Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Remarkably Bright Creatures

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It has been a good couple of weeks for talking animal movies.

Last week, I was absolutely taken with Sheep Detectives and this week, I was able to watch the Netflix film starring Sally Field and Louis Pullman called Remarkably Bright Creatures. This featured an octopus, voiced by Alfred Molina (who coincidentally played Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 and No Way Home) as the narrator.

According to IMDB, “Through unlikely bonds formed during night shifts at a local aquarium, Tova, an elderly widow, learns of a life-changing discovery that may bring her joy and wonder once again.“

Sally Field really came to work in this movie. Her portrayal as Tova was just so sweet and touching, but more than just that. She had a real emotional arc for her character and a tragic backstory that was impactful as could be. I was really impressed with her work in this movie.

I did not recognize Louis Pullman at first, but about midway through the movie, I thought to myself… “Hey, that’s Sentry… Bob.” He, as well, was fabulous, giving a depth to a performance with a character that could have been one note, but turned out to be extremely developed.

I also loved seeing Kathy Baker back on my screen. Kathy Baker was one of the stars of Picket Fences, a show that I loved, and it was just a nice surprise seeing her in this.

Alfred Molina’s narration was kind of odd, but it did provide some important relevant details as the movie progressed. Plus, there were some emotionally powerful moments with Marcellus, the name of the octopus that Molina was voicing. It took a little bit of time for me to get used to the idea, but by the end of the movie, this was an important role.

I enjoyed this story. Even though it did feel a bit scattered early on, it came together beautifully. I did enjoy the presence of Colm Meaney as Ethan. His character may have felt kind of unnecessary, but the film took time to actually give him a personality.

This was a lovely film with some solid characters and some excellent performances. It is available for streaming on Netflix and it is a worthwhile time.

4.5 stars

Is God Is

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I saw a horror movie this morning that felt like it was not a typical horror movie. After that, I went to see Is God Is, which is a revenge flick that did not feel like a typical revenge flick. It was a good day for creative filmmaking.

The title made no sense to me at all. Is God Is? What was that? Honestly, I almost did not go to the film, because the title had me confused. However, once I noticed which film this actually was (I have seen trailers for this), I was excited to see it.

According to IMDB, “Two sisters embark on an epic quest for revenge; confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths.”

This was a story not just about two sisters, but specifically about twins. Kara Young played Racine and Mallori Johnson played Anaia, twins who had lifelong scars when their father had attempted to murder their mother by setting her on fire. I don’t know if the actor playing their father is known, so I am going to not mention him by name, but this actor created an amazingly horrific individual.

However, there was more than just the pursuit of their father going on and it made me question whether I should be pulling for Racine during this film. I loved the level of shades of grey in the script, which I feel gets overlooked in a lot of revenge movies.

I loved the way the film showed the “twin mind link” by putting what the twins were thinking, as if they had a telepathic connection between them. They just knew what the other was thinking, but it still ended up with a conflict between the sisters in the movie.

There is a great ensemble of black actors in this movie including Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Xavier Mills, Josiah Cross, and Justen Ross.

The flashbacks to the horrible events of the past really worked to keep the motivation of the twins going as it seemed to start off as a road film before changing into a brutal revenge flick.

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson are outstanding together. You buy them as twins who are so tight that they know what the other is thinking, and, because of that, the third act hits even harder. I found the ending very satisfying.

4.2 stars

Obsession

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I looked for the classification for this movie on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, and the new movie called Obsession was listed as a horror movie. Certainly, this is a horror movie, but I thought this would be labeled as Horror/comedy and there was no mention of comedy. I found much of this film funny, and so I am surprised that it was not labeled as a Dark or Black Comedy.

Fact is I have never had a movie that I can recall that made me laugh so much only to make me ridiculously uncomfortable and uneasy.

