Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

A Private Life

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Easter Stream Binge #5

The final film of the Easter Stream Binge is a French film starring Jodie Foster called A Private Life.

I picked up the film off Fandango at Home (VUDU) when I saw Jodie Foster and I read the synopsis on Vudu. It said, “When renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner learns of the sudden death of a patient, she suspects murder. She mounts a private investigation, enlisting an odd assortment of quirky characters.”

That intrigued me, but I did not realize that it was in French. That does not bother me as I have enjoyed plenty other movies and shows with subtitles, but it was just unexpected. I did not know that Jodie Foster could speak French like a native.

Either way, the film’s central mystery was pretty good. I will say they do a bit with a past life that feels like a distraction from the main story. Of course, the real story of the film is not the mystery, but the relationship with Lilian and her ex-husband, her son, and her clients. Foster brings this complicated woman to life in this film and there are some real tense moments. The real mystery is learning about Lilian and diving into her own troubles and manners.

I loved the presence of Daniel Auteuil as Gabriel, Lilian’s ex-husband and the person who helped her through this troubled time. He was extremely charming and warm with her, even when she was acting crazed. His support was able to bring her back to the realm of the present.

There were some strange parts of the script, but Jodie Foster is tremendous as always and I found the sotry to ultimately be satisfying.

3.7 stars

Pizza Movie

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Easter Stream Binge #4

One of the types of movies that I typically do not hate are the stoner movies. Especially those that include a lot of bullying and stupid humor.

As I started to watch Disney +’s movie, Pizza Movie, after the first ten minutes, everything that I hate about those movies were dropped. I was hating this movie with all of my heart. I considered just stopping the movie. I did not know why I should continue this movie when it was making me feel this way. It’s not as if I paid money at the theater to see it.

Then something really weird happened.

The movie won me over.

I am not sure what happened, but the complete ridiculousness of the movie grabbed ahold of me and suddenly I found myself enjoying the stupidity, laughing at the antics of the three main leads.

Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone played Jack and Montgomery, roommates at college who were anything but the alphas. Matarazzo and Giambrone had a lot of chemistry with each other and their comedic timing was perfectly executed. Bullied and beat up, Jack and Montgomery wound up taking some experimental drugs they found in their dorm room that led them to going through multiple stages.

It was when they started in on these stages that the movie changed for me. Everything became so surreal and so weird that it was difficult to continue to see it as just another bad behavior/stoner movie. It took these two and made them way more interesting than they ever had a right to be.

I am not sure that I have had such a monumental shift in my opinions of a movie, especially from hating it as much as I did in the first ten-fifteen minutes to being entertained by the silliness of it.

3.75 stars

War Machine (2026)

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Easter Stream Binge #3

The third film in the Easter Stream Binge of 2026 is a Netflix film called War Machine starring Alan Ritchson.

This has been on my Netflix queue for quite a while and this was a good opportunity to finally get a chance to watch it. This film was a fun, action movie that felt like an amalgamation of War of the Worlds and Predator.

In fact, there was not a lot of original material in the movie, as most of the beats were things that we have seen in other movies. Still, the film has some exciting moments and places Alan Ritchson, who starred in Reacher on Prime, smack dab in the center of the action film.

Ritchson played a recruit in a grueling boot camp to become a ranger. Given number 81, he approached the training with a dedication unseen, but his own tragic backstory crippling his mental health. Despite his objections, 81 is placed in charge of a unit in the final drill of the camp, a simulated mission into the wilderness to destroy an aircraft and rescue its pilot. Problem was that during this training, mechanical war machines arrive from space to begin an invasion of the earth.

The switch from personal military drama to sci-fi action was awkward, but Ritchson does a solid job as the tough lead hero. This character could have easily been played by an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone in previous decades.

While this has little new in it, it is still a fun watch and has some cool action that was worth watching. With this on Netflix, it is an easy film to enjoy.

3.5 stars

Paul McCartney: Man on the Run

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Easter Stream Binge #2

Paul McCartney was one of the most famous musicians ever. He was in a little band called the Beatles. There came a time when the Beatles came to an end. This documentary tells the story of what Paul McCartney did after the Beatles broke up.

This doc from director Morgan Neville, looked at those tumultuous times from the last few years when the Beatles were broken up (yet the world did not know) through to the death of John Lennon, through rare video and interviews from Paul McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney.

There are others involved in the doc as well including John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Sean Lennon, and other members of Wings.

The doc felt very personal as Paul narrated the videos with his voice, giving him the final say on the events of the 1970s away from his mates from Liverpool.

