to cause her anguish.

Admittedly, there is not a lot original here.  We have seen other movies handle most of this subject matter.  However, the two leads, Abrams and Reinhart, have a ton of chemistry and bring a distinct rooting quality to the pairing.  Both actors do a fine job and carry much of the story and the script on their shoulders.

The pacing of this film is excellent.  The film has a short 93 minutes, but nothing feels wasted.  There are some side characters that do not receive much development and play a part in the final scene.  That did not feel earned.

Overall, Chemical Hearts is a good, albeit, familiar movie with two excellent young actors in the lead roles.  The success of this movie is squarely on their shoulders and they handle the melodrama of the script in a fine manner.

3.3 stars 

I have the book of The One and Only Ivan by author Mike White in my middle school classroom library so I recognized the title when I saw it was going to be a movie on Disney +.  However, I have not actually read the novel.

Surprisingly, the film starts with a “based on real events” tag so, since this is about talking animals, I immediately doubted that claim.  Turns out, it was the basic story behind the movie that was the true story (as we see in the end credits) and the talking animals part was author’s craft.  That’s fine.

The One and Only Ivan is the story of a gorilla named Ivan (Sam Rockwell)m raised from a little gorilla by Mack (Bryan Cranston).  Mack took Ivan and several other animals and opened a mall called the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, where Ivan was the main attraction.  Among a group of animals that had minor tricks to do, Ivan would come out and growl and pound his chest at the end.

Business was suffering, so Mack bought a cute baby elephant named Ruby (Brooklynn Prince) to amp up the awwww-factor of the show.  Ruby bonded with Ivan and Ivan’s other friend, a nameless stray dog (Danny DeVito).

When Mack’s niece Julia (Ariana Greenblatt), an inspiring artist of her own, passed her old crayons to Ivan and the gorilla showed a propensity to draw.  Through this skill and a promise he would make, Ivan realized that the confines of a cage was not what he wanted for himself or for Ruby.

The story is fairly basic and lacks too much of an emotional punch, outside of a couple of well-manipulated scenes.  Still, the CGI animals are wonderful (especially when compared to works like the dog from Call of the Wild), and there is enough of a connection to the audience to make this a reasonable family film.  There are deeper themes that could have been explored in this, but they do not do so.

The voice and live action cast is stacked.  With Sam Rockwell in the lead role of Ivan, they start off strong.  Bryan Cranston is always great and here he does an admirable job as Mack.  Throw in Danny DeVito, Angelina Jolie, Chaka Khan, and Helen Mirren and you have a great group of actors.

Some of the humor did not work for me (there was a toupee gag that was really out of left field), and the resolution of the story seemed to come about too quickly as well.   It did not allow the film’s conflict to grow much before it was resolved.  Again, that was fine for what it was, but it prevents the movie from going any deeper.

I would not purchase Disney + to make sure I did not miss The One and Only Ivan, but I already have it and I am not unhappy that I watched it.  It is a strong family fare that goes quickly and is worthy of watching on the streaming service.

3.3 stars

This film makes you wonder how long it will be until this is no longer fiction and something like this actually occurs in the real world.

Spree is the story of a 23-year old Spree rideshare driver named Kurt Kunkle (Joe Keery) who is desperately seeking attention for his online blog, Kurt’s World.  He comes up with a deadly plan to make his livestream go viral.

The film looks at the world of online blogging and how these videos seem to be getting worse with every bad idea.  The toxic behavior online continues to grow more negative as the personalities find more horrible things to do, all in the name of followers and internet fame.

Kurt becomes a multiple murderer, escalating quickly as he records his progressively worsening acts,  However, these murders do not appear to be increasing his online status, pushing Kurt to go even further.

Kurt becomes obsessed with stand-up comedian Jesse Adams (Sasheer Zamata), who is much better at the entire social media world than he is.  Kurt is searching for someone to partner with to become an online success, but other people can see the instability he is suffering from, although they may not quite see the level he is at.

Joe Keery (from Stranger Things fame) is our lead character here, and he had a believable level of crazy.  He has had a bad childhood, his parents splitting.  His father (David Arquette) verbally abusive and self-centered.

