Amazon Prime has been releasing some solid work this year, maybe not quite up to the level of Netflix, but pretty close. The most recent release from the studio appeared this weekend and starred Rachel Brosnahan in a crime thriller with a different point of view.

I’m Your Woman takes the POV of a wife of a member of a crime family. Set in the 1970s, I’m Your Woman featured the story of Jean (Rachel Brosnahan), the wife of Eddie (Bill Heck). Jean knew that Eddie was a criminal, but she had no idea to what extent he had taken it, nor did she know much about Eddie’s background.

One night, Eddie brings home a baby. Jean was barren and had decided that she would never be a mother. The arrival of the baby, they named Harry, changed her perspective and her life. So when Cal (Arinzé Kane),a complete stranger, showed up and told her to run, it became a difficult situation.

The film spends more time with Jean, trying to figure out exactly what was happening, and trying to keep herself and Harry safe from the outside forces that seemingly want to get to Eddie.

Cal takes Jean to his family cabin where, eventually, Cal’s wife Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), his son (De’Mauri Parks) and father (Frankie Faison) joined her there. Teri brought more secrets with her as they awaited the return of Cal.

I really enjoyed this film. I loved the turning of the plot structure around so that it is not as much about what was happening with the crime underworld as much as it was about Jean and her reactions to the moments around her. Rachel Brosnahan was fantastic as Jean, totally gripping and uniquely engaging. Her confusion and apprehension caused the audience to feel the same way. As everything seemed to be collapsing within on Jean, the audience felt the same snesation.

I thought Marsha Stephanie Blake was remarkably entertaining and original as well. It was clear as soon as she arrived that there was more to her story than what we were getting, and she developed into one of the best characters on the screen. You were never quite sure exactly whom you could trust here.

I was also so very thankful that I could not guess what was going to happen next. These types of crime thrillers tend to be filled with clichés, but I’m Your Woman avoided most of those, mainly with the major shift in POV. I was not sure how things were going to play out and what the end would be, and that is a very good thing.

And there was a scene that I yelled out in excitement. It was an awesome shot and it reminded me of Pulp Fiction.

I enjoyed I’m Your Woman very much. I liked how the genre was bent around in a different perspective and how the film became more of a character story than one of the typical crime films.

4 stars

As I was starting to compile my Year End Review lists for the I Am Groot “voice over” award and the best animated movie of 2020, I realized that 2020 was an underwhelming year for animation. With a few exceptions, 2020 has not been a standout for animation. However, it is very possible that December is going to save this year’s animation. Pixar’s Soul is coming Christmas day on Disney + and then on Apple Plus was the release of Wolfwalkers, and Wolfwalkers may be the best animated movie we have gotten yet in 2020.

In the 17th century Irish town of Kilkenny, Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) was the daughter of Bill (Sean Bean), a great hunter that had been brought into the town to deal with the wolf problems, and she wanted to help her father. Her father, determined to keep her safe, wanted her to stay in the town so he would not lose her as he had lost his wife, her mother.

Robyn went into the woods to prove to her father that she could hunt by his side. Unfortunately for Robyn, she was caught in one of her father’s wolf snares. A pack of wolves showed up and the leader of the pack, Mebh (Eva Whittaker), tried to free Robyn from the trap. Robyn believed that the wolf was trying to attack her and fought back. In the end, Mebh bit Robyn.

Turned out that Mebh was a “wolfwalker,” which was, by sense, an Irish werewolf. Wolfwalkers would be human, but, when they went to sleep, tuned into a wolf, leaving the human body in a form of a coma, until the wolf returns and reunites with the body.

The bite to Robyn wound up making Robyn a wolfwalker and changed the way she would look at the world and the forest. She had to try to help her new wolf friend while dealing with the madness of the Lord Protector (Simon McBurney), whose word was law and who was determined to kill all wolves.

The animation here was beautifully drawn and was unlike most animation today. There was a rawness to the animation and it helped create the mood of the film. There is a simplistic feel to it, but I would argue that the animation was more than what it appeared. The character designs were wonderful and original, creating an amazing looking group.

The voice work is exceptional, especially from Sean Bean and Honor Kneafsey. It was filled with emotion and passion, as characters were forced into doing things that they did not really want to do. Sean Bean is fully tortured in what he had to do and what he felt he was inevitable.