According to IMDB, “After breaking the mysterious ‘One Wish Willow’ to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.“

Michael Johnston played Bear and Inde Navarrette played Nikki, our two main lead protagonists. Navarrette, in particular, really reached the zenith of performances as she seemingly embraced the absolute insanity of this character. She clearly did not hold back anything on this film. She was so unsettling which was remarkable.

Part of the film’s most unsettling elements is the sound design. Nikki’s screams were so unnerving and the music was done so amazingly that I could feel my suspense and anxiety hyping up throughout the movie. It was absolutely noticeable and purposeful, and it worked extremely well.

I was surprised how funny this movie was and how much I felt bad when I was laughing. The situation is a horrible one and it has so many tragic undertones, yet there are scenes played for laughs that underscore the pain and tragedy. I think this is a very difficult balance to maintain, and I think Obsession does it expertly well.

I do think there are some scenes that could be cut down to make the film a little shorter. However, I would not touch the third act of the film, which was just wonderfully put together.

There are some deep characters here doing things that make you see them in different manners. Our protagonist, Bear, does not seem to be a very good person, or at least, his choices seem to outline him as a selfish person.

I thought this was one of the best horror movies of 2026 so far and I look forward to seeing where the career of Inde Navarrette goes from here as this feels like a breakout performance for her.

4.4 stars

The Drama

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I have wanted to watch The Drama for the longest time. The synopsis of the film made me intrigued and I do like the pairing of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.

But it seemed like every week, something got in the way of me going to the see the fil. There were too many other movies or my schedule changed or just couldn’t fit it into the time frame I had available. It felt like the film was just being snakebit the whole time.

So I had made the determination that once The Drama came out on streaming, I would sit down and watch it, no excuses.

Finally, I watched the movie on Fandango at Home.

It was not what I was expecting.

According to IMDB, “A happily-engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.”

I thought this worked very well as a darker film. I’m not sure I would define it as a dark comedy, but it did have specific parts of the story that was unexpectedly uncomfortable and difficult to process.

I do not want to spoil the main conflict of the film because it was one that I did not see coming and it did create some provocative thoughts.

Both Zendaya and Robert Pattinson do a tremendous job as this pair that were so in love only to have the rug pulled out from under them, leading them to doubt what they feel for each other.

I could see the conflict being triggering for some and that might be even tougher to watch. I am not sure if you want to go in blind or not.

I am glad that I finally got around to The Drama. I thought it was definitely worth the wait.

3.5 stars

The Sheep Detectives

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This has to be a leading candidate for surprise of the year. I had seen the trailers for The Sheep Detectives and it made it look like a cute family film that had a definite chance to be really dumb. However, The Sheep Detectives is one of my favorite movies of the year. I know that sound bizarre, but it is 100% true.

According to IMDB, “Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.“

Hugh Jackman played the shepherd named George and kicked off this murder mystery with a lot of heart. Jackman was so charming and outstanding that you feel for this character even though you knew coming in that he was going to be the victim of this murder mystery.

The voice cast of the sheep was sensational including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart, Chris O’Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Rhys Darby, Regina Hall, and Bella Ramsey.

The story was way more emotional than I ever expected it to be. There were moments of the film where I had tears in my eyes and even a few that rolled down my cheek. It was not only emotional, but it was very funny, clever, charming and had a murder mystery that was actually well designed.

I was not expecting this movie to be as deep as it was. I expected a silly family movie with some dumb talking animals. Instead, this film took the tropes of a murder mystery and broke them down, turning the genre on its ear. All that with talking sheep characters.

I should specify that the sheep are not talking to humans like a Disney film. To the humans, they sound like sheep, but they speak to each other.

The film also has a storyline weaved into the story about prejudice/bigotry within the sheep community. Again, it was a story beat that I just did not expect, and it was not just a throwaway beat. It became a major part of the overall plot.

Brett Goldstein was hilarious doing the voices of Ronnie and Reggie, two rams always looking to butt heads.

