Wow.

I have never been much of a fan of gospel music, but there is absolutely no denying that “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin had one of the most amazing voices ever to perform a song, and this documentary, originally filmed in 1972, shows exactly that.

Over two nights, Aretha Franklin recorded a live gospel album at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972, an album that became the best selling gospel album of all time.  Warner Brothers sent film maker Sydney Pollack to record the sessions, but there was technical difficulties and the film had never been finished…until now.

Franklin performed a series of gospel songs with the Southern California Community Choir, as the well-known Reverend James Cleveland spoke and hosted the event.  Aretha’s father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, attended night two as did Rolling Stones lead man Mick Jagger.

This film is not so much a documentary as a recording of the evenings’ events.  That is not a negative because clearly what a viewer wants here is to hear these songs sung by Aretha Franklin.  You did not need much more to make this a powerful experience.  You can tell that by the faces of not only the crowd, but also of the choir.

The emotions were written all over the faces of Reverend Cleveland, who is constantly wiping tears and sweat from his face, and the members of the choir, who, at times, appeared to not believe what they were hearing.

My only complaint is that I was not able to see this in a theater with the surround sound echoing around.  I watched this at home on my computer from the site Vudu, and I cannot help but imagine how powerful this would be in a location more conducive for the presentation of sound quality.  I can remember seeing trailers for this documentary in the theater and being blown away by what I heard there.  That is obviously not a criticism of the film, but it is something that affected my viewing experience.

Amazing Grace serves not only as a wonderful example of a voice beyond compare, but also as a time capsule to a time and place from nearly fifty years ago.

4.5 stars

If you are going to Hobbs & Shaw, know the kind of movie you are going to see.  Do not expect a lot of depth (though there is some) and be ready to ignore logical thought.  However, none of that is bad because if you let yourself have fun, there is a lot of fun to be had with the first Fast & Furious spin off.

Luke Hobbes (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are recruited for a mission after apparent rogue MI6 agent, and sister to Deckard Shaw, Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) betrayed her crew and stole a deadly virus called the Snowflake.  Despite appearances, Hattie had not betrayed anyone and was being set up by the actual terrorist, Brixton (Idris Elba).  Brixton was a technologically enhanced human and he started searching for the virus.  Hobbs & Shaw’s unwilling partnership was put to the test by the “Black Superman” Brixton.

If you enjoyed the bickering of The Rock and Statham in the last Fast & the Furious movie, then this will be for you.  The chemistry between the two of them is easily the selling point of this spin off.  Their banter and arguing is funny, quick witted and entertaining.  I really loved Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie as well.  She was anything but a damsel in distress and she had a glow on the screen.  She is a star in the making and looked great next to The Rock.

The action pieces were fun and, perhaps, impossible.  Again, if you let a little thing like physics get in the way of an action/adventure film, then you should stay away from this.  I will say that some of the fights were filmed with too much shaky cam and were not clear to see.  I would have preferred some more crisp action imagery here during some of the fights.

There were several high profile cameos in the film that were wonderful.  I won’t spoil any of them, but the fact that they could be kept quiet was impressive for the film.  Especially since I feel as if they gave too much away in trailers.  There were several action beats that I would have liked to have seen for the first time in the movie instead of the trailer.

The film continued a theme of family, much like the Fast & the Furious franchise, as both Shaw and Hobbs had issues to overcome dealing with their families.  Neither had real deep moments, but there were a few nice moments that did not need to be included, but helped give us some flavor about these two characters.  In particular, seeing some of the Samoan heritage for Hobbs was cool.  Admittedly, Joe Anoa’i (known in WWE as Roman Reigns) does not have much of a role here (as a real life cousin to Dwayne Johnson) as he lacks any dialogue.  Anoa’i was there to do some of his WWE movies during the third act fight scenes and he looked good doing that.   Meanwhile, there was a nice couple of scenes with Johnson and Hobbs’ estranged brother Jonah (Cliff Curtis).  Dwayne Johnson has some chops in him and I do believe he has some dramatic movies in his future.  You can see a glimpse of that here.