The music of Wings was used throughout the film, providing a wonderful soundtrack for the doc. The way the music grew as McCartney’s own confidence grew from a point where he thought that he may never be able to reach a level of the Beatles again to where he felt as if he could do whatever he needed.

The doc touched on the controversies of his life, including his relationship with John and his legal trouble in Japan over his marijuana. Wings also felt like a revolving door of musicians. It sounded as if Paul wanted a band like the Beatles where everyone was equal, but the world saw them as anything but.

I am a huge fan of the Beatles and Paul McCartney has always been my personal favorite so this was a treat to watch. It is available on Amazon Prime.

4 stars

Redux Redux

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Easter Stream Binge #1

Happy Easter to all. I decided this would be a good day to watch a bunch of movies on the variety of streaming services that I have. The first film in this binge was rented off Fandango at Home (Vudu) and it was entitled Redux Redux.

The film is a sci-fi/revenge flick dealing with the multiverse. The multiverse has been used quite often in films lately, in both Marvel and DC, as well as other independent movies.

According to IMDB, “Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter’s murderer. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity hangs in the balance.“

The film does a decent job of starting off with with the bizarre nature of the situation being good enough to be introduced, allowing the audience to question what was going on. Then, it does a solid job of explaining the situation so you can understand it.

Michaela McManus played Irene and she does a great job of portraying the sadness surrounding the character and the anger directed at Jeremy Holm, who played her daughter’s murderer, Neville.

Another important factor is the relationship between Irene and Mia, played by Stella Marcus. Mia was a girl abducted by Neville that Irene rescued. The pair of women had to look to each other to fill the gaps that were in their lives. The story was constructed around grief and loss, finding the way that you can get through the pain.

I enjoyed the film. It nicely blends the sci-fi elements in with the revenge aspects. It is satisfying and cathartic.

3.9 stars

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

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I went to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie today in a packed Phoenix Theater in Dubuque. As I was leaving, I was very disappointed and not entertained, but the kids around me leaving were bouncing with energy, bantering about their favorite parts and were just filled with an excitement that you could feel.

I wish I shared that same kind of feeling.

I was bored through most of this movie. I did not find anything to the story and I am not a big fan of Nintendo or Super Mario to be interested in the characters that were appearing on the screen.

According to IMDB, “Mario ventures into space, exploring cosmic worlds and tackling galactic challenges far from the familiar Mushroom Kingdom.”

The animation was sensational. The colors popped off the screen and every moment looked fantastic. The color and the imagery was another reason why kids are going to love this movie.

The voice acting was fine. Jack Black as Bowzer is great as always. Chris Pratt as Mario is fine, but not that memorable. Other voice actors included Glenn Powell, Brie Larson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Benny Safdie, Keegan-Michael Key, Charlie Day, Donald Glover, Kevin Michael Richardson, Issa Rae, and Luis Guzman.

The problem was, for me, the story was lacking. I did not find anything happening that was engaging. It felt more like a bunch of random adventures with music playing over top. It was not a competent, overarching story that worked. It had some definite strengths to the movie, but the over loaded characters did not feel as if they were given any time to develop.

BUt as I said, the kids of my theater loved what they got. So, my thoughts on this movie are coming from an adult purpose, and I am not a fan. I prefer that the animated film worked for both kids and adults, but I struggled to get through the 90 + minutes of the film.

It is going to make all the money though. I liked the first one much more than this one.

2.4 stars

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

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The original Ready or Not from 2019 was a surprise smash hit featuring a star making turn from Samara Weaving. However, it did not feel like a film that required a sequel. Still, in Hollywood, a successful film, especially a new and original IP, will most likely lead to a new installment. So we get Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.

Ignoring the stupid use of the number 2 in the title (it should only be Ready or Not: Here I Come), this new sequel is a solid continuation on a story which both built on the first film and provided new ground for the sequel.

According to IMDB, “After surviving one deadly game, Grace and her sister Faith must now outrun four rival families competing for a powerful throne – winner takes all.”

The sequel is every bit as gruesome and bloody as the original, with people exploding into pools of blood and sinew all over the place, usually when they are facing Grace and Faith, so the splatter does not miss them.

This film added some star power to the hunters chasing Grace and Faith, including Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. The Pitt’s Jack Abbot, Shawn Hatosy is here as Gellar’s character’s brother. Elijah Wood played the lawyer behind the competition for the seat on the council that the hunters were competing for. LOST’s Richard, Nestor Carbonell, is another of the hunters, who turns out to be a piss-poor shot.

