Yesterday…all my troubles seemed so far away.  Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.  Oh I believe …in Yesterday.

Prophetic words for Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), the main character in director Danny Boyle’s newest film about a world where everyone, except for Jack, has forgotten who the Beatles were and had never heard any of their music.

As a Beatles fan, the idea is just horrible.  Just the idea that the world would not be able to listen to “Hey Jude”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” or “Yellow Submarine” is a thought that would bother me to no end.  That is, of course, what Jack is faced with.  What would you do?

After a freak worldwide blackout, Jack is hit by a bus and ends up in the hospital.  When he awakes, he is missing his two front teeth and the rest of the world has lost the memory of George, Paul, John and Ringo.  Not a fair swap.

Jack, who is a failing musician, suddenly realizes that he has access to some of the greatest songs ever written and nobody would be the wiser so he begins recreating the songbook of the Beatles.

I’m torn by this movie.  Most importantly, I love the music of the Beatles and it was great listening to these songs throughout the film.  Himesh Patel does a great job performing these songs.  Many times I hate it when I hear people doing the Beatles because…well, just because.  I did not mind Patel’s versions of these songs.  Obviously, that would have been a death knell for the movie had I not liked the songs.

However, there are just so many plot holes or things left open that, in retrospect, tear apart this reality.  Other musicians are referenced, but how about all those musicians who had been inspired by the Beatles?  When they were not there, what happened to them?  This was just one thing that popped into my head while watching the movie.

There was another major question that comes along late in the third act that would constitute a spoiler so I will not mention it, but let’s just say that, after Jack visited this specific person, I really wondered what was going on.

Lily James played teacher and part time manager for Jack, Ellie and she was charming and lovely.  They had a great deal of chemistry with one another, but the way their relationship worked through felt very odd and not natural.  I did not like the development of that story arc.  On the whole, I enjoyed both Patel and James’ performances, but I would have preferred a different resolution to the story.

One performance that I was not overly fond of, unfortunately, was Kate McKinnon who played Debra, an agent who is looking to cash in with Jack’s musical skills.  The best description I have heard of this performance was from Collider Live host Kristian Harloff who stated that she was “in such a different film.”  That was exactly the way to say it because she was so over-the-top that she pulled me out of the film every time.

There were some very funny jokes in the film though.  There was a running joke about other items/people who the world had forgotten besides just the Beatles and that worked every time.  Ed Sheeran has a cameo throughout the movie that really work as well.  He has a great self-deprecating way about himself in the film and he embraces the jokes well.

Yesterday had several positives going for it, and it has its share of problems.  When I wasn’t thinking too hard about it, I enjoyed the movie, but when I was thinking back, more holes and problems came up.  I think the positives out weigh the negatives and, as I was walking out of the movie, I felt satisfied.  That is certainly the long and winding road to a recommendation.

3.6 stars 

The Conjuring Universe has another entry.  Quietly, the Conjuring Universe has had two Conjuring movies, two previous Annabelle movies, the Nun, The Curse of La Llorona and now, the third in the Annabelle series, Annabelle Comes Home.  The quality of the films have varied over this time frame, but since they have low budgets, they make a lot of money at the box office.

As for Annabelle, the first film was just terrible and the second one was really good.  With Annabelle Comes Home, the film is way better than the first one, but not quite up to the quality of the second one.

Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) bring the doll Annabelle back to their house and place her into their room of evil things to protect the world from the demon within it.

Time passes and the Warrens are on a case, so they need their daughter Judy (McKenna Grace) to have a babysitter.  They use a babysitter named Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman).  Mary Ellen’s friend Daniela (Katie Sarife) invites herself over to the Warren house for her own reasons.  Daniela finds her way into the room of evil things and, without understanding what she was doing, accidentally frees Annabelle.  Chaos ensues.

Ed and Lorraine are not in the film much.  It really is about the three girls, Judy, Mary Ellen and Daniela, and their own problems.  These three girls do a solid job in the film.  I enjoyed their performances.  They felt like good pieces of a horror movie.

There were a bunch of jump scares here, maybe too many.  They certainly use the horror tropes fully.  It is basically a haunted house movie turning on the people inside the house.  There are some pretty decent ghosts/creatures here besides Annabelle and I wonder if the Ferryman or the Hellhound or the Bride are going to be  future installments in the Conjuring Universe.  That thought is going through my mind as I am watching this movie.