I loved Lori Pelenise Tuisano, who played Hobbs’ mom.  She brought that tough Samoan matriarchal  presence that you can see in the culture.

Idris Elba is always great, and this is no exception.  He was Terminator-like as the technological enhanced Brixton and looked to be a bad ass enough to take on both Hobbs and Shaw.

There are also several fun mid/post credit scenes that you want to make sure you stick around for.

Everybody in this film knows exactly what kind of film it is and they all play right into it.  Hobbs & Shaw has charm and excitement and some great implausible action scenes.  This is a great popcorn movie for the end of summer and anyone criticizing it for not being more does not understand the franchise.  It is okay just to go to the movies for some escapism and Hobbs & Shaw provide plenty of that.  This is also as close to the WWE version of the Rock that Dwayne Johnson has ever come on the big screen.

4 stars

One of the best qualities of Chris Evans, which made him the perfect Captain America for several years, is his likability.  He is charming and engaging.  You feel as if you would follow him wherever he asked you to go.

Now that his days as Captain America seem to be at an end, Chris Evans is free to use that likability to make other movies and play other types of characters.  However, his first film since Endgame sees him as another heroic character, but this time a more down to earth one.

The Red Sea Diving Resort is a Netflix film that tells the true story of a group of Mossad agents, led by Ari Levinson (Chris Evans) and brave Ethiopians who used a rundown retreat in Sudan as a front to smuggle thousands of refugees to Israel.  Levinson put together his own team for the mission that turned into them actually running the resort for unsuspecting white tourists.

The story itself was not as tension filled as it could have been.  There was not much development of any of the victims so it made it harder to relate to them, but I did enjoy the group working with Levinson and their relationships helped move the film along.

While it cannot compare to a film such as Argo, The Red Sea Diving Resort has its moments.  Some of the early scenes at the hotel show more of a loose tone, which was a stark contrast to the more dangerous scenes later in the film.

Michael Kenneth Williams is strong as the dedicated Kabede Bimro.  Chris Chalk was the antagonist, Col. Abdel Ahmed who was determined to stop these refugees.  Ben Kingsley appears as Chris Evans’s superior.  Alessandro Nivola is the doctor that Evans wants to join them.  Haley Bennett plays Rachel, who had some great scenes as a woman in this country where that is a danger.

The film may be too long, but I did enjoy it.  Chris Evans’ presence helps make this a better film.

3.4 stars

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the ninth film in the filmography of director Quentin Tarantino, one of the most respected and highly anticipated directors in film today.  A Tarantino film automatically creates excitement among the movie going public, and sometimes with a director such as Tarantino (or Nolan), their work is held at a higher level than what it is because of the name.  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would not be considered as great as many seem to be saying if the name of Quentin Tarantino was not connected to it, because there are a lot of major flaws to the film.

The film was initially being reported as Tarantino’s take on the Charles Manson story in 1969, specifically the murder of Sharon Tate.  This movie is not about Charles Manson and the cult is only, really, a secondary aspect of the film.

The movie is about two men, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a famous television actor whose career has taken a downward turn forcing him into taking the “villain-of-the-week” roles to keep acting, and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick’s stuntman/driver/friend/gopher, who works for Rick because he had been blackballed from Hollywood after a rumored incident from a few years before.

Both DiCaprio and Pitt are fantastic in these roles and the charisma between the two characters is undeniable.  The movie is based more on their friendship than anything else, although there are giant parts of the film that drops that story to focus on other areas.  The best parts of the movie deal with the two men together.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood feels like a series of cool segments and scenes strung together in a film without a proper through line.  There is a feeling of disjointedness to the movie that makes the first 2/3rds of it feel stretched out and, even, dull at times.  Undeniably, the final 20 minutes or so is Tarantino at his finest, but the journey to get to that finale is such a chore that the ending does not feel enough to bail the story out.

The problem is there really is no narrative plot to this movie.  There are some great scenes and moments, but they do not fit together at all.

