Category Archives: 2024 Movie Reviews

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

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It was a strange path to arrive at me watching this movie. After seeing trailers, I had zero interest in going to see this Christmas movie. It looked very much like a Lifetime special and Christmas is down my list of holidays. I had pretty much decided I would not go to this.

Then I started doing the Year in Review and I realized that the only Christmas film that I had seen this year was Red One, and that was, at best, okay. It felt wrong to give it the X-Mas Movie of the Year Award so I watched an animated movie called This Christmas on Netflix. Sadly, it was just around okay too. I then looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and it was at 91% critics and 97% audience. This made me wonder if I should take this basically open weekend and go see it. It was only an hour and a half. How could that be painful? So even with a doubt in my head, I went to Cinemark this morning for a 9:15 AM showing.

This was really a good movie. I liked this way more than I ever expected.

Historically, I have not been a fan of the faith-based movies, but that is not what this is. This is a movie featuring characters who are being reminded about what Christmas means to them, and how important the Christmas story can be for them. It was about characters. And it was really well done.

Based on a popular novel, we are introduced to The Herdmans, a family of six children who were the biggest troublemakers in the town of Emmanuel. They were feared by children and adults alike.

At this time, the director of the local pageant broke both of her legs, making her unable to continue to do her duties. Grace (Judy Greer) volunteered to take over the job. Unbeknownst to her, the Herdmans decided to come and join the church’s pageant (to get the snacks they were told would come with it). The Herdmans, led by the scary Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), forced their way into the main roles of the pageant, which just happened to be the 75th Annual event.

This was well written, solidly acted and had some genuine funny moments. You can’t but help to like the antics of the Holdman kids, and you can see the diamonds in the rough beneath their surface, especially Imogene. Young Beatrice Schneider does a fantastic job in the role, bringing a humanity to this character that is gruff and unappealing on the surface.

I will admit to getting kind of emotional during the film. I was amazingly impressed with the kindness and unbelievable patience shown by Grace, who could have easily bowed to city pressure and dumped the Holdmans from the play. As a teacher, I was inspired by the way she reacted to these troublesome children and watching the Holdmans respond to the play and trying to answer the questions they naturally had (by a trip to the library) was awesome to me.

You kind of knew what the film’s resolution was going to be, but it was well constructed and still managed to tug on those heartstrings. This was one of those times where predictability was not a negative.

As a Christmas movie, this is much better than much of the sentimental slop that is out there and it gives us a chance to really question if we know the true meaning of Christmas.

4 stars

That Christmas

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A new Christmas animated movie arrived on Netflix recently entitled That Christmas. While I do not think that this was great, it certainly is a decent Christmas film and beats out a lot of the typical schmaltz that we normally get this time of year.

According to IMDB, “It’s an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone’s plans, including Santa’s.“

There were multiple characters and storyline from within this little town of Wellington-on-Sea, and, fact is, I was pretty bored through the first section of the movie. It took me awhile to come to be interested in any of those storylines. However, it must have worked on me eventually because I was feeling very moved by the third act and there were even a few signs of tears from the wonderful ending to this film.

The voice cast is excellent, including several great voices including Bill Nighy, Brian Cox, Jodie Whittaker, Fiona Shaw, Guz Khan, Rhys Darby, Freddie Spry, Zazie Hayhurst and India Brown.

The animation was well done, as one would expect these days. The colors and the brightness made everything better and the amazing work of the snowstorm in the third act helped build some real tension.

The film was mostly about the relationships between parents and their children and how they all fit into Christmas. Brian Cox’s Santa Claus and Guz Khan’s Dasher had a funny interaction through all of their scenes.

Sure, this is not a superb animated movie, but I did eventually enjoy myself with it. It did take some time for me to get into it, but once I did, I was pleased that I chose to watch it.

3.1 stars

Juror #2

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Clint Eastwood’s new film is called Juror#2, a legal drama/thriller starring Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Zoey Deutch, J.K. Simmons and Kiefer Sutherland.

According to IMDB, “While serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, a family man finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict or free the wrong killer.”

Without spoiling the film, there is a central piece of the story that depends on you accepting a HUGE coincidence, one that is really implausible, and I had a real difficult time suspending my disbelief to make this possible. This story element made it very difficult for me to enjoy the movie.