This was based on a book Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann.

There is no way this movie should be as fabulous as it turned out to be. I am currently placing it right around the same place as Project Hail Mary and that just does not make sense. However, if you see this movie, you will understand why. I had such a great viewing experience with this movie that I came out of it feeling so great.

5 stars (…no really)

Edit: I forgot to mention about the live action actor here. They all do a remarkable job in this film including a small but vital performance by the awesome Emma Thompson. Nicholas Braun, Molly Gordon, Nicholas Galtizine, Conleth Hill, Hong Chau, Tosin Cole, and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith all bring a great energy to the film and help create the fabulous story.

Mortal Kombat II

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I was not a fan of the last Mortal Kombat movie. There was one in 1995 that fell into the category of so bad, it’s good, and there was one in 2021 that I gave 1.7 stars. So to say that the bar was set low for me would not be an understatement.

Mortal Kombat II is much better than those previous movies, though I still did not love the movie. It was definitely entertaining if you are looking for a bunch of fun and exciting fights. The story is not much more than that. The story is about what you would expect in a Mortal Kombat video game.

According to IMBD, “The fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.”

The fights were fun. The one on one match-up were very much like the video game Mortal Kombat. Even though I did not play the video game much, I recognized the features of the game on the screen.

These fights were wonderfully choreographed and laid out. The CGI looked really good. The kills were creative and, in several cases, brutal and gory. This is absolutely the best part of the film.

I did enjoy having Karl Urban in this film as Johnny Cage. Karl Urban is always fun and he played Johnny Cage awesomely. I have to say I kept seeing him as Butcher from the Boys, and they share several characteristics, albeit without an accent.

The movie does a good job about knowing what kind of movie it is and providing that. This is never going to be a great movie, but it is a stylish, fun flick with some good action. It is not much more than that.

3 stars

The Devil Wears Prada 2

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Twenty years ago, there was a movie released in theaters called The Devil Wears Prada, a film I did not see until the DailyView in 2021. Now, a legacy sequel has been released with most of the important parts returning to the screen. This included four of the main actors as well as the director and writer of the first film.

Director David Frankel and co-writers Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren Weisberger are back together with actors Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci is The Devil Wears Prada 2.

I liked the first film. I found it to be a fun watch. I went into the sequel with some apprehension. I had heard a couple of down reviews plus sequels over twenty years after the original came out rarely have a high success rate.

However, I found the film to be an entertaining movie with some powerhouse actors elevating what could have been a floundering film. It is far from perfect of a movie. It is overly long and the story itself is a touch iffy at times, but I still found myself engaged by the combo of the actors playing their iconic characters.

Meryl Streep was the best of the quartet in my opinion. She brought more humanity to the “Devil,” Miranda Priestly, the fashion icon who was the basic antagonist of the first film. In the sequel, Miranda was much more like a co-protagonist with Anne Hathaway’s Andy.

Another standout of the cast was Stanley Tucci, as Nigel felt like the heart of the film. Tucci played him with such a kindness and a soft spot that when the film once hinted some anger from him, I was very unhappy. Emily Blunt’s character, Emily, was my least favorite of the four of them as she really seemed to be a caricature of a person and not a real live one, though I did enjoy several of her scenes with Hathaway.

In the end, I liked this sequel. I do not think it was as good as the original, but it was much better than I had anticipated and Meryl Streep is still the best out there.

3.4 stars

The Plague

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I had heard a lot of positive things about the film, The Plague earlier in the year, but it never came around to the theaters in my area. So when I spotted it on AMC + on Prime, I decided to give this a watch.

The film is a psychological thriller/horror film directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton and a cast of teenagers.

I think the theme of this movie is that middle school aged boys are horrible, cruel and just disgusting people.

According to IMDB, “A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.”

This was not what I expected this film to be about. It was a rough watch, especially since I am a middle school teacher and seeing how cruel these kids were to each other, it is something I can relate to in my own life.

