Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Outside the Wire

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Netflix had a huge year in 2020 with a list of great movies released on the streaming service. 2021 is not starting out well for them.

Outside the Wire is the new sci-fi/action film starring Anthony Mackie. Set in the future, a drone pilot Lt. Harp (Damson Idris) disobeys orders and he makes a dangerous decision that winds up getting himself into trouble and sent to a specific place as a punishment. There, he meets Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie), an android officer, who is on his way for a mission to stop a Russian insurgent from getting nuclear codes.

While there are some decent action bits in the movie with some interest fire fights, there was little emotional depth to any of them, which tends to make them both hard to care about and easily forgettable. Typing this up right now just a few hours after watching the film, I cannot remember any specific action sequence worth the time in Outside the Wire.

Then, while Anthony Mackie is a charismatic actor with a remarkable screen presence, the film places him in a character that simply is not allowed to do that. There are a few flashes of Mackie’s charm here and there, but he is more of a hard nosed robot than a leading man. Damson Idris is shown in the first half of the movie in such an inconsistent manner that you’re never sure if you are meant to be rooting for the character or if he is meant to be the one learning about his own mistakes. He was very dislikable for much of the run time of the movie, which is not a good choice in the story that they are outlining.

The third act completely blows off the rails too. The first part of the film was dull and disposable, but the final half of the movie spends its time deconstructing just about everything that the movie set up in the first part. Without spoilers, there are some decisions made that make no sense and exist to simply give the narrative that twist that too many movies are expected to have.

By the way, there are not really any reason for the military to have these robots they called Gumps. In fact, much of the sci-fi aspects of this movie are extraneous and a waste of time. This does not have to be a sci-fi story. In fact, Anthony Mackie did not even need to be an android. All of the science fiction could be removed and the story could still work exactly as it is as a strictly action movie.

Unfortunately, this is a film that you won’t remember too long after you see it. I am sure that in December of this year, I will look at the title of the movie and wonder exactly what this was about.

2.2 stars

One Night in Miami (2020)

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Regina King has been on a massive role recently with the projects that she has acted in, from If Beale Street Could Talk to HBO’s Watchmen. She has done a lot of television directing as well and this movie, One Night in Miami, was her feature film directorial debut.

One Night in Miami is a fictionalized story of one night in Miami when four black iconic superstars met together and discussed their lives and their place in history. The four icons were Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) [pre Muhammad Ali], Sam Cooke (Leslie Odam Jr), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) who were together in a hotel room on the night when Clay defeated Sonny Liston to become the champion of the world.

This was another movie that was based on a stage play, this time written by Kemp Powers. There have been several successful films recently that have been base don plays and this falls right into the line with those. Because One Night in Mimi takes place mostly within the room with the four men and it features some stellar dialogue and discussions between these characters.

And that was great.

There were limited amount of action, and, truly, the plot was not the focus of the film either, the performances were wonderful and the drama between the four of them kept the viewers glued to the screen. I know I was fascinated to hear where they took it from here. The main conflict seemed to stem from Malcom X’s desire to have Sam Cooke do more than just record fluff musical pieces and the wish that he would do more substantive work for the Civil Rights movement. While Clay and Brown got into disagreements as well, the interactions between Malcolm X and Cooke were the main event.

The direction was stunning as well. Regina King does a fantastic job with the shots, giving so much more depth to the hotel room than what you would expect a director could. With the limited settings, King is anything but restricted with her vision of the evening’s activities.

One Night in Miami is smart, compelling and feels very relevant in the ways of power and how one may yield it to benefit everyone. All four actors give tremendous performances, especially Leslie Odam Jr. and Kingsley Ben-Adir, who go at each other with a ferocity unexpected. This is an amazing debut for Regina King.

4 stars

The Addams Family (1991)

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There have been several adaptations of the original cartoon created by Charles Addams in 1938. One of the best known, of course, is the TV show featuring John Astin. However, the big screen eventually called as well and The Addams Family arrives, creepy and kooky.

Admittingly, the sequel to this film, Addams Family Values, is considered a better overall film, this 1991 film version had plenty of positives going for it, starting off with a strong cast. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston were perfectly cast as the head of the family, Gomez and Morticia Addams. Christopher Lloyd was cast as Gomez’s estranged brother Fester. Christina Ricci, a star in the making, stole the show as the psychotic Wednesday Addams.