I thought Nicholas Hoult was outstanding as Justin Kemp, who was the titular character. J.K. Simmons was great but he was not in the film enough. Toni Collette’s character, Faith Killebrew, the prosecutor, was okay, but not stand out. Kiefer Sutherland played the worst lawyer I have ever seen on screen.

I began to get past the issues I had as the film went on, but I was not a fan of the ending either. It felt a bit anticlimactic.

I have not been a huge fan of recent Eastwood directed films, and this one is a mixed bag for me. I did enjoy a lot of what was presented, but the whole center storyline element just was too much for me to handle. Overall, it was fine.

3 stars

Beatles ’64

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There is a brand new documentary on Disney + that dropped today featuring the Beatles. There have been several docs about the Beatles over the last few years and this one looks specifically at the year 1964, the year the Beatles came to the shores of the USA.

Told through the perspective of many of the people who saw the Beatles during this time as well as several behind the scenes interviews with the Beatles themselves, Beatles ’64 is a documentary that will be loved by the fans of the Fab Four.

It was cool to see the images of the younger Beatles, before they found their way to the music of the later sixties.

The music of the doc was great. “Love Me Do,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You,” “This Boy,” and “Roll Over Beethoven” were some of the songs we heard during the doc, including the performance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

It is amazing that the Beatles have enough popularity even today to support yet another documentary focused on them. And that there is enough material on them to fill yet another entertaining doc.

4 stars

Rumours

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What?

Okay, that was a weird, downright crazy, black comedy that I am not sure I know what was going on here.

There were the leaders of the G7 conference meeting to come up with a statement on some global conflict. The G7 included leaders of US, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Along the way, the group gets left isolated, which threw them all into a tizzy. Then, some strange bog bodies start to show up. There is a giant brain. Literally.

This has satirical elements to it, but just to be real, it is lost among the weirdness. I suppose there is a commentary about the weakness of world leaders and how their challenges to come together and solve problems fall behind the more important elections.

Not sure why the giant brain though.

The ensemble cast is led by Cate Blanchett, as the German Chancellor. We also have Charles Dance, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Takehiro Hira, Rolando Ravello, Denis Ménochet, Roy DuPuis and Alicia Vikander.

It did feel as if the actors were all playing this straight, which made everything feel even more off the wall.

I can see where this might not be the jam for a lot of people (the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is really low), but I found this to be strangely entertaining. It is definitely bat-shit crazy, but I did not feel insulted watching it. Not sure how to score this one. It makes me think of Beau is Afraid, which I did not give a rating (N/A, actually), but I actively disliked much of that film and this one I enjoyed the weirdness. so…..

3.5 stars

I rented this on Fandango. I remember seeing the film playing in my area, but I did not get to go to it. I am glad I watched it, but I wonder what I would have thought if I saw it in the theater as I had intended.

Blitz

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Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, has a new film that is currently streaming on Apple + and has been in discussion for awards considerations.

It is 1940 and London is experiencing deadly bombing from the Nazi air force. Because of this, the people of London were sending their children away to try and protect them from the bombings. Rita (Saoirse Ronan) was a single parent sending her son George (Elliott Heffernan) away on a train. George was not happy about the situation, going as far as telling his mother that he hated her.

About an hour into the trip on the train, George jumps off with the intent of going back to his home in London.

George faced a ton of troubles along the way, including several of the seeder characters on the streets of London, as if it were right out of the stories of Charles Dickens.

Saoirse Ronan was excellent in this film, bringing the anguish of her situation and the absolute fear when she discovered that her son was missing. Elliott Heffernan does a very solid job with the mostly physical role, providing the right amount of grit and determination. George never gave up despite situations that clearly could have led many people to give in. The film certainly depended upon the skills of Heffernan.

The special effects and the war-torn areas of London were amazingly constructed and portrayed in the film. There was a sequence in an underground area with water flooding in that was seriously stunning and anxiety-driven. The first half of the film went a little slowly, but the film definitely picked up as the time went on.

Blitz is available on Apple + and is a very strong film.

3.8 stars

Moana 2

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The sequel to the hit Disney animated movie Moana, Moana 2 came out today with every indication that it is going to be a huge hit for Disney.

According to IMDB, “After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.“

Moana 2 is a perfectly fine movie. I thought this had a lot of positives to it. I just would say that it does not reach the level of the original, and that is okay.