There were some questions I had, but I think those all require spoilers, so I will just have to say that I am not sure what I saw was really what I saw during a chunk of the movie.

The main protagonist of the film was Ben, played by Everett Blunck. The young teen Blunck does a really good job dealing with the pressures of trying to fit in with the crowd, while still feeling empathy for those that were being ostracized. It was a strong performance with plenty of layers for this young boy to play. The main antagonist for Ben was Jake, played by Kayo Martin. I swear that every time I saw Kayo Martin, I pictured Justin Shenkarow from Picket Fences. Kayo Martin could easily be his brother, though Shenkarow is much older now. I really disliked the character of Jake, so Kayo Martin did an excellent job of providing the conflict within this group of children. He felt real.

The film is a slow build and does feel longer than its 1:38 run time. Still, the performances are all great and the tension is top notch. There are things that are happening that I am confused by, which kept me on my toes. Maybe I was looking too deeply into it (the Wikipedia page did not make any references to my concepts), but I was glad it was a film I finally was able to see.

4 stars

Fuze

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The third movie of the day was a Thriller/action/heist movie that seemed to be a movie that I was going to like a lot. Unfortunately, plot contrivances brought my enjoyment of the tense film down too much.

According to IMDB, “An unexploded WWII bomb is discovered on a busy construction site in the centre of London. Chaos ensues as the military and police begin a mass evacuation against a ticking clock.“

That sounded exciting. What that synopsis left out was the heist that was taking place during the evacuation.

While I enjoyed a lot of the piece of the film, the story itself just became too unbelievable for me to accept the coincidences and the requirements for things to work out that the movie was expecting the audience to accept. I had a lot of trouble accepting most of this.

There are some solid parts to the film. The cast is excellent with Aaron Taylor-Johnson leading the way as part of the military on location to try to diffuse the bomb. We also had Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ravonna Renslayer from Marvel’s Loki TV series), Theo James, Shaun Mason, and Sam Worthington.

The action was pretty good and the film does a really good job of building suspense for much of the movie. I just had a hard time with some of the twists that happen and some of the things that the film wants the audience to accept. Of course, I can not go into detail about these without spoilers so I will leave it at the fact that I did not find the story being told to be credible.

It is not a bad movie, but I could not get past the plausibility of the story.

2.75 stars

Over Your Dead Body

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Jason Segal and Samara Weaving co-star in this dark comedy about a couple whose relationship has been pushed to the point where both of them plot to murder the other.

Taking cues from films like War of the Roses, Over Your Dead Body takes the violence a step farther and gives us a film that has meta vibes to it as well.

Jason Segal is Dan, who is a less than successful director reduced to doing commercials while longing for the days of helming his one feature length film. Samara Weaving is Lisa, the pretentious actress who is involved with the theater and seemingly critical of her husband’s work.

The car ride to the cabin that they were heading to for the weekend showed well how these two had drifted away from each other and how they held a lot of inner (and outer) antagonism toward the other.

There are some scene of real humor in the film, many of which came in the form of violence and gore. I have to say there is a vomit joke, which you know I hate, but that was the only moment that I was not fond of during the film’s run time.

The film also featured actors Timothy Olyphant, Jake Curran, “Natalie” from Yellowjackets-Juliette Lewis (I tried to place this actress through the whole film, and I never was able to figure out where I knew her from until I got to IMDB), Paul Guilfoyle, Keith Jardine and Danusia Samal.

Jason Segal has been exceptional over the last few years on Apple TV +’s Shrinking, and this gave him a chance to do something different, while still keeping those traits of why we love him as an actor.

While there is nothing new and exciting about the story, the performances are great and the movie does not fail to elicit laughter. There are several tense and awkward scenes that really work in the context of the film and director Jorma Taccone brought the best out of the actors.

This is a very fun film of martial disharmony.