There were some wonderfully dark and gloriously funny moments throughout the film as Gomez and his “brother” Fester were reunited after a desperate fight from their youth. However, Fester was not what he appeared, as the audience was aware. He was the son of Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson), and he just happened to look exactly like Fester. They plotted, along with Gomez’s family lawyer Tully (Dan Hedaya), to have Fester pretend to have returned in order to get their hands on the Addams family treasure.

This led to a series of very funny bits. However, most of the best comedic moments were stand alone moments or side scenes. For example, Wednesday is electrocuting her brother Pusgley (Jimmy Workman), the tour of the Addams graveyard or Thing getting a job.

The problem with the film, which does make it lesser than Addams Family Values, is that the story itself it disjointed and does not blend well together. The coincidental aspect of the film, especially the resolution of the story, is hard to buy. Overall the plot feels as if it could require some tightening.

However, the cast and their performances are great and the humor really works most of the time that The Addams Family is a fun watch that does hold up over the years. The effects for the time are fine and being funny helps to cover any holes that might be in the plot. The sequel is better, but this is a solid start.

Apollo 13 (1995)

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One of my favorite Ron Howard movies of all-time, Apollo 13 does a tremendous job of telling the story of a “successful failure” for NASA in 1970.

The true story of the crew and their families of the Apollo 13 moon mission made a truly dramatic and thrilling film, anchored by an amazing cast of actors. The cast included Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton as the three-man crew of the Apollo 13, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, respectively. The cast also included Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan, Xander Berkeley, Christian Clemenson, and Jean Speegle Howard.

In 1970, the Apollo 13 mission launched with the intention of landing on the moon. The space program had started to become less interesting to the public at large with the space race with the Russians over. Still, the mission was scheduled. Two days prior to the departure, intended pilot Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) was grounded because of his potential exposure to measles. Replacing Ken with Jack Swigert, Apollo 13 continued on its path.

Unfortunately, during the routine stirring of the oxygen tank, an explosion severely damaged the space shuttle and put the astronauts’ survival into question. Working with a desperate purpose, NASA tried to return the crew safely back to earth.

There are a couple of thing to say about Apollo 13 right off the bat. First, this movie does a remarkable job of creating tension and anxiety in a situation where we already know turned out to be a success. As the crew was making their reentry through the planet’s atmosphere, I was on the edge of my seat despite knowing that they made it in real life. In fact, every time I have watched this movie, I have tears in my eyes when they make it back. The film and its crew do an unbelievable job of building that uncertainty despite our prior knowledge. A big part of that, I think, has to be the score from James Horner. It does a fantastic job of amping up the mood of the film for the audience.

A second major win Apollo 13 has going for it was how it was able to take what could have been boring technical sections and turned them into exhilarating scenes. Whether it be Ken Mattingly in the simulator or Jack restarting the engines, these technically charged moments were thrilling as any.

The special effects of the film are great. It does some of the best work at portraying the environment of outer space and its effects on the characters. The film looked great, but it was not over-the-top with its effects. The effects played well into the story of this crew and their survival tale.

The use of real-life news footage was expertly woven into the film, and the movie brilliantly transported us back in time to 1970s, not only in word, but in tone. Everything about this film felt accurate and of the time, which is an achievement.

Apollo 13 is a tremendously entertaining and engaging movie that holds the audience’s attention with a great script, powerful actors and characters who are using their intelligence to solve literal life and death problems.

Possessor (2020)

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Brandon Cronenberg, the son of David Cronenberg, brings this horror/thriller film from last year that I had not seen. I had heard a lot of positives about this movie, so I decided that it would be a good time to visit this film.

Andrea Riseborough played Tasya Vos, an assassin for a government agency, who is able to take over the body of a random person and use that person to be the killer. When she heads into a male man’s body (Christopher Abbott), there became problems with his life bleeding through into her life.

The film is extremely violent and bloody, with some distinct moments that jump out at the viewer.

Honestly, this was not my favorite film. I had heard so much positives about it that I found myself more disappointed by what was happening. I did not hate the film and there are some decent parts of the film, but I had a hard time getting into it.

There are some interesting concepts here and some themes that could be intriguing if you have some time to look at them. There are some sexual orientation ideas presented when Tasya entered the body of Colin. Some of the ideas of the character of Tasya was fascinating too, but I just did not love the blood, which felt overdone.

Perhaps if I took more time to look closer at the film, I would feel different about it. Still, Possessor was fine. Horror fans will probably love this. I thought it was passable.