There is plenty of character arcs in the film, but there is not enough focus on any one character to make it worthwhile.  I would say that Brad Pitt’s character is truly the main character, but I think the film intends for it to be DiCaprio’s character.

Honestly, almost the entire Manson Family stuff could be removed and would help the film out.  Of course, since the finale deals with that part of the story directly, you would have to readjust the finale totally.  There is a cool scene with Brad Pitt going to the Manson cult’s compound, but it did not provide us with anything for the story moving forward.  It was a cool scene, but it did not have a purpose for the film.  It was completely isolated from the Rick Dalton character for certain.

There were some great moments with the Rick Dalton character too, specifically parts where Rick is playing a villain in a TV series and interacting with a young method actor (Julia Butters).  The monologue DiCaprio delivers in his trailer is an epic meltdown and provides major insight into the recesses of Rick Dalton’s mind and his confidence.

No doubt Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are great in these roles. I really loved Brad Pitt’s character in this movie, but there is a massive back story piece that is just left unresolved that could totally redefine how I think about Cliff Booth.  Without spoiling it, I cannot believe that they never revisited this scene again in the movie.

The film looked amazing and there were some very funny moments, but there was just not a story to follow.  There were too many characters to call this an effective character study either.

One major waste was the use of Margot Robbie in the movie.  She played Sharon Tate (a real life victim of the Manson Cult).  Margot Robbie is a star.  Every second she was on screen, I could not take my eyes off of her.  She was luminous, practically outshining anything on the screen.  Sadly though, there was just not much for her to do and that feels like a missed opportunity.

Some of the best parts dealt with the look at Hollywood in the late 1960s and many of the films/shows that Rick Dalton appeared in.  Still, there was a lack of inter-connectivity here making them all feel too isolated.

I am convinced that if this film did not have Tarantino’s name on it, critics would be singing a different tune about it.  That double standard needs to be addressed some day.  Until then, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood certainly has some positives to it, but it just does not feel like a complete film, which is saying something for a movie that goes for 2 hours and 45 minutes.  DiCaprio and Pitt are great, but Margot Robbie needed more.  And if you were interested in seeing Tarantino’s take on the Manson Family, forget it.  It is one of  the least violent Tarantino films (until act 3, that is).

2.9 stars 

Okay, this was really weird.

David Harbour in a mockumentary on Netflix called Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein?  What exactly was this?

It was a 32 minute “special” and, after seeing it, I am still not exactly sure what is happening.  All I know it was some absurd fun.

David Harbour uncovered some family secrets when he found some footage of his father, David Harbour Jr., an actor who was constantly claiming to have gotten into Julliard, filming a play about the age old story of Frankenstein.  That’s about all I can tell you because the rest of this story is just so bizarre that I am not sure that I can actually express what it is about.

The film is both a documentary of David Harbour III trying to find out about his father’s past and the actual filming of the play starring David Harbour II.  The thing is.. it becomes difficult at times to distinguish when the play and the documentary are crossing.

And it is wonderfully weird.  Did I say that yet?

I do believe that the short film requires a second viewing to see the number of gags here and I enjoyed what this was for what it was.

Weird.

3.75 stars

I had never heard thing one about this movie when I saw it in the list of films at the Cinemark.  Or at least, I did not remember anything about it.  After seeing the film I realized that I had seen at least one trailer from it, but it was certainly not a film that ran that trailer a bunch of times (or was very effective of a trailer since I did not remember it).

Jesse Eisenberg plays Casey, a down-on-his-luck schmuck who is just going through life down the rungs of the ladder.  He’s learning French with the hope that some day he would have the chance to go to France.

One night, after coming back from his brain dead job, he discovered that he was out of dog food and he had to head out to pick some up.  On the way to the store, a motorcycle gang stopped him and asked if he had a gun.  Leaving him, Casey was spooked.  After getting the dog food, as Casey was on his way back, he was stopped by the motorcycle gang and beaten into  critical condition for no reason.

As he recovered, Casey, who was already timid and withdrawn, became even more so.