This film is a dark, comedic satire of the online world which sounded very familiar to the world that I have watched.  The idea that the internet could host such brazenly violence without being noticed is a scary concept.

Most of the characters here are basic, lacking much depth.  However, Kurt has some interesting moments and Jesse complements him well.  Both Keery and Zamata stand out in their performances.

The film is shot almost completely through camera phones, other recording devices etc, much like films such as Unfriended and Searching.  This creates a hectic environment that never ends and it displays the information overload of today’s society.  Spree is a violent and bloody film that can be hard to watch.  It is also darkly funny and ironic.  You may hate this, but you may also see too much of the current world in it.

3 stars 

The super hero genre needs to have new ideas to maintain its run of popularity.  That’s just a fact.  Project Power is a new idea that approaches the genre in a new and intriguing idea, but places that idea in pretty much of a familiar plot.

The film introduces us to a world where anyone who takes a special pill (called power) can unlock a hidden superpower inside of the person for five minutes.  No one is sure what the power would be or if it would be a good power.  It could range from super strength to being bulletproof, or you could explode and die.

Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a cop who is trying to stop the flow of the drug so he teams up with teenager Robin (Dominique Fishback), a young girl dealing the drug to earn money to help with her mother’s health costs.  She supplies Frank with pills and he looks the other way.

However, a former soldier, Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives on the scene, kidnapping Robin, in an attempt to find her supplies.  The suppliers have taken Art’s daughter Tracy (Andrene Ward-Hammond) and he is desperate to find her.

The premise of the film is great.  The idea that this pill gives out a super power for only five minutes is creative, but, even more interesting, is that the superpower may not be a positive thing.  Looking at these powers as something that was potentially ugly was shown in the movie through its CGI and design.  The negative aspect of the pills was played up here and I really like this concept.  I would have liked more of this than what we got.

The performances are really well done.  You have two exceptional actors leading this movie with Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but the real standout here is Dominique Fishback.  She is a troubled teen and her problems lead to her getting wrapped up here and she fits beautifully.  She wants to grow up to be a rapper and she is great when she is showing her skills.  She is filled with emotion.

The problem with the film is that the story itself is generic.  In what could have been a really deep and different tale, the film takes very basic steps.  Art is searching for his daughter.  The villains are completely nondescript and basically dull.  The story is easily the weakest part of the film.

However, there is enough clever writing here and there, and the performances are really good that you can excuse the negatives connected to the plot.  The CGI is used sparingly and looks good.  The action is well directed and feeds the story.  They certainly did not overuse the CGI and the designs are weird.  The film is engaging and entertaining and is a lot of fun to watch.  It is just not the tremendous inspiration that it could have been.

3.9 stars 

There have been a lot of book adaptations over the years, but one of the most adapted books ever has been The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  The latest adaptation has made its arrival on VOD.

The classic story tells us about 10-year old Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx), whose parents died of cholera.  Mary was taken in by her grieving uncle Archibald Craven (Colin Firth), whose wife has died and whose son Colin (Edan Hayhurst) was sick.  Mary felt isolated and unwanted until she discovered a secret garden that she believed was filled with magic.

The garden in this film is beautifully filmed and exquisitely displayed.  It seemed to be a mixture of real imagery and CGI but the garden was great.  It had a feel of a character to it and the use of the ghosts from Mary and Colin’s pasts added to the element of magic on display.

Speaking of Mary and Colin, these two, along with Dickon (Amir Wilson), were outstanding.  The kids’ performances were real and compelling, especially Edan Hayhurst, who had a wealth of range for the sickly Colin.  We also got Colin Firth as Colin’s father, but I could have used more from him.  His character seemed to be too inconsistent and he bounced from one level to another quickly.  Still, the ending sequence with the fire was well done and the resolution of the film was moving.

Fans of the classic novel should find this adaptation enjoyable and rich.  There are some deep themes contained in the story and these kids do a wonderful job of playing those out.  The Secret Garden can be a powerful film for the entire family.

4 stars