Honestly, this was the first of two movies I watched in a row and I had a difficult time remembering exactly what the movie was about. That was not a good thing.

2.75 stars

The Dissident

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This is the latest documentary from the Oscar winning director Bryan Fogel. It tells the dramatic story from 2018 about the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey by agents of the Saudi government.

This documentary was extremely powerful and disturbing. The film presents its story much like a political thriller, with mood-inducing music and dramatic interviews of the people involved.

The main arc of the tale is told through the eyes of a couple of the major people involved. First , there was Omar, a Saudi national and activist, who had befriended Khashoggi. Together, they had engaged in an effort to counteract the Saudi’s propaganda techniques on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Second main person, bringing this murder plot its human connection, is Khashoggi’s fiancé Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside of the consulate for Khashoggi on the fateful day. Khashoggi had gone to the consulate for paperwork allowing the pair to be married and Hatice waited hours outside for him to return. He never did.

The most difficult part of the movie was the audio transcript that had been uncovered that spelled out the murder in specifics, including the record of the use of the bonesaw to cut up the body. Even in written word, this created a horrid picture of what had happened that will stick with a viewer.

This documentary feels very relevant in the world today. Not only because of the alleged involvement of the Saudi government and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, but also for the attempt from the Saudi government to silence the free speech of a journalist. It is important to understand how easily freedom of speech can be removed, especially when you have attacks on the media designed to undermine what the media said or to dub them as “enemies.” It feels as if it is a short step from that to this.

And after all of the film is over, the text at the end that tells you where everything stands is infuriating. It makes you wonder what the important things in the world truly are.

The Dissident is an important story told in a engaging and professional manner. It has a powerful, human story that should move right thinking people emotionally. Fogel has another substantial and forceful doc.

Shadow in the Cloud

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We are kicking off 2021 virtually and not in the theater. With any luck, the theater experience will feel less dangerous as the year progresses. Until then, as long as we continue to get the home releases on streaming, I’ll be happy.

That first release of 2021 is going to be Shadow in the Clouds, starring Chloë Grace Moretz as a WWII pilot Maude who has joined the plane crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress with a mysterious package and an unrevealed mission. As the plane is heading to its destination, there are some major conflicts that come into play endangering everyone on board.

First of all, this film has about three genres that totally crash together into the oddest amalgam of a film that I have seen in a long time. Originally, Shadow in the Cloud felt as if it were taking us in one direction, only to ram us into a different one. When the film took a turn toward Fast-and-Furious-type physics, I have to admit that I had no idea what I was watching.

It’s not really a spoiler since it was in the trailer, but I will label it so in case anyone has not seen the trailer. SPOILER. The movie suddenly goes from a crew questioning the reasons and motivations for Maude to be on the flight in the first place to an appearance of an actual gremlin on the wing of the plane causing malfunctions to the engines. It was a bizarre tone shift from what we had seen up until that moment and it did feel jarring. END of SPOILER.

Chloë Grace Moretz turned into a gigantic action star too, executing a couple of maneuvers that Dominic Toretto would have said were implausible. You absolutely have to suspend a whole bunch of disbelief to accept some of the physical stunts going on here. Still, it was a lot of fun in a shake-your-head kind of way.

The reveal of what was in the package was a huge unexpected reveal as well. That was not what I was expecting and the fact that the film was not afraid to do it speaks well of it. Honestly, it felt like the film drew a whole bunch of random plot points out of a hat from multiple genres and had to put them all together in the movie. Strangely enough, it worked.

The third act confrontation in the river was oddly satisfying and really kind of funny.

This was a mishmash of all kinds of types of movies and it was surprisingly entertaining. Moretz is great in the role, no matter what character type she was playing. Truthfully, she was like four different characters all rolled into one. The action was well done, if not completely insane and you certainly never see things coming.

Not a bad start to 2021.

3.4 stars

Big Hero 6 (2014)

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I had some time tonight and found this on Starz. It had been awhile since I had seen Big Hero 6 so I put it on as I was working on the last list.

What a great film this is.

Hiro (Ryan Potter) and Baymax (Scott Adsit) have one of the best relationships you could ever see in a movie. The connection between them so sweet. Baymax unwaveringly caring for Hiro after the death of his brother is as wonderful as you can get. Baymax helps Hiro work through his anger and leads him past the grief.

And he does it in a movie that is laugh out loud funny.

I remember guessing the identity of the villain when I first saw the film back in theaters, but that does not prevent my love for Big Hero 6. In fact, the look of the villain was just one more aspect of how this remarkably cool animated movie was.