Casey stumbled across a karate dojo and went inside to see the class.  The Sensei (Alessandro Nivola) was leading the class and approached Casey after wards.  Casey is very taken with the idea of karate and with Sensei himself and agrees to come for his first, free class.

After the first class, Casey is excited about signing up, but he soon realizes that the class is leading him on a path that was unexpected.

The Art of Self-Defense is dark and violent, but has many funny moments as well.  Jesse Eisenberg is great in this role, one of his best since The Social Network.  You feel so bad for Casey as bad things continue to happen to him and you can see that many of these bad things are because of Sensei and this karate dojo.  Still, he is so desperate for a relief of the anguish and fear that has so gripped him that he does not know what he can do.

Alessandro Nivola is tremendous as Sensei. He is so cold and calculating and yet so warm and inviting that you are never quite sure what is happening, even when you are seeing clear evidence that Sensei may not be all there.  Nivola plays this contradiction beautifully.

The ending is great, even though, technically, I saw it coming.  That typically irritates me, but the third act is so very satisfying, I can forgive the fact that I had figured out what was going to happen (at least part of the way) prior.

The film dives into the theme of toxic masculinity as we see this echoing throughout the movie.  Yes, there are a few coincidences that have to be accepted, but that does not totally derail the picture.

There were some shocking moments that worked well, keeping the viewer off guard.

The film is a strong character piece focusing on poor Casey and his lack of power, lack of male masculinity in a world where that is required.  It’s like they took The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, mushed them together with Seven Psychopaths and Fight Club.  It was dark fun.

4 stars 

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba                                                                                                            Sithi uhm ingonyama

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba                                                                                                        Sithi uhhmm ingonyama                                                                                                                    Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba                                                                                                                            Ingonyama                                                                                                                                Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala

–The Circle of Life

On the day we arrived on the planet…. Disney was making money, and there is no doubt in the world that the remake of the classic Disney animated movie The Lion King will make all the moneys.

But is that the only reason that they created this “live action” version of the film, or is there something deeper here?

Let’s address the elephant in the room (not literally).  It is hard to call this a live action adaptation when there is nothing that is alive in the actual movie.  This should be defined as “photo realistic” animation.  And, no matter what we call it, the animation is a masterpiece.

Literally, it looks like we have real animals moving around a real landscape in Africa, somehow moving their mouths.  The CGI of the film is nothing short of brilliant and a work of absolute art.  No matter what anyone tells you about the movie, the visuals are some of the greatest work ever to be seen on the big screen.

Now, the rest.

The story itself is nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the animated film.  You know the story… young lion cub Simba leaves his home after his father, the king, Mustafa is killed by his brother Scar.  Scar makes it look as if it was Simba who was at fault so he could assume the throne.  Simba chased off by the hyenas, finds friends out in the world of Timon and Pumbaa (a meerkat and warthog, respectfully) and lives his life until destiny finds him.

Yes, it is basically Hamlet.  It is an all-time classic story.

So why did it feel dull here?

As I said, the movie was basically a shot-for-shot remake of the animated movie, which was amazing, so why is the “live action” version not the same?  Why does it feel as if they sucked out all the emotion and the magic from the film?  Did they actually turn The Lion King into a Disneynature film?

I think part of the problem was the photo realistic nature of the animation did not lend itself to any expression from the faces of the lions.  The mouths were moving, including saying many lines form the original script that never fails to elicit deep emotion, but there was just no expression in the eyes or the faces of these characters and that hurt the feels.  Even the big emotional moment with the stampede did not make me feel much and that scene normally destroys me.

The magic was just not there, which made me find the film to be hollow, albeit a beautifully created hollow film.

The Lion King (2019) did not add enough new to it to justify its existence for anything other than a cash grab.  Sure, all movies want to make money and there is nothing wrong with that, but when you have an IP like Lion King, you bring a level of expectations to the project beyond just the pocketbooks.  Jon Favreau, who did the much better live-action remake of Jungle Book, directed the film that really needed a new vision or something that gave it a purpose beside stunning visuals.