The biggest issue was that you could absolutely tell that Lin Manuel Miranda was not involved in this new film. His music was some of the best parts of the original Moana, but these songs in Moana 2 are, at best, passable. There were even a few of the times when the lyrics of the songs were weak.

Dwayne Johnson and Aulii Cravalho are great voicing their characters. They are definitely the strength of the film. The story of Moana heading out trying to find other groups of people was solid and made sense.

I’m not sure how much I loved the secondary characters that were brought aboard Moana’s crew. They were kind of annoying at times, but it was okay. I did enjoy the wrap up of the movie and the third act felt better than the first couple of acts.

Of course, the film looks incredible. The animation is beautiful and the designs of the film were sensational. The storms were amazing and looked fantastic.

I thought Moana 2 was a fun movie, but it was not terrific. It was definitely enjoyable overall. I did not think it matched the original, and the songs were not memorable. Moana 2 was good enough.

3.4 stars

The Piano Lesson

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Netflix does release several Oscar-worthy films this time of the year as they give out films that they have agreed to back on their platform. While many of the films that are made expressly for Netflix come up short, these releases are usually fairly high quality.

That is the case for the new film The Piano Lesson, which came out this past Friday on the streamer. It had appeared at TIFF this year to soundly positive reviews and now can be seen by the nation as a whole.

According to IMDB, “[The Piano Lesson] Follows the lives of the Charles family as they deal with themes of family legacy and more, in deciding what to do with an heirloom, the family piano.”

There is much more than that simplistic summary gives, including an air of supernatural in the house where the piano is being stored. There were some really creepy moments in this movie that were weirdly out of place, or at least felt that way. However, these moments do work for the film, you just do not expect them to arrive in this type of movie.

The conflict between Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is remarkable. They have an amazing chemistry with each other as brother and sister, but they were both determined that they knew what was best with this piano and it was clear that this conflict was not about to be resolved through discussion. Both Washington and Deadwyler brought their best work and presented powerful characters that each had an understandable argument.

Samuel L. Jackson is great in the film as well are Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Malik J. Ali.

The film definitely felt like a stage play turned into a movie, and, after watching it, I did find out that it was based on a stage play by August Wilson and that Jackson, Washington, Potts and Fisher all starred in it. You could see how they all felt very comfortable in their roles.

Danielle Deadwyler was the standout. Coming off her amazing Oscar snubbed performance in Till, she is once again exceptional. Her emotions are on the edge through the whole film and her dogged determination that the piano with the faces of her family carved upon it was going nowhere.

This is available to stream on Netflix.

4 stars

Wicked

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The classic stage musical Wicked has arrived in theaters with a part one. Part two will come next year. When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was not very impressed. However, after seeing this, I can comfortably say that this is one of the best movies of the year.

According to IMDB, “Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), their friendship reaches a crossroads.”

There is so much great about this movie. I’ll star with the performances of the two leading ladies, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who were both sensational. I would venture to guess that both Erivo and Grande will receive Oscar nominations for this movie. They absolutely shine on the screen. Erivo looks awesome in her green makeup and Ariana Grande proved that she was a better actress than anyone every thought she was. And the two of them had amazing chemistry with each other and it worked so well.

Both of them were amazing with the music too. You would expect Grande to knock the music out of the park, but Cynthia Erivo matched her with every note and her performance of “Defying Gravity” is goosebump inducing.

Though we did not see much of him, Jeff Goldblum was excellent as the Wizard of Oz and it was cool to see Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible too.

The movie is gorgeous. The cinematography is next level and the colors are great. Much like other versions of Oz, the colors are an important aspect for the land.

I loved the world building going on here too. Everything made sense and it did not feel that anything was forced. The writing was epic and told this adaptation well.

I do think that the movie is a little long. Some of the first act could have been trimmed to make things work a little better. The third act though was exceptional. I knew where the end of the film was coming so the big “TO BE CONTINUED” popping up on the screen did not bother me. It felt like a perfect place to stop. I know some people may not be happy about a film that is a part one.

I did not ever see the stage show and I was very limited with the music too, but I thought the film does a great job creating a world that I want to keep watching. It was an epic film and director Jon Chu really did a fantastic job. It is one of the best movies of the year.