Disney Studios took a little known Marvel property and adapted it into an Oscar-winning animated movie that is for all the family. Plus, there was a fantastic yet unexpected Stan Lee cameo at the post credit scene.

To be fair, the film does very little to develop any other of the characters besides Hiro, Baymax and (somewhat) Fred (T.J. Miller). The rest of Big Hero 6 are regulated to the back burner and team member status. I think that was okay as the story was really the story of Hiro and Baymax more than it was the superhero team Big Hero 6. There is only so much time available to the movie and they used it wisely to cover Hiro and Baymax. I know there is an animated series of Big Hero 6, so I would assume that the others would get their background there.

Baymax was one of the most original and creative characters to make the big screen. His dedication to Hiro as his personal healthcare companion is inspiring and you can’t help but love the huggable robot. His character design is amazing, presenting him as what looks like a big pillow. Baymax endures himself to the audience almost immediately and his using tape to plug holes or seeming like he is drunk when his battery is low just makes us love him more.

Big Hero 6 is absolutely filled with that Disney magic. It is wonderful.

News of the World

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The second of the films I saw today at Cinemark is the new Western starring Tom Hanks. This film is called News of the World and it places Tom Hanks in a story that we have never seen him in before, unless you count Woody from Toy Story!

Hanks played Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a Civil War veteran who travels around the West reading people the news for money. He would emphasize the stories, providing the crowds an entertaining presentation. However, on his way, Captain Kidd came across an overturned wagon and a lynched black man in the tree. He found that the man had been taking a young girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel), who had been kidnapped and raised by the Kiowa people. Johanna did not speak English and seemed like a wild child.

Captain Kidd committed to take Johanna back to her remaining family, an aunt and uncle in Texas. Along the way, the two unlikely compatriots bond over the dangers of the world.

Honestly, the first part of News of the World I found slow and a bit dull. I was starting to worry about the film, but then the story picked up energy and the last hour and twenty minutes or so were extremely compelling and thrilling.

Tom Hanks is always great, but there has to be a big shout out to Helena Zengel, who had a lot of challenges to her performance, in particular the language issues. She was excellent and held her own with her famous co-star. She provided as much emotions with her face and her eyes as she did with her words. It was a seasoned performance from the young lady.

The cinematography of the film is gorgeous, as the land of the west is as much of a character as our two main characters. Director Paul Greengrass gave us amazing visuals to watch as the story progressed.

I did like how straight forward Captain Kidd was with everyone he came in contact with. His honor shined through his actions. This made him an uncommon character in Western movies.

After a slow start, News of the World really picked up and is carried by the performances of Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel. It was one of the best Westerns of the year (I only saw one other… )

3.8 stars

Promising Young Woman

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With 2020 coming down to a close (thankfully) there are just a few remaining films I will be able to see. So I went out to Cinemark today to see a couple of them. The first film I saw was a film that I have seen on a lot of lists of possible Oscar nominees, Promising Young Woman.

Promising Young Woman starred Carey Mulligan and was directed by Emerald Fennell.

Something happened to Cassie (Carey Mulligan) during her college years that led her to drop out of her collegiate medical program. It had something to do with her friend Nina. From this event, Cassie had struggled to get past her memories. On the weekends, she goes to bars and pretends to be drunk. She waited to be picked up by men trying to have sex with her and she lured them into a trap, confronted them and kept a record of it.

Working at a coffee shop, Cassie was approached by a former classmate of hers, Ryan (Bo Burnham) who wanted to ask her out on a date, but Cassie was to distrustful of men to accept.

Carey Mulligan is exceptional in this role. I love the way the film hints at what happened without coming right out and explaining it to us. We can figure out what happened without it being laid out before us. With the pain in her face, Mulligan brings us along on her way through her life. The film hints at Cassie doing worse things to her victims, though it seemed as if she did not.

You understand the anger and pain that Cassie is facing, but you want her to overcome the anguish. Then, she does something that makes you shocked at her behavior.

Then the third act becomes one of the craziest third acts you are ever going to see. It is surprising and it is uncomfortable. I never saw it coming and I really loved that.

Thrilling. Heart-breaking. Uncomfortable. Promising Young Woman is one of the greta films of the year and certainly may deserve that Oscar nomination it hopes for.