It is hard not to compare this film to the 1994 animated version, because it is so close to it in so many ways. That might be unfair, because that first movie is, arguably, one of the greatest animated movies ever made.  If I had to share one of these movies with someone who had never seen this before, I would pick the 1994 animated film every time.

It is actually sad to me that there are many people who will have this version of The Lion King as their introduction to the film.  While 2019 Lion King is a visual masterpiece, the rest is a letdown.

2.6 stars

Looking over at Netflix this evening and I came across a film called Point Blank starring the Falcon and Crossbones.  That is, of course, Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo, and it was a somewhat short film so I thought I would give it a chance.

So, Frank Grillo’s character, Abe, was being set up to take the fall for the assassination of the District Attorney and he winds up in the hospital when his brother Mateo (Christian Cooke) hits him with the car on their attempted escape from the scene of the crime.  Mateo kidnaps the nurse-on-duty, Paul’s (Anthony Mackie) pregnant wife Taryn (Teyonah Parris) to ensure the help of Paul to break Abe from custody.

Paul agrees to do whatever it takes to get his wife back; however, the story takes an unexpected turn when it looks as if the status quo is not what he expects.

I like both Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo so I had hopes for this film.  The problem was this… the movie wants you to relate to and cheer for Abe and Mateo as the career criminals because they had hearts of gold and that they stumbled into the conspiracy of the film.  Yet, I could not find myself rooting for either one of these characters because Mateo kidnapped a pregnant woman and held her at gunpoint.  Both of them kept the woman in their custody despite the potential danger that they might have exposed the unborn child to.  I had a hard time getting past that.  Maybe the other people who were framing Abe for the D.A.’s murder were worse, but that does not make it better for me.  The only people in the film who you could root for was Paul and Taryn.  And truthfully, I was a little uncertain about Paul.

The third act of the movie stretched credibility beyond reasonable levels as Abe and Paul launch their attack to get their revenge and retrieve the now-in-labor Taryn, respectfully.

The tone was all over the place.  It would be moving along with a seriousness of the situation and then, suddenly, something funny, almost slapstick-like would happen, feeling completely out of place.

Anthony Mackie was fine here, as was Frank Grillo, but the story really betrayed them.

2.2 stars

After seeing the new movie Crawl, I know one thing for damn sure.  I ain’t never going to Florida.  They’ve got hurricanes, floods, and giant killer alligators everywhere.

Count me out.  I have now learned that I am really damn scared of giant alligators trying to eat people.  Who knew.

This is a simple movie that is done so well.  It is tense and frightening.  It is a white-knuckle ride as soon as the alligators show up until the last minute of the movie.

As a hurricane is preparing to strike Florida, Haley (Kaya Scodelario), a top-line collegiate swimmer, hears from her sister that their father Dave (Barry Pepper) would not answer the phone.  Haley heads out to his house to try and find him.  She winds up trapped in the crawlspace of the house with him, flood waters rising threatening them with drowning, and several vicious alligators swimming around.

I was actually jumping in my seat throughout the movie.  Every time the alligator lunged at Haley or her father, I felt the stress and nerves.  This was the way jump scares were meant to be done.  You build up the tension and earn the release.  You don’t fake them, set them up and not pay them off.  This film does the jump scares so well, I wish other films would follow this blueprint.

The visual effects are tremendous in Crawl too.  The alligators look beautiful and every tooth is scary.  This had to be a rough job to work as the house continued to fill with water.

Yes, this is a simple story, but the movie does a great job of being what it is.  It is a thriller/horror film and it brings the fear and the suspense.  The performances from father/daughter, Scodelario and Pepper, are powerful, especially in the world of peril.  They display so many emotions and they shared a very strong and emotional scene dealing with their relationship that helped frame their characters better.

So long to Florida…

4.5 stars

I loved Kumail Nanjiani’s last major film, The Big Sick, which was basically the story of how he and his wife got together.  This one is not as much of a true story, or at least I hope it is not.