4.8 stars

Gladiator II

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There are not a ton of Oscar winning movies that have gotten sequels, especially over 20 years later. However, director Ridley Scott has done it with Gladiator II, a sequel to the Oscar winner from 2001.

According to IMDB, “After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.“

I was disappointed with this movie. I had not expected it to be anywhere as good as the first film was, but this was considerably lesser than that movie. There were several problems with the movie.

Before I get into the negatives, there were some good things about the movie. I did not hate this film, and they did have some good things. Starting off with Denzel Washington, who is as good here as he always is. Denzel was excellent as the manipulator/villain of the piece and he brought that slimy feel to him.

Another positive for the film was most of the action was pretty good. The fights are brutal and well constructed, especially the hand to hand battles and the swordplay. There was some cool animal fights too. I saw a criticism that the Romans may not have used them in the coliseum and I could not care about that at all. Most of the animals were awesome.

However, there were sharks too and that was just one of the most ridiculous of all the animals involved. That was easily the worst coliseum scene we got.

So the problems. First, the film is too long. You could have trimmed 15-20 minutes off the run time of the film and make it feel tighter. Next, the writing, specifically the dialogue, was just not very good.

Another major issue I had was the first ten minutes, which nearly lost me. There was a weird, almost James Bond type introduction and I felt like it was such a waste. The classical music was great, but what was the purpose of this? Then, the story started and they introduced Lucius’s wife, who was an archer, and I immediately thought to myself that there was no way she was making it through the movie, and I was proven right almost immediately. The problem with that was that they tried to make this relationship the key to Lucius’s anger, but we barely got to know her so I did not feel anything when she died.

I liked Pedro Pascal in the film, but I felt like his character was muddled and inconsistent. The twin emperors, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, were cartoon characters and out of place in this movie. Paul Mescal is fine as Lucius, but his motivation was shaky too. Was he anger over his love’s death or something about his mother?

As I said, I did not hate this movie, but I did not like it much. It lost me early and was never good enough to pull out of the spiral. The original Gladiator is considered one of the best films by many, so you should go watch that. This one is just not up to snuff.

2.8 stars

Emilia Pérez

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I had heard this was an Oscar favorite. With it now on Netflix, I was excited to give it a chance. I was not expecting what I saw.

First, this was mostly in Spanish. I guess I should have guessed that from the title, but I did not.

Second, it was a musical. Simply did not see that coming.

According to IMDB, “Mexico, today. Overqualified and exploited, lawyer Rita is wasting her talents working for a large firm far better at whitewashing criminal garbage than serving justice. But an unexpected way out appears, the sort of offers you can’t refuse : to help feared cartel boss Juan “Little Hands” Del Monte – aka Manitas – retire from his business and disappear forever. Manitas has a plan he’s been fine-tuning in secret for years : to become, at last, the woman he’s always dreamed of becoming.”

The performers were spectacular in this movie. Zoe Saldana was Rita, the lawyer who was brought in as a way to help Manitas, played by Karla Sofía Gascón. Selena Gomez played Manitas’ wife, Jessi. All three of these performers were sensational. And they all did a tremendous job with the music/songs.

The movie was 2 and a 1/2 hours long, but it absolutely did not feel like it. The film flew by. In fact, when it came to its dramatic conclusion, I was looking at the clock wondering how this could be over already. That means this long film was paced brilliantly or else you are going to feel that passage of time.

French director Jacques Audiard creates a wonderful film, bringing out some of the best performances of the year while handling a topic that can be divisive with a deft touch. The story is not the controversy. The story is the emotions and feelings that it elicits. Emilia Pérez is top notch work that caught me off guard.

4.4 stars

A Real Pain

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A Real Pain is a perfect example of an independent movie.

For me, an independent movie does not have a plot, or at least one that drives most of the story. It is a film where we take some characters and drop them into situations and let them see what happens. You could define it as character based films. I don’t want to imply that I do not like that style of movie, but it is distinct.

In A Real Pain, two cousins take a trip to Poland after their beloved grandma passed away to go on a Holocaust tour and visit her childhood home.

The movie was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who starred as David Kaplan. Kieran Culkin played his cousin Benji Kaplan. They both brought Oscar-worthy performances in these roles. Their performances were very important since the characters were so important to the story.

The tour of Poland and a nearby concentration camp was very powerful and the actors did a great job responding to it.