The other thought that is going through my head is how much this movie was like Ghostbusters, in particular, the scene in Ghostbusters where Walter Peck has the containment unit shut down and all kinds of ghosts explode from it.  I had that in my head the whole time I watched Daniela going through the evil room of things.

I did like the message that the film was going for with Daniela and her arc in the movie.  She was dealing with the loss of her father and her own feeling of the situation and there were some emotional moments dealing with the story.  I think I liked this more than I liked the sub plots of the other girls in the house, which is important because Daniela also does most of the stupid things while there.  I understand the pain behind it though and that helps me from just believing that she is the stereotypical dumb horror movie character.

There was some odd comedic beats in the film as well, especially with the boy Bob (Michael Cimino), whose got balls.  Bob lived across the street from the Warrens and had a crush on Mary Ellen and wound up in the strangest situations as the movie went along.  He did not necessarily feel as if he were in the same movie as the girls were in.  The tones seemed to be different depending on which characters were being featured.

I liked this for the most part.  It is not the greatest film ever, but it was an entertaining time.  I liked the characters and I liked the creatures.  There could have been more of Annabelle, to be honest.

3.7 stars

Luc Besson has had several successful films over the years:  Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, and Valerian.  He has also had several films, including The Fifth Element that features a kick ass female character.  These films include Lucy, La Femme Nikita and now Anna.

Sasha Luss plays the titular character, a Russian woman forced into the KGB to escape from the horrors of her life, who has but one wish…to be free.  However, the KGB and the CIA wind up in a game of international espionage with Anna caught in the middle.

I have to say that for a good chunk of the movie, I was bored.  The action never stands out, Anna is beautiful but hardly a deep or original character and the film didn’t really have much so say.  Something about weaponizing beauty I suppose.

Then, multiple times, the story employed a tactic of flashbacks showing what were important pieces of the narrative that was left out of the first viewing to explain something unexpected that had just happened.  Only a few of these flashbacks showed us anything special and then they even became heavy-handed, which made what we saw moving forward more predictable, not less predictable.

Helen Mirren is here and I usually love her, but her appearance in this movie was, at best, meh.  It felt as if I had seen this performance from her before, and not as good.  Luke Evans was here too, and his character was conflicted in all the wrong ways.  I never bought any connection between Anna and Evans’ Alex.  Of the supporting characters, I liked Cillian Murphy’s Lenny Miller from the CIA the best.  He felt like the realest character on the screen and I understood his motivation the most.

Sasha Luss was very good as Anna.  I believed that she was a cold-hearted Russian assassin and she does a decent job proving it.  She does not emote a lot of charm, however, and her emotional moments were not the film’s strong ones.  I did enjoy her beating the crap out of one obnoxious fashion photographer, which felt like a too close to home example for this film.

Several plots threads were left unfinished.  Anna gets involved in a gay relationship with fellow model Maud (Lera Abova) and we never have any wrap up of that storyline.  This entire part of the plot could have been edited out and would have helped with the length of the movie.  Speaking of the length of the movie, it was too long.  Almost two hours was just longer than this should have gone.

This was not a great film and we have seen most of it done better in other places.  Helen Mirren feels wasted and I did not buy much of the story.  The flashbacks actually make the story even more predictable, which is not a good thing.

2.4 stars 

Be careful what you say to Alexa because you never know when your Amazon virtual assistant may take it the wrong way.

I just watched the original Child’s Play a few months ago in preparation for the release of the new rebooted version from director Lars Klevburg.  I enjoyed the original Child’s Play, but I did not feel the need to watch all of the other sequels that followed it.

The new version of Child’s Play was fine.  I liked it.  Some of the changes that they made did not wind up bothering me because I did not have the deep connection to the series as other may have had.  I can understand, however, why some people might be unhappy with the film.

Karen (Aubrey Plaza) picks up one of the Buddi dolls for her son, Andy (Gabriel Bateman) to help ease the transition from moving into a new place.  Andy has trouble making friends and she believes that the doll would help his spirits.  Little did she know that the doll was defective (sort of) and was sentient.  Naming himself Chucky (Mark Hamill), the doll bonds quickly with Andy a little too closely.