Kumail Nanjiani plays a mild mannered man named Stu, who uses a rental electric car to drive for Uber in hopes of making some extra money.  When he picks up Vic (Dave Bautista), a desperate police officer whose vision is blurry from eye surgery that day but who is anxious to investigate a lead he received about the man who killed his partner, little does Stu know that he is going to be dragged into a night of violence and danger.

Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista make a really good comedic team, as they have a very strong chemistry with one another.  They play off each other impressively throughout the film and both actors are so likable that you can overlook some of the ridiculous situations that the film drops them in.

While many of the moments are ridiculous, they are usually pretty funny and I have said it many times before.  Funny can make things better.  You can overlook flaws if you are laughing at them.  Stuber has some very solid jokes and situations that are funny.

Not only are they funny, there are actually a bunch of buddy cop film tropes that are flipped upside down, almost in an attempt to subvert them.  As soon as something looked like you knew where it was going, the film turned it around.  I appreciated the way the film tried to keep things original.  It was not always successful, but the attempt was welcomed.

One of the problems was Kumail Nanjiani got a little annoying at times.  His characterization of Stu was somewhat over-the-top, leading to a lot of yelling.  I have had problems with other actors whose performances wind up being just yelling (Kevin Hart, Will Farrell, Melissa McCarthy etc) and bringing the volume down some would help make it more subtle.

Dave Bautista has improved every time he is on screen and this is a big step for him as he is a co-lead of the movie.  Bautista has thrived lately in the supporting cast, but this is a good turn for the big man.  He shows that he has some decent comedic timing as well.

The supporting cast was strong too.  Natalie Morlaes played Vic’s daughter Nicole, whose big art opening was the same night as the chaos that was happening.  Vic is not shown in much of a positive light and you can see how his partner’s death devastated him.  Betty Gilpin is Becca, Stu’s friend and secret love.  Jimmy Tatro (from American Vandal) was Richie, Stu’s boss at the store he worked at and who tormented Stu constantly.

Iko Uwais (from The Raid series) is the villain Tedjo, but there is little to the character and is there simply to fight with Bautista.  Unfortunately, there is too much shaky cam going on here for the fight scenes to be worthwhile.

To be fair, Vic breaks so many laws and police officer conduct that I can’t believe that he is allowed back on the job after the night, but that is best not mentioned or thought about.

I had a good time watching Stuber mainly because of Bautista and Nanjiani.  It is not a film with a plot that can hold up to a ton of scrutiny, so just sit back and enjoy the humor.  Otherwise, the plot may just ruin the film for you.

3.5 stars

Uuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggg

The new A24 film Midsommer is a horror movie that disturbed the heck out of me.  Honestly, I feel that I need a shower after seeing it.

Not saying that it was bad.  I am having so much trouble processing how I feel about it.  This is from the director Ari Aster, who also directed last year’s Heredity.

Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) are a couple who are having problems with their relationship.  After a terrible tragedy in Dani’s life, they go with a bunch of friends on a midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village.  It does not take long to discover that there are some horrific traditions beneath the surface at the village that you would not expect.

The setting of the mysterious village is amazing.  It is beautifully shot and the bright light around the area sets a fascinating contrast with the darkness happening among the people of the village.  The people feel very much like a cult and some of the traditions and rituals are skin-crawling.

The acting is fine, but I do have to say that I found Florence Pugh’s crying to be way over the top.  There were two instances of it and I found both to be very unlikely that anyone cries like that.  Still, the rest of the time, she is great and it is through her eyes that we see some of the worst things that happen.

One of the worst parts of it is inside your own mind.  There are plenty of pictures drawn on walls in this village, like hieroglyphics or such and they are disgusting and creepy.  Then, you see places in the film where things are happening that may be echoing the pictures on the wall, but the film does not confirm it.   It is like, wait…what?  and the film just keeps on going.  It takes the horror inside the mind of the viewer.

I thought the film dragged a bit.  It was a long film and I think it helped introduce the village, but there were too many spots that felt unimportant.