The film was only 90 minutes long, but it did feel longer than that. That is probably because of the dense material that the film featured. However, there were some really funny moments too, which you do not find too often with Holocaust films. A Real Pain is an ambitious film with great performances that had some challenging moments to watch it.

4 stars

Red One

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons star in the new Christmas themed film, Red One, opening this weekend to a large budget.

Santa (JK Simmons) is preparing for his yearly trek across the globe when he gets kidnapped. Cal (Dwayne Johnson), head of St. Nick’s security, has to reluctantly team-up with 4th level naughty-lister Jack (Chris Evans), the man who unwittily provided specifics for the kidnapping to be successful, to save Christmas.

Johnson, Evans and Simmons are all very likable and entertaining in this movie. Johnson is playing the same version of The Rock that he always plays, but he is enjoyable at it. Evans’ character is another version that we have seen before.

The story had some fun moments, but truthfully there was not much that we have not seen before. I did like the Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) section of the film, but we saw a good chunk of this in trailers. In fact, one of my favorite lines of the trailer was not in the film. Still, I did like the section.

Some of the special effects looked great, but a lot of the CGI was not great. Again, most of the Krampus parts of the movie were good, mainly because they seemed to be mostly practical effects.

I had heard a lot of negative reviews about this movie, but I did not hate it. It was okay. It may not be a great movie, but it is about what you would expect when you watch it. It has a place as a Christmas movie watch that can be fun for the family. It is never going to be considered a classic, but it has likable actors and some fun action.

3.1 stars

Anora

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One of the early leaders in the race for the Oscars went wide this weekend as Anora his the theaters.

According the IMDB, “Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.“

Mikey Madison played Anora, or Ani as she preferred to be called, and she is amazing as this tough as nails New York exotic dancer/escort, whose client, rich Russian Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), falls for Ani after a whirlwind of a week.

This movie sets things up in the first part of the film and you can see where this is going. Then the film takes a total swerve and changes paths completely. This is very well written and avoids the cliches that this movie very effectively seems as if it is heading toward.

Mark Eydelshteyn does a very good job with the character of Ivan, who is a character that really will change the audience’s opinions on as the film progresses. No spoilers, but he does a fine job of playing Ivan without flipping the character’s center.

The Russian handlers come in to the story midway through and bring a surprising amount of humor/comedy to the story. It played against expectations with these characters and they were hilarious.

Mikey Madison is a front runner for an Academy Award after this performance. She brought such a range of emotion in the film, from her brazen toughness to a deep seeded pain. This feels like a real breakthrough performance for Madison.

Anora had a lot of nakedness, and absolutely deserved its R rating. Truthfully, I could have seen a possible higher rating for the movie. The film does not shy away from anything and gives these characters the ability to do whatever they want. None of it felt gratuitous though.

This was a very good movie and some wonderful performances elevated it, as did some writing that took this in a direction that I did not see coming.

4.4 stars

Heretic

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If you had said that Hugh Grant would be horror/thriller movie villain and completely rule at it, I might not have believed you. However, he absolutely does and he is one of the major factors to the new A24 horror flick, Heretic, being as exceptional as it is.

However, I could see how this movie might be polarizing considering its main topic is religion and the discussion of how and if religion is relevant.

Hugh Grant is the standout of the movie, but the two female co-stars, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, who play Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton respectfully, carry their own against the powerhouse performance from Grant. Both Thatcher and East are given characters with their own quirks that work very well in the context of this movie.

There may not be as many scares in this movie, but the script gives the film an uncomfortable feeling throughout, especially with the uneasiness provided by Grant’s work. You can tell that everything is just not quite what is being shown and you are anxious waiting for that hammer to drop.

However, while they are waiting and building the unease, the writing is sensational, with the debate between the different religions of the world. I loved how this was basically three people talking for much of the first act (or two) and it is able to build the anxiety. The writing was top notch. I also do not believe that it took one side and argued that in a preachy way. I do believe that someone could find their own opinions of religion given voice in this film.

I loved the writing when Sister Barnes retorted against Mr. Reed’s (Hugh Grant) metaphor comparing religion to Monopoly. This whole diatribe was expertly written and delivered.

The ending might have been a little weaker than the first half/two-thirds of the film, but I do love how these characters are smart and are shown to be smart.

4.4 stars