Once again, this is a group of Satan worshipers, so if that is something that you do not like in your movies, this one is built around it even more than the original. It can be jarring hearing Elijah Wood say “Hail Satan” several times. Of course, Satan worshipers make for excellent villains.

There is a lot of comedy in the gorefest too, and much of it worked. There were some ridiculous characters among the hunters’ families there for support and backup during the game.

The relationship between Grace and Faith had to work for this film to work, and I will say that it was shaky at times. I only heard about their estrangement, not being shown it, but they did win me over as the film went along. Both Weaving and Kathryn Newton do a great job with their performances, though there are a couple of times in the film that made me feel a little icky about what was going on.

Grace takes a real beating in this film and, like so many other action heroes, she shrugs wounds off as she goes. There needs to be some suspension of disbelief that Grace (and also Faith, to a lesser extent) can keep going despite all the stuff that has happened to her (them). Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and other action heroes who are men would push on too, so why couldn’t Samara Weaving?

It is a strong follow up to the original. I do not think it is as good as the first one, but it does not fall into the garbage as many sequels do. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is a fun time at the theater for fans of horror and good action.

4.2 stars

Project Hail Mary

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I have been looking forward to Project Hail Mary for quite a while. I have heard so many good things about it, and I find Ryan Gosling to be extremely entertaining and a top level actor that it only served to increase my anticipation. I booked my tickets to the IMAX theater at Cinemark and went this morning.

People are right. It is fabulous.

According to IMDB, “Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. As his memory returns, he uncovers a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the sun, and save Earth. An unexpected friendship may be the key.”

The film is utterly gorgeous. It looks unbelievable and the special effects are jaw dropping. There is no doubt that Project Hail Mary is an early Oscar contender for the Best Visual Effects Award. I completely recommend seeing it in IMAX too. The bigger the better.

But the visuals are not the only awesome aspect of the film. Ryan Gosling was spectacular as Ryland Grace. He carried this film with every moment that he was on screen, which was practically the entire thing. We saw both the present and the past with this character and he provided us with an amazingly emotional ride right off into space.

I was surprised how funny this movie was. There was a wonderful use of humor and most everything really hit, comedically. Gosling has great comedic timing and he uses the quips and the moments to truly inform the character. I sure hope the Golden Globes do not put this in the Comedy category like they did with The Martian.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directed the film and their brand of sly humor came through brilliantly. Drew Goddard, who had also co-written Cabin in the Woods, wrote the script, adapting it from a novel by Andy Weir of the same name. This crew of creators brought such life to the story that it worked on all levels.

I enjoyed the way the story was told. It started off in the space craft with Ryan Gosling and then it would flashback to times when Gosling’s Ryland Grace was on earth and showed us as the movie progressed how Grace wound up in that ship.

I don’t want to go into spoilers, although a major part of the story has been revealed in trailers. I am still not going to talk about it, but this section was so great and infused this movie with such energy and power.

There were a couple of scenes in space that, I swear, I did not breathe during because it was so intense that I couldn’t stand it. They were done so well and brought that action energy to a film that felt like a slow burn at other times. It all worked together so well.

If you force me to criticize the film, it might be a little long. I think they could have shaved off ten minutes, maybe, but I did not feel the length during the viewing.

In the end, Project Hail Mary was a fantastic film with sci-fi elements that is a true crowd pleaser, filled to the brim with emotion and beautiful imagery. One of the best films of 2026 so far.

5 stars

The Wrecking Crew

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This one has been on my list on Amazon Prime for some time now. The snow day has given me the opportunity to give this a watch.

According to IMDB, “Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father’s mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.“

Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista played Jonny and James and they were the strength of this movie. Both of these giant men brought a humor, sensitivity and charisma with each other that carried a typical action film script on their hulking backs.

The story of this film is a generic action movie. The fact that this is a solid movie is because Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa are awesome. The action was really pretty decent and the stunt work was very good. There were some scenes that were excellent, including one scene with a car-helicopter chase.

Are the villains one note? Sure are. They are there as nothing more than to be killed off in cool action scenes.

I really enjoyed this film because of how great Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa are as half-brothers. I believed their relationship. I understood their anger. They did a great job and carried this movie to being a great streaming film.

4 stars

Cold Storage

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With a no school day because of a March blizzard, I got a chance to watch a couple of streaming movies that I have been wanting to see. The first one was recommended by my friend Chris. I had never heard of it before, but it looked interesting.

Cold Storage had a late eighties, early nineties action flick feel to it, as had some fun characters dealing with a bizarre fungus that was turning people and animals into infected, spreading around.

According to IMDB, “When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.”