Chucky is an iconic figure in horror movies, and some people are not happy with the new look of the doll.  Another aspect that many people disapprove of is the fact that this Chucky is no longer possessed by the serial killer, and is instead technology turning on the human race.  Sure we have seen that all the time, but neither of these differences cause an issue for me.

The movie knew what it wanted to be.  There was a definite cheesy part of the film, and that makes sense, since this is a killer doll.  There should not be a full out dramatic version of Chucky.  However, there were some times when the cheese factor may have gone a bit too far and felt out of place, especially when dealing with the other kids in Andy’s neighborhood.

I do like the motivation of this Chucky.  Whereas the original film’s character was being motivated by this killer spirit to become human again, the new Chucky is motivated by the relationship with Andy.  He wanted to protect Andy and to be the whole world to Andy.  Chucky did not want to share his “best friend forever” with anyone else and that feeling of loneliness and drive for connection is something that  everyone can relate with.

Mark Hamill is one of our generations greatest voice actors and his new turn as Chucky is as great as you would expect it to be.  Hamill’s voice portrayal helps to create the creepiness of the character in the new movie.

I also really loved the work of Gabriel Bateman as Andy.  The young kid had a lot of this movie placed on his shoulders and he came through like a champion.  You can see the conflict within Andy as these horrible things begin to happen and how he does not know what to do.  His fear and pain feels real and well done.

The aspect of the doll being an AI works very well when Chucky is able to interface with other technological items and use them against his victims.  This helps with one of the film’s main themes of how technology can control our lives and puts into a danger of becoming too enthralled.  The film also has some things to say about consumers and their attempt to grab the newest thing, even if it is bad for them.  The third act brings back memories of Jingle All the Way.

The film is very bloody and has some seriously gory scenes.  It certainly earned its R rating.  I found that there were less times in this movie where I would be thinking, “This is just a doll, destroy it” to the people Chucky was attacking.  I had those thoughts many times in the original so that says that the kill scenes were reasonably well done to me.

I enjoyed the relationship between Andy and his mom.  It felt like a real relationship.  I enjoyed the scenes involving Detective Mike Norris (Brian Tyree Henry), especially his interactions with Andy and Mike’s own mother Doreen (Carlease Burke).

There were several relationships that either did not work or were weaker than these ones.  I already mentioned the other kids in the neighborhood and all of them are simply one-note characters there for background.  The only exception I would make is Beatrice Kitsos who played Falyn.  This character was intriguing but they never really dive into what makes her special.  She is visually appealing.  Then, Karen’s boyfriend, Shane (David Lewis) was a terrible character with little redeeming qualities at all.  He was there to be the conflict with Andy and not much else.

The film was quick and short (90 minutes) and it moved by quickly.  I was reasonably entertained by Child’s Play and I was not offended by the changes from the original.  It is not the best horror movie of the year and I do not think it is trying to be.  I think it is trying to be a fun and tense film with a heavy dose of creepiness.  While it is far from perfect, the new Child’s Play succeeds in what it is trying to be.

3.5 stars

I was very worried about Toy Story 4 because I did not see the purpose of the movie.  Toy Story 3 is one of my favorite movies of all time and it felt like the perfect way to tie up the Toy Story franchise.  Plus, I was unimpressed with the promotional material for Toy Story 4.  Nothing jumped out at me as being a worthwhile addition to what could be argued as one of the best trilogies in movie history.

However, the word of mouth has been positive so I was hopeful once again.

I never should have doubted Toy Story.  Toy Story 4 was fantastic.

The young girl Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) who was given the group of Andy’s toys is on the way to Kindergarten. Woody (Tom Hanks) sneaks into her backpack to help her through the day despite the fact that he has been regulated to the closet during playtime for much of the previous week.  Woody pulled some shenanigans and helped Bonnie through the day.  Bonnie made her own toy at school out of an old spork that she named Forky (Tony Hale), and Woody made it his mission to make sure that Forky was there for Bonnie.

However, Forky considered himself trash and kept trying to throw himself away.

Toy Story 4 was one of the funnier entries in the franchise.  There was several very great new characters.  Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele reunited as Ducky and Bunny.  Christina Hendricks voices the new villain Gabby Gabby.  And the wonderful Keanu Reeves appears as Duke Caboom, Canadian stunt motorcyclist in the vein of Evel Knievel.