4.2 stars

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

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Was flipping through Roku TV last night and I came across Sam Raimi’s classic Spider-Man. This was my favorite super hero movie for quite awhile (until the recent expansion of the MCU). I love Spider-Man and this felt like the most iconic version of the Web-Head.

Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is struggling through his life, trying to make way with his lack of money, classwork and relationships, all the while hoping to continue his alternate life as the Web-Swinger. However, when a lab accident turned mild manners scientist Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) into the psychotic, metallic armed Doctor Octopus, Peter has to battle him to save the city.

Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is nearly perfect. The film took the character and gave a bit of a twist to him with the arms being somewhat sentient and mentally suggesting, if not controlling Octavius. It allows Doc Ock to have a moment of clarity at the end of the film which helped the story and resolution (making if different than Raimi’s previous Spider-Man movie).

I don’t know if it is because of how much I like Tom Holland, but Tobey Maguire felt more miscast in the role of Peter Parker than I had ever felt before. Maybe it was the age thing, with Maguire being older than he was playing. He was fine as Peter, but there was just something about him that bugged me with this viewing.

Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson also did not feel as perfect as it did back when I first saw this movie. I mean, she does not ruin anything for me, but she would not be my prime choice for MJ despite her undeniable beauty.

Spider-Man 2 has what is arguably one of the greatest sequences in comic book movie history. The Spidey-Doc Ock train fight is as good as it gets. It perfectly encapsulated everything good about the character of Spider-Man and how he relates to the people of New York. His never say die attitude and his determination to save the people on the train under any circumstances is astounding. Then, the reaction of the people on the train to their savior was iconic. Tears were in my eyes when that kid said, “We won’t tell nobody” about Spidey’s mask being off. So much emotion being shown by the people involved… it is truly one of the best scenes in any super hero movie.

The film is based on the iconic comic book run of “Spider-Man No More” starting in Amazing Spider-Man #50.

We see more of Peter Parker and what makes him tick in this movie. We see the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane, between Peter and his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Peter and Harry (James Franco). Putting Octavius as a scientific inspiration to Peter was smart as well, because it gives them a deeper connection than just hero-villain.

There are all kinds of Sam Raimi flares scattered about the the movie. His flavor is unmistakable and tehre are scenes that are pulled directly out of previous Raimi work. The scene in the operating room where Doc Ock’s tentacles first come to life is a perfect example of Sam Raimi’s style. I am anxious to see how Sam Raimi’s style translates into the MCU with Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Of course there is also perhaps the greatest bit of casting in comic book movie history is here as well as J.K. Simmons reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle. Simmons steals every scene he is in and is completely tremendous as JJJ. You can’t talk about the original Spider-Man trilogy without mentioning J.K. Simmons.

Spider-Man 2 has the feel of a comic book come to life. The fantasy of the hero swinging through the city, sacrificing for the unknown is powerful. I have heard some criticism that this film does not hold up, but I would disagree whole-heartedly. This is still one of the best Spider-Man movies of all time and it laid the groundwork for what the character could possibly be on the big screen.

We Can Be Heroes

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Well, lookie here.

I was on Netflix last night and suddenly, there was a new super hero movie with Pedro Pascal. It was called We Can Be Heroes and I had no idea it was coming out and it was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the mind behind Spy Kids and Sin City. It also appeared to be a sequel to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D. That should give you a good idea of the tone of this filn.

I have never seen The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, but I have heard about it, and, maybe it should go on the list.

This focused on the children of the group of heroes known as The Heroics, which included the aforementioned Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley) and Sharkboy (Jeffrey Dashnaw). It also included the retired leader of the Heroics, Marcus Moreno (Pedro Pascal).

The film starts off with Miracle Guy (Boyd Holbrook) and Tech-No (Christian Slater) half-heartedly trying to deal with an unidentified object in space, only to discover that there was an entire armada on its way to earth. The aliens made short work of the Heroics, capturing them all and imprisoning them on their ship.

Missy Moreno (YaYa Gosselin), daughter of Marcus, was taken by the government agency to a location to protect her from the aliens. They take Missy to the rest of the children of the Heroics. However, the other children all have super powers, but Missy does not.

When one of the children, Ojo (Hala Finley) turned out to be prophetic with her drawings, the kids discover that the aliens are preparing to attack the agency. Together, the group escape the facility and try to come up with an idea to rescue their parents.