Joe Keery starred as Teacake, a guard at a storage facility, and Georgina Campbell starred as Naomi, a new worker at the facility. They discovered this fungus and how it has multiplied, calling in help from the army.

That help was Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) who had interacted with the fungus in the past and was one of the few people remaining who had any expertise on this topic at all.

Keery and Campbell worked together extremely well. You immediately buy the chemistry between them and want them to survive the experience. You can feel for these characters. They are just deep enough to keep you interested in their well-being.

Liam Neeson brings the perfect energy for the grizzled, injured former military man with his first hand knowledge. Neeson handled the slightly comedic tone to the movie as well. Neeson has always had a strong sense of comedic timing and he gets a chance to show it here.

The overall story is fairly limited, but it works well as a monster movie. We get a bunch of secondary characters who we don’t mind seeing blow up from the fungus (though the vomiting green goo is unnecessary). While this story is simple, it is just about the right amount of combination of action/horror/comedy to pull off the film.

This was a fun film to watch and I had a great time rooting for these characters to survive the fungus.

4 stars

Undertone

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I have seen some poor horror movies to kick off 2026. I was not a fan of Iron Lung. I did not like the new Dracula film. Scream 7 was a real disappointment. The Bride was a big swing that did not work, and Psycho Killer is currently the worst film of the year.

So I went into the new horror film, Undertone, which was the big screen debut of director Ian Tuason. I had found the trailer intriguing and knowing it is a new A24 film, I went into the film with hopes that this would break the rotten horror streak.

According to IMDB, “The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.“

Lead actress Nina Kiri carries the heft of this film on her shoulders as she does a tremendous job in the role as this podcaster who is the skeptic on her podcast about the supernatural topics they cover. Her co-host, who we never see on screen, is voiced by Adam DiMarco, and he has a really strong voice over performance.

The film is a perfect example of the use of sound in the horror genre. Called Audio Horror, the sound design is so tense and anxious that it really affects the audience. The use of the sounds, the silence, the way the sounds change when Nina Kiri puts on her headphones… all of it is sensational and creates a theater experience unlike many.

The camera work in the film is also strong. There are some shots that are specifically designed to make the audience expect that a scare is coming, but many times, the idea that there is something in the dark is only suggested, allowing the audience to provide their own scares. The film does have some jump scares, but they are kept to a minimum and are effective when they appear.

I am not sure that I found the ending overly satisfying, but it was certainly intense and worked as a way to end a film that matched that intensity level.

This is definitely a film that broke that run of terrible horror movies. It is a slow burn, but it moves fairly quickly over the run time of the film. It was a suspenseful theater experience and I would recommend people see this. Not only because it is a good movie, but for the fact that the budget on this film was only like $500,000, which is ridiculously low and there should be more films succeed that take a chance at keeping the budget down.

4 stars

The Bride!

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This one is like Bonnie & Clyde was made in the Universal Monsters franchise while being set in Gotham City.

The Bride! is the new film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal that take a new look at the classic story of The Bride of Frankenstein.

This film is one that left me unsure of how I felt. There were certainly good things that I really liked about The Bride! but there were many other things that just did not work for me at all.

According to IMDB, “In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.”

The standout aspect of this film is 100% the acting from our two lead performers. Jessie Buckley, who is up for an Academy Award in just about a week and a half for her role in Hamnet, is absolutely amazing as the Bride. Buckley’s performance jumps off the screen with her facial features and her confusion. Buckley also played Mary Shelley, who was a framing device for the story, and it seemed as if Mary Shelley was possessing the Bride (also called Ida or Penny). Buckley would switch from her normal voice to the British accent of Shelley. It was confusing at times.

Christian Bale was also great as Frankenstein. He would go by the name Frank and he played this character lonely and desperate. Bale and Buckley have an amazing chemistry and they are the reason to see this movie. I loved the performance of Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronius.

However, there are so many weird things going on in this movie that pulled me out. The tone of this film was all over the place. At times, it felt like I should be laughing, but others I felt horrified. It was not a smooth transition between tones. It was truly messy.

For example, there was a dance number in the film. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I loved the homage the dance routine was to, but it felt totally out of place in this film.

The film had several secondary storylines that could have (should have) been edited out completely. All the scenes with Penelope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard, who played a couple of detectives chasing the Monsters, felt so unnecessary. Had those scenes been completely dropped, there would have been nothing really that would have to be changed.

The Bride! is a messy, wild and crazy film that has some great performances and some big swings. Some of this worked well for me while much of the rest of it did not work. Great performances in a film that is all over the place. There are some cool things in the film, but not enough to dismiss the weak points.