There was a Studio Ghibli flair to this movie as well, as if Studio Ghibli told Irish tales. I have seen some criticism of the movie that the story is simplistic, but I do not necessarily agree with that. I will admit that I was never sure what was going to happen and I was uncertain about how events were going to play out, happily, tragic or some combination. That kept the stakes high.

Wolfwalkers on Apple + was a beautiful and exceptional animated film that can be enjoyed by the adults right alongside their children. It is most likely the best animated film of the year.

Now it’s your turn, Soul.

4.8 stars

Disney + has released a new family film on their streaming service this weekend starring Jillian Bell as a Fairy Godmother wannabe-in-training called Godmothered.

In the film directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones movies), Jillian Bell played Eleanor, the wide-eyed fairy who was in training to become a Fairy Godmother. She took the classes taught by Moira (Jane Curtin), who stuck to the old school philosophy of “happily ever after.” The demand for fairy godmothers were in short supply and their land was being threatened with closure.

Eleanor took it upon herself to find someone she could help in order to save the land. This led her into the life of Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) and her two daughters (Jillian Shea Spaeder & Willa Skye). Mackenzie was a widow having difficulty moving her life along and her feelings were affecting the lives of her children and her job prospects.

As is the wont of these films, this leads to shenanigans.

There is nothing special or original about Godmothered. Everything here has been seen before. Still, the film is sweet and sacchariney like a diabetic coma. You might get a tooth ache from all the sugary situations presented in this film.

Jillian Bell was good in her role. She fit nicely in the character and that commitment to the character of Eleanor helps with the weaknesses in the movie. June Squibb is here too (initially being the narrator, but giving that job up about 10 minutes into the film) and I always enjoy her. Jane Curtin is playing a depressed Professor Mcgonagall-type character that throws some roadblocks in Eleanor’s way (eventually)

The story did not stand out, but it was fine for what it was.

However, there are certainly worse movies that you could watch and Godmothered does have a decent message/theme. I could see this being a passable family film. While it does not transcend anything from this type of fairy tale genre, you could do worse. That may not be a rave review, but I did not hate watching it. For a Saturday night movie on Disney +, this is okay.

3 stars

Many independent movies are performance driven and there is no doubt that the new film on Amazon Prime this week, Sound of Metal, is one of those.

Heavy metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is losing his hearing. He heads to a school for the deaf to try and salvage his life before he could schedule a surgery for an implant that might save his hearing.

It is a simple story with a unique and compelling performance from Riz Ahmed at its center. We experience each moment of his life as Ruben does, through his anger and frustration and then to his eventual acceptance and it is powerful. Riz Ahmed brings such a humanity to the story and you find him easy to root for, even if he is not sure exactly what he wanted.

There are some amazing scenes at the school for the deaf with Ruben and Joe (Paul Raci), the head of the school. Everything that happens here is understandable and provides Ruben with a support that he needed to truly understand what was happening to him.

The sound editing in this movie is next level genius. The audience is presented with the ways that Ruben is hearing and the use of sound is amazing, as is the lack of sound. The audience is placed in the same situation as Ruben and they find themselves as uncomfortable as he is as he progresses with the different levels of his deafness.

Olivia Cooke is good as Ruben’s girlfriend Lou and she does provide some important support for him in the first half of the movie. However, she disappears until the end and does become irrelevant to the story. That is because this story is Ruben’s story and Riz Ahmed is up to the task.

Directed by Darius Marder, who has spent most of his career working on documentaries, he brings a style to Sound of Metal that feels like a documentary. He provides a strong foundation for Ahmed’s sparkling performance.

4 stars

Here you go, Krista.

I had not planned on watching Hillbilly Elegy, but it is the new Ron Howard film and starred two legit star actors in Glenn Close and Amy Adams. Then, my colleague asked if there would be a review coming for it. Add that together and I decided to give it a try.

Based on a true story from a novel entitled Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, a memoir by J.D. Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy Netflix film was not very good. I have not read the book, but my research indicated that the book dealt heavily with the hillbilly culture from Kentucky. There is very little to none of that in this film.

The Netflix movie lacks subtlety and spends more time with melodramatic claptrap, and amazing actors who are unable to do much more than scream. Amy Adams and Glenn Close are clearly trying for their Oscar nominations, but there is very minimal depth to either of their characters and their weird wigs are definitely a distraction.

The two actors are strong so there are a few scenes that work (such as one involving an Algebra test), but there are few quiet moments to give these women layers.