Teen/child super heroes are always fun. There was a definitely fun tone going on here. It reminded one of Spy Kids because there were some stakes, but the kids were not in any real jeopardy. It had the feel of a Disney Channel show where the kids are generalized characters without a ton of depth to them. The children are charismatic enough and have enough fun powers that you do not need deeply developed characters. They all have their one or so obstacle that they have to overcome to become the best they could be.

Some of the other neat ideas are Noodle (Lyon Daniels) who can stretch, providing some cool visuals, Wild Card (Nathan Blair) who has all the powers but cannot control them, Guppy (Vivien Blair), daughter of Lavagirl and Sharkboy, who can control water and had super shark strength, Wheels (Andy Walken) who is in a wheelchair because his strength in his legs were too strong, Slo-Mo (Dylan Henry Lau) who moved in super slow motion despite being the son of the speedster, A Capella (Lotus Blossom) who can move thigns with her singing voice, Fast-Forward (Akira Akbar) and Rewind (Isaiah Russell-Bailey) who were twin brother and sister who were not fond of each other, and Facemaker (Andrew Diaz) who has a malleable face.

The film is light, funny, breezy. It is not something to dive into deeply. It is a kids movie that you can use to introduce children to the world of superheroes. I had fun watching it. It is like eating cotton candy. Sweet at first, but not much remaining after.

3.4 stars

Hunter Hunter

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I was not sure what t expect from Hunter Hunter, but I had heard some positive word of mouth about it online, so I figured it would be a good film to give a chance.

Whoa.

Joseph (Devon Sawa), his wife Anne (Camille Sullivan) and daughter Renee (Summer H. Howell) lived as a family in the wilderness, surviving off the land as trappers. The family was afraid that they were being stalked by a rogue wolf. The desperation of Joseph to capture the canine sent him out to track the predator, leaving his wife and daughter alone in their cabin.

As Joseph continued to be out of communication range, Anne and Renee were becoming more anxious and frightened of the wolf. However, a noise outside the cabin led to Anne discovering an injured man Leo (Nick Stahl) who she nursed back to health.

The film had a slow build as it patiently revealed its surprises and its frightening scenes. You are never quite sure what is going on and a few of the things we discover along the way make you uncertain about what is happening and uneasy about what might happen. The film does an amazing job of creating a mood of anxiety among the audience.

Personally, my favorite character and performance came from Gabriel Daniels, who was the local forestry agent. He was making his way around to the different locales in the film, picking up roadkill such as dead skunks or responding to bear sightings by the yuppie locals. Daniels does not get a ton of screen time, but I enjoyed his performance while there.

When the film kicks it into high gear, it really goes all in. The final scene of this film is as grizzly of a scene as I have seen in any movie this year.

I came into Hunter Hunter with almost no idea of what the film was, outside the fact that I had heard it positively referred to as a horror movie. I was not ready for the film to be as compelling as it was and for it to switch gears as quickly as it did. It was a brutal development and an unexpected journey.

3.75 stars

Wonder Woman 1984

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After being delayed twice, Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to Patty Jenkins’ original DC film, was released in both the theaters that are available and open and streaming on HBO Max today.

Jenkins returns to direct WW1984 with Gal Gadot reprising her role as Diana, the Amazon princess. Chris Pine returns as Steve Trevor, who did die in Wonder Woman. Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal is the lead villain Max Lord and Kristen Wiig appears as Cheetah.

Diana has been living and working in the world since the ending of World War I. Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) was new at the same museum Diana worked and the FBI came to have her try to identify an ancient rock. That rock turned out to be an artifact created by an ancient god and the artifact is able to grant one wish, while taking what the person loves or needs.

Turns out that Max Lord was in search of this artifact and wanting its power for himself. He cons Barbara into letting him get his hands on it and he starts to use it to accomplish what he wanted.

Looking at the previous Wonder Woman movie, I thought the first two acts of the original was just about as good as it was going to get and the third act derailed the film a bit. While the third act was not terrible, I found it to be easily the weakest of the film. Here, however, I found the third act to be very strong, in particular with the showdown between Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord, but I found the first two acts of WW1984 to contain the weaker parts.

One of those weaker parts, for me, was the overall performance of Pedro Pascal as Max Lord. While I love him in the Mandalorian, I thought Pascal was way-too-over-the-top comic bookie villain in WW1984. There are moments that I liked, but more often than not, I found myself grimacing with Lord. I am not convinced with his motivation and his relationship with his son Alister (Lucian Perez) did not convince me.

However, the other major relationship in the film is between Diana and Steve Trevor and that worked like aces. They have great chemistry together and pick up right