Duke Caboom is one of my favorite parts of the new film.  Keanu is the perfect voice for the role of Duke Caboom.

Annie Potts returned to the series as Bo Peep, the lost toy.  Bo Peep and Woody are a cool pairing and have some chemistry, for an animated pairing.  It was nice to see Bo Peep back as the kick ass female toy.

The story moves quickly and, everything works so well.  The new characters all fit right into the rest of the cast.  Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is here again and, although not as used as Woody, is still an important supporting character.

One of my doubts was that Toy Story 3 wrapped up the franchise in a perfect bow.  After seeing Toy Story 4, I am readjusting my thoughts.  Toy Story 3 is the perfect wrap up of the Andy story.  Toy Story 4 does the perfect job of wrapping up the story of Woody and the toys.  This is definitely Woody’s movie and it was worth it.

The animation, surprise surprise, was amazing.  Pixar’s animation only seems to get better each time.

This was a tremendously fun movie that I had a great time with.  If I were rating it, I would still put Toy Story 3 first, then the original.  Four would be the third place and Toy Story 2 was my least favorite.  They are all amazing though.

Anyone worried that Toy Story 4 would not live up to the trilogy, don’t.  It’s awesome.

4.25 stars

This one has been on the radar for awhile now, but the timing just never worked out.  Finally had a chance to see Late Night and I am glad that it was able to work out.

Mindy Kaling, who plays Molly, wrote this film that tells the story of an all-time great late night talk show host, Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), who has fallen on tough times in the way of ratings and creativity.  Newbury discovers that there is a plan in place to replace her as the host of her show, and she decides to push ahead and try to convince her boss (Amy Ryan) and the public that she deserves another chance.

Molly is hired to become the sole female writer on her staff around the same time as a diversity hire.  She learns quickly that the all-male, all-white writing staff may not be as welcoming as she believes.  Plus, Katherine has chosen this time to become more hands on in her approach to the show, showing up to the writer’s room, full of vim and vigor, and, despite the fact that she does not know the writer’s names (she calls them by a number), she puts everyone on the spot and on guard immediately.

Molly, unaware of the office protocol, rubs everyone the wrong way immediately, but her skill with comedy and her new ideas shine through and get her noticed by Katherine.

Emma Thompson is wonderful here, as always.  She is as charming and likable as this fully unlikable character could be.  She brings an instant credibility to the role that allows you to believe that she is a legend in the late night business.  You excuse the bad behavior because of the charismatic lead actress.

There is also a fantastic relationship between Emma Thompson and her on-screen husband, the great John Lithgow.  Lithgow plays Walter, Katherine’s husband who is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.  This piece of the story brings such a richness to the story that, while it may not inspire much toward the plot, it tells us more about the character Katherine and allows us to love her even more.  Lithgow is tremendous in his limited screen time.

The relationship between Katharine and Molly was fine, but did feel a tad forced at times.  Still, by the end of the film, you accept the connection between these two women.

There are plenty of themes running through the film, from ageism to sexism to the lack of diversity in the entertainment business.  The #metoo movement even gets a moment inside the movie.  Each one is handled well, if not covered fully.

The film belongs to Emma Thompson though and she is a powerhouse here.  There are some top notch supporting performances along the way, not only with John Lithgow, but also with Denis O’Hare, Max Casella, and Reid Scott.  The writer’s room was filled with intriguing characters from number one to number 8.

If you like the late night TV shows like Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel, you will find something to like in Late Night.  If you are a fan of Emma Thompson, this is a smorgasbord of her acting skills.

3.9 stars 

This was very much a different type of zombie movie, one that I was not expecting.  Certainly, with Bill Murray as the lead, I knew that we were in store for a humorous take on the genre, but I had no idea what I was about to see.

Writer/director Jim Jarmusch is known for his slow take on some of his films and that style is in full display here.  The story slowly moves through the movie as characters talk about life and, at times, barely even recognize what is happening around them.

The small town of Centerville finds itself with strange events happening.  The daylight is staying longer, the moon has a strange glow and the dead are rising from the grave.  All of this because the earth has shifted slightly off its axis because of polar fracking.

Police Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) and Officer Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) respond to the terrible happenings in the town.  Murray and Driver are as deadpan as you can get, as Driver constantly says that “this won’t end well.”