Owen Asztalos plays young J.D. and does an adequate job, but his character is all over the place. Older J.D. is played by Gabriel Basso, who is a law student waiting for an important interview when he gets a call from his sister Lindsay (Haley Bennett) with news that his mother had overdosed on heroin and was in the hospital. J.D. headed for home with a full load of baggage.

Flashbacks were disjointed and did not fit together well. It usually meant we got to see Adams screeching in anger or anguish or Close making faces in her bizarre wig. Adams’ character’s motivations are barely mentioned and goes so fast that you may miss it.

The movie poster calls this an inspiring true story, but the fact is, I was not inspired by anything. The idea of J.D. overcoming his past was just touched upon and it is hard to believe when it happens.

The acting is fine, as you would expect it to be. The story was lacking, filled with over-the-top, eye-rolling moments and the characters were stereotypes. There are plenty of better Ron Howard movies to watch than this one.

2 stars

I watched Citizen Kane for the first time during the pandemic. It was a masterpiece. It is one of those movies that is seen as one of the greatest movies ever made. Orson Welles directed, starred and produced the notorious film based on the life of newspaper man William Randolph Hurst. But how much did Welles contribute to the writing of the film? Welles is listed as a co-writer with alcoholic writer Herman J. Mankiewicz.

In the new biopic Mank, the story is told of the origin of the screenplay of Citizen Kane and follows the life of Mankiewicz, nicknamed Mank. Played by Oscar winner Gary Oldman, Mank rushed to finish writing the screenplay against plenty of opposition of 1930s Hollywood.

Mank was directed by David Fincher and written by his father Jack Fincher. Jack Fincher wrote the script originally in the 1990s but it never saw the light. Jack Fincher died in 2003. There is a distinct feel to the script, very dialogue heavy. The words were exceptional and helped carry the film. There was not a lot of actual plot development but the dialogue really made the film.

Another key to the special look of the film is that is was filmed in black and white. That gave the film a feel much like Citizen Kane itself and gorgeous to watch.

Gary Oldman led a fantastic cast that included Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphry, Charles Dance, Tom Burke, and Arliss Howard. These actors all had to deal with the legendary Hollywood icons that they embodied. But Oldman was the standout here as he continuously blends into his roles. Oldman had to play two ages of Mankiewicz, as the film was told with flashbacks as well as the current day.

There are some slow moments, but the dialogue is always sparkling. The film is beautiful and tells a fascinating story, if not a completely accurate one.

4 stars

There have been a ton of body swap movies over the year, and even several with the word “freaky” in the movie title. However, this version from Blumhouse is a slice above the rest with a new and original idea that takes Freaky to a new level.

Millie (Kathryn Newton) is a high school student who has been having a tough time sine her father died a year ago. Her mother (Katie Finneran) is smothering her, she is being bullied on a regular basis at school and her police officer sister (Dana Drori) has little time for her.

Everything changed when local urban legend The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) returned to the town and started murdering young people. The Butcher and Millie crossed paths and The Butcher stabbed her with a knife. However, the knife was special, an old Aztec artifact, causing the two of them to switch consciousness.

Of course, we have seen the idea of the body switch many times and the jokes about the characters perplexity and disorientation over the unfamiliar body they found themselves trapped within. There was the expected jokes about Millie and the penis that she now found herself with.

Still, the fact that one of the body switchers is a serial killer tweaks the story enough to freshen up the concept. The biggest issue I had with the story was that it would have helped make things easier if Millie (in The Butcher’s body) would have gone to her sister the cop for help. She was able to convince her two best friends, Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich), and her crush Booker (Uriah Shelton) that the switch had happened. Shouldn’t her sister be easier to convince? They did not spend enough time showing the fractured relationship of the sisters to make me believe that this wouldn’t be the first thing she did.

Yet, I was able to get past that and a few other plot points that required some serious suspension of disbelief mainly because of how awesome Vince Vaughn was and how much charisma he had with these other kids. And Kathryn Newton played an epic bad ass killer. She does a tremendous job when she has The Butcher inhabiting her body. You believe that this was a different character, right down to the way she moved or looked at people. The characters were all a hoot and they helped move the movie past some of the more ridiculousness of the plot.

The is some strong humor involved here and a lot of gory kills. Some of the kills, in particular the one where Cameron from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, Alan Ruck, who plays a teacher at Millie’s school, is killed.

I was excited to see this on Vudu today and it was certainly a fun time. The film moved quickly and worked quite a bit. Freaky took an old trope and gave it a new spin with several engaging performances.

3.75 stars