3.75 stars

Michael

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Critical reviews for Michael were surprisingly low this past week, bringing out all kinds of comments from the online community. It was as low as 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. Last time I looked, it was around 38% and I found that difficult to believe.

So, with expectations tempered, I went to Michael this morning in Cinemark XD, and I came out of the film having had a good time. I understand the reason why some critics did not enjoy this one though.

This is the story of Michael Jackson and his rise to fame, through the making of Thriller. Michael (Jaafar Jackson) had issues with his abusive father Joe (Colman Domingo) as he was singing with his brothers in the Jackson 5 and attempting to go solo.

Jaafar Jackson is excellent as Michael Jackson. Jaafar Jackson is a cousin of Michael Jackson in real life and you can see the family resemblance. He carries himself very well and his performance does show off the talent and beginning of the eccentricities of the character of Michael. I was also impressed with the performance of Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson. I hated that character throughout the entire film.

The music is sensational. I do not think that anyone can say anything negative about the music. I suppose if someone hated Michael Jackson’s music, this would not be a film for them, but, if they hate Michael Jackson’s music, why would they go to a two hour + movie of Michael Jackson.

The reason, I am guessing, that most critics were not fond of this film was because of the story. It was not much of a story being told. Some of the real problematic moments of the movie were touch on at times (there was a scene with Joe and young Michael in a discipline situation that was hard to watch), but they do not go into a great deal of depth. Michael was portrayed as about the greatest guy possible, and, if you are looking for the controversy, you will be disappointed.

The story is basic music biopic 101 and it does not go into much more than that. However, the music is so great throughout the film and the performances are right on target that this film becomes one that is entertaining despite the flaws that it might have in the writing. There were literally a few moments of music that had me near tears from the nostalgia of it (particularly the Motown 25 performance).

I should also shoutout what a great job Juliano Valdi did as the young Michael. The first part of the film featured Michael in the Jackson 5 and Valdi had some real solid work in the film. The aforementioned discipline scene was for Valdi and he nailed that brilliantly.

Michael Jackson fans will love this movie and it definitely implies that this is a first film featuring the King of Pop. If you are looking for a deeper story, you may feel slighted.

3.8 stars

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

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I had a open stretch of time tonight before Daredevil: Born Again so I went to Fandango at Home and rented the concert documentary by Baz Luhrmann, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.

The film has a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and recordings featuring Elvis and his music.

We get some wonderful insights into the music and life of Elvis Presley, most of it right from the King’s mouth. Interspersed with scenes from his live concerts that he did after his movie contract expired.

It was great hearing him sing some songs that were not typical Elvis songs. We heard him sing some Beatles (Yesterday), Simon & Garfunkel (Bridge over Troubled Water), and the Righteous Brothers (You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling) among others.

Hearing the classic older Elvis songs ( In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, Burning Love) was awesome, especially with the live versions.

The concert documentary was highly entertaining and was a great piece of entertainment for the time frame that I had available. I kind of wish I had seen it on the big screen with a better sound system. It was a fun hour and a half with great music and an enjoyable backstage history.

4 stars

Normal

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This was a movie that I had no idea about until just this past week. I had never seen a trailer. I went into the film as blind as I could. I thought this was sensational… a deft mixture of Fargo with Hell or High Water.

Bob Odenkirk co-wrote, produced and starred in Normal, as a interim sheriff taking over for a sheriff in the little town of Normal, Minnesota who recently died. It does not take long to realize that there is something really weird going in with the town.

This is a dark comedy and it was very effective. I was laughing out loud multiple times during the film, especially with some of the clever violence that is included with the film. I was engaged from the start with the mystery of what was going on in the town. There were moments throughout the beginning of the film that was just subtle enough to make you wonder if you were thinking too deeply. Maybe you were seeing things that were not actually there. No that was not the case.