Meanwhile, we are introduced to a bunch of characters from around Centerville, some of who are important and others whose story arc does not seem to go anywhere.  The cast is tremendous as, along with Murray and Driver, you have Tom Waits, Chloe Sevigny, Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Rosie Perez, Selena Gomez and Carole Kane.

Of course, some of these actors play characters without any connection to the story at all.  Tilda Swinton is amazing here, but her arc is bizarre.  It was very funny, and at least she did interact with the main actors.  There are a group of young actors playing kids in a children’s detention center who literally have nothing to do with the plot.

Some times that is funny and works and other times it feels kind of lazy, as if they are just filling up screen time with scenes.  There is a definite irreverence on display inside  the film and that fits into the tone.

I loved the work between Murray and Driver.  The had a wonderful connection in the movie.  Their responses to one another was perfect and fit beautifully with the tone that Jarmusch was going for.  Both Murray and Driver were veterans of Jarmusch movies and that experience pays off royally here.

I got a feeling watching The Dead Don’t Die that reminded me clearly of Twin Peaks.  It was a show that was filled with eccentric, bordering on weird characters, who found themselves in strange and unexplained situations.  The Dead Don’t Die would be an episode of Twin Peaks, but with zombies.  There was even a zombie who loved coffee.  Of course, as a huge Peak Freak, I would love that and I enjoyed this movie a great deal.

Sure, some of the characters are unnecessary, but they help create a flavor of the town of Centerville.  The message of the movie is pretty heavy handed and could have been more subtle, but that does not dominate the movie and does not ruin the enjoyment I had.

3.75 stars

As I prepared for this movie, a movie that I had enjoyed the trailers for, I watched the original Shaft from 1971 with Richard Roundtree and the 2001 Shaft with Samuel L. Jackson.  Both movies were escapist fun and featured one bad mutha…shut your mouth!

So when I heard the really bad reviews the 2019 version of Shaft was receiving from critics, I was disappointed, but I remained cautiously optimistic.  I mean, I have disagreed with critics before, though, 35% on Rotten Tomatoes does not usually mean this is going to be a winner.

Still, I hoped for the best, and, in the end,…

I liked it.

Samuel L. Jackson returned as John Shaft, and we meet the woman, Maya (Regina King), who tamed, if only temporarily, the sex machine with all the chicks.  Unfortunately, a hit gone wrong led to Maya to take Shaft’s baby son away from him and keep the boy isolated from his father for his own safety.

J.J. aka John Shaft Jr. (Jesse T. Usher) had grown up never knowing his father and resenting how Shaft deserted him.  J.J. became an FBI data analyst and wound up on the outskirts of a case that led to the murder of his lifelong friend Karim (Avan Jogia).  Not sure where to turn, J.J. turned to his father in his search for his friend’s murderer.

Now, the story of this movie is dumb.  There is no way around it.  The plot is needlessly convoluted and feels too much like a bad 1980s movie.  There are two main reasons why this movie works despite the failure of the story.

One, is Samuel L. Jackson.  He is clearly having all kinds of fun playing the role of John Shaft once again.  He is funny, foul-mouthed and full of inappropriateness, which all adds up to be simply a hoot.  Jackson’s Shaft is politically incorrect and loving every minute of it.

The second reason is the relationship that the movie builds between Shaft and J.J.  The film focuses on the differences between the two generations of Shaft men (eventually, bringing in a third with Richard Roundtree’s John Shaft, who turned out to not be Uncle John as the 2001 movie indicated).  J.J. is a metro-sexual, computer savvy, gun-hater, opposites to his father in many ways.  However, the film also shows that J.J. and Shaft have some unexpected connections as well.  I loved the chemistry between Jackson and Usher and their relationship made the film for me.

Yes, the villains are one note and the violence is everywhere, but that is the same as the other versions of Shaft.   I thought Regina King was a bit overtly dramatic for her role, but she did show the type of fire that might have kept John Shaft interested for all these years.

Shaft (2019) is not a great movie, but I had a good time watching it.  Samuel L. Jackson is great as the title character and his relationship with J.J. carries the film past its weaknesses.  You may need to approach this film with the right mindset, but there are parts of the new Shaft worth admission.

3 stars