2.8 stars

Hoppers

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Pixar is back with their latest animated feature film, Hoppers. Yes, the concept is very much like Avatar, which they make a joke of in the film, but this film is a lot of fun (more than Avatar, for me) and actually had some surprisingly darker moments.

According to IMDB, “A 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.”

I did enjoy much of this movie, although I do not consider this in the upper echelon of Pixar movies. It is a solid, entertaining film that gave me some mouth drop moments.

Piper Curda led the voice cast as Mabel, the 19-year old animal lover. There is a lot of great voices in the cast including Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Sam Richardson, Steve Purcell, and Meryl Streep.

As always, the animation is top notch and the finale of the film was absolutely gorgeous on the screen. The animals have great designs and look tremendous.

There is an adult feel to the story that will resonate with the parents, while the film gives the kids something to be entertained by. The best animated movies are those that both parents and kids can find something in it to engage with and Hoppers definitely have that.

A solid Pixar movie that flows nicely and has a really great story and a good message.

4 stars

Scream 7

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So I have been under the weather over the last few weeks, and I chose to stay at home this past Saturday. I had intended on going to the new Scream 7 film that came out, but I wanted to take the time to try and get better. Today, I was able to go to the film I missed last weekend.

I am going to say that I had heard a lot of negatives directed toward Scream 7 and so my expectations going into the theater today were rather low. I do think that it helped having such low expectations, because I did not hate watching this. Don’t get me wrong, it is a dumb movie and I would not recommend it. I just didn’t find it to be a horrible watch. It was certainly better than the Psycho Killer film from a few weeks ago. That is not saying much, though.

We are back with Sydney Prescott, now with the last name of Evans, and the film took every opportunity to comment on Scream 6 being the film (or the Ghostface killings) where Sydney did not get involved. The meta aspect of this fits in a Scream franchise, but it feels odd that the implication was that the last movie sucked because Sydney wasn’t there.

A new Ghostface finds his/her way to the town where Sydney was living and began killing off easily replaceable characters who have little to no characterization. For example, Asa Germann, who played Sam on Gen V, was only ever referred to as the “weird one.” There is no reason or explanation. That was his sole character trait. McKenna Grace was here too, but all I know about her character was that she was the blonde friend who was in the school play. There were actually some good actors in this film, but they were not given anything worthy to do.

We knew from casting news that Matthew Lillard was returning to the film as Stu Macher, who had been killed in the first Scream film. There was a lot of speculation about whether he was returning as the same character, but that is one of the most obvious bit in the film. No spoilers, but you’ll get it.

Then speaking of no spoilers, the ending reveal is perhaps the dumbest part of the entire movie. There are some cameos in this movie that are just terrible and make zero sense.

It felt like this movie played only on nostalgia without having any original thoughts of its own.

As I said, I didn’t hate this, but I am only a guy who has liked the Scream franchise. I think that if you are a big fan of Scream and its sequels, you are going to hate this. If you just want a dumb time at the movies, set your expectations low and you may not hate yourself for watching it.

2 stars

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

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This movie is like Everything, Everywhere All At Once on a combo of speed and LSD.

That is in the good way.

Sam Rockwell leads this intriguing ensemble in a wild, time travel, sci-fi mash up with stuff that you would never expect to see on the big screen. It is a dark comedy, with some extremely dark moments of humor.

Sam Rockwell is great as always. He throwed himself into this project as he does in everything that he ever appears in. He is such a top notch performer that you know you are getting his best in every role.

According to IMDB, “A ‘Man From the Future’ arrives at a diner in Los Angeles where he must recruit the precise combination of disgruntled patrons to join him on a one-night quest to save the world from the terminal threat of a rogue artificial intelligence.“

This film does not hide its themes about AI. It is anything but subtle that it sets AI as the villain of this film and that it sees AI as being a major problem to the world. While it also blends the idea of technology into the theme, AI is absolutely the leading concept.

This movie is utterly batshit crazy. It has some of the most wild, crazy situations I have ever seen. I compared it earlier to Everything, Everywhere All at Once, and that is a fair comparison, but this takes it to another level. If you were someone who did not like the absurdity of some of EEAAO, then this will not be your cup of tea. If you came out of EEAAO with the wish that the writers would have taken the gloves off and really gone to town with the weirdness, then Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is for you.

I was thoroughly entertained by the film, even if my jaw was agape several times.

Gore Verbinski, who directed the Pirates of the Caribbean films, returned to helm this satire and he brought a vision that just was engaging and hilarious, while still bringing an important message to the screen.

One of my favorite movies so far in 2026.

4.8 stars