Odenkirk, as we have seen in the Nobody franchise, works extremely well as an action hero. His laid back performance was quite the juxtaposition with the situation that his character, Ulysses, finds himself in. He is an easy to cheer for protagonist and extremely likable.

As I said, this movie is surprisingly violent and much of the violence is designed as the funny parts of the film. There were some clever scenes that a lot of horror movies would be jealous of.

At 90 minutes, Normal has the perfect length. It does not push things too far and has just enough time to dive into the story of the film and of this little Minnesota town.

There were fun scenes with Henry Winkler, Ryan Allen, Lena Headey, Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher, Jess McLeod, and Bill MacLellan.

Without knowing anything about this film, I enjoyed this one a great deal. I would venture to say that I liked this more than the Nobody franchise films from Odenkirk’s oeuvre.

4.5 stars

Outcome

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The newest Keanu Reeves movie debuted this weekend on Apple TV + instead of in theaters. Is there a reason for that?

According to IMDB, “Follows Hollywood star Reef as he is forced to confront his problems and atone for his past after being threatened by a bizarre video footage from his past.“

This was listed as a comedy on Apple TV, but there was not a lot of laughter in the film. Keanu Reeves’s character was sad and depressing for much of the run time. He was playing a huge Hollywood star who had dropped out of the limelight for the past five years. Some of the details of his past are hinted at but never really gone into deep detail about, but he is on an apology tour, claiming to be sober.

Matt Bomer and Cameron Diaz play his best friends who have supported him from the beginning, but who are feeling taken advantage of by their friend.

There is a strong cast besides Reeves, Diaz and Bomer. Others appearing in the film include Susan Lucci, Jonah Hill (who also directed the film), Martin Scorsese, David Spade, Van Jones, Laverne Cox, Roy Wood, Jr, Drew Barrymore, Welker White, and Asante Jones.

I am not sure much about the story, and I could’ve used more humor in the dark comedy. Jonah Hill was over the top again, although there were some moments among the ridiculousness where we see some real character in his role. My favorite scenes involved Martin Scorsese, surprisingly.

Much like the other movie I watched today (Thrash), this is not the worst thing on TV, but I did find it a little boring. It is a fine film to play if you have nothing else to do. It is not going to be a great viewing though.

2.6 stars

Thrash

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I swear I saw this movie, but it was with killer alligators instead of a pack of sharks.

That movie was called Crawl, and, to be fair, was much better than the new film called Thrash, which debuted on Netflix this weekend.

We will never be done with shark movies. There is something about sharks that make them horrifying, and the perfect killing machines, specifically on film.

There are fewer shark movies that are awesome than those that are garbage, but every once in awhile, there are some good ones made. Which category does Thrash fall into?

According to IMDB, “When a Category 5 hurricane decimates a coastal town, the storm surge brings devastation, chaos and something far more frightening: hungry sharks.“

Thrash has some decent moments, but there are some really dumb scenes that stretch plausibility to a level that just pulls you out of the film.

Phoebe Dynevor played Lisa, who gets stuck in her car as the flood came in. Lisa was pregnant. Whitney Peak played Dakota, a young lady who saved Lisa from her car. These two characters were placed in some ridiculous places in an attempt to survive. However, these two were more believable than the other main story.

Three kids, who were in a unloving foster home situation with a horrible couple, have to survive when the bull sharks make it into their house. The kids are played by Stacy Clausen, Alyla Brown and Dante Ubaldi. They were fine, but some of the situations that they were placed in were out there.

There were some questions I had about time as the darkness came and went very quickly.

Having said that, Thrash was not the worst shark movie that I have seen. I would consider it somewhere in the mid area of shark movies. Certainly it is no Jaws, but it is much better than stuff like 47 Meters Down or Into the Deep. I compared it to Crawl earlier in this review, but that movie was so much better.

I think Thrash would be a passable movie to watch on Netflix if you do not have much else to do. I would not say it does not completely suck, but that is hardly high praise.

2.75 stars