I am still processing what I feel about Midsommer because of some of the visceral images that we get in the film.  The movie tells the story of the eventual break up of our main characters and it takes it into a path that you simply do not expect.  It is a beautifully shot film but it is a challenging and difficult watch.

I liked the movie, but I do not know if I am going to continue to like it as I process more.

3.2 stars 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 has ended with the 23rd film in the franchise, Spider-Man: Far From Home, which not only has to be a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it has to follow Avengers: Endgame and show what the world of the MCU was like moving forward.

I am happy to say that it was a tremendous success in both ways.

I loved this movie and I was laughing and thoroughly engrossed from the beginning, right through two MASSIVE post credit scenes.

Writing a review for this is going to be pretty challenging because I do not was to reveal any spoilers and the film is filled with them.  Do the best you can to go into the film as fresh as you can be.  Of course, you need to have seen Avengers: Endgame because this takes events directly from that movie.

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) fresh off the events of Endgame, is back as Spider-Man.  However, Peter and his classmates are taking a school science trip to Europe and Peter wants to go on vacation from his web head alter ego.  Ignoring a phone call from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Peter wants to tell MJ (Zendaya) that he likes her and he is planning how he is going to do that.

Fury arrives in Europe to recruit Peter to help them fight these monsters from another multiverse called the Elementals.  Fury wants Spider-Man to join forces with a hero from that other multiverse, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who gets dubbed Mysterio by the media.

That’s about all I can give you without spoiling it.  This info was in the trailers but there is so much more here.

Tom Holland is the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man we have ever had.  He is so charismatic and funny that you connect with him easily.  You understand the internal struggle Peter is having between wanting to have a normal life and tell the girl he likes that he likes her and the responsibility of being Spider-Man, a hero seemingly handpicked by Tony Stark to be the next big hero.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck is perfect.  I absolutely love the characterization of Mysterio in this movie.  I don’t want to go into any details for those who may not know much about Mysterio so that you may remain in the dark.  Gyllenhaal brings such a gravitas to the role and you believe the relationship that develops between Peter and Quentin.

Zendaya’s MJ really takes a gigantic leap forward from the background/comedic character that she was in Homecoming.  MJ is someone who could now be a leading woman in this franchise.  She is so beautiful in every shot she is involved in and I loved the reasoning for her to develop.  She and Tom Holland have undeniable chemistry and the early awkwardness makes you believe this is a high school romance.

The rest of the cast is great too.  The running gag of the romance between Ned  (Jacob Batalon) and Betty (Angourie Rice) was cute and felt real.  We get some more subtle development for Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori).  Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and May (Marisa Tomei) have a relationship that makes Peter feel a bit uneasy.  The cast in fantastic.

The visuals are brilliant, especially in the action scenes.  The visuals at the end literally had me sitting in the theater with my mouth agape.  It was a Spider-man scene that I so loved and made me realize how important that aspect of the character was to me.  The originality of the film’s action was truly a gutsy attempt.

Director Jon Watts deserves a ton of credit for his second Spider-Man movie.  I have seen many people comparing this to Homecoming.  To me, while I love Homecoming and I think that Michael Keaton’s Vulture is brilliant, Far From Home exceeds Homecoming in many different manners.

Post credit scenes… there are two… and they are mind blowing, including a couple of shocking cameos.  No spoilers here, but they were both epic and changed the way the MCU will be moving forward.

The only criticism I have is a spoiler so I cannot reveal it here.  Let’s just say it is something that happens in the third act and is a fairly disappointing trend.

Spider-Man is going to be a huge factor in the Phase four of the MCU, and this film does a lot to show that is the case.  The acting is spot on, the action is special and well designed, the CGI is exceptional, and the story does well in capturing the ideas of Spider-Man and Mysterio.  Stay through the credits.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is so much fun and filled with drama, humor and excitement.  This is the second coming of age story featuring Spider-Man and his ensemble and it is the best one yet.

5 stars

(Yes, I may not be as unbiased as I should be, but it is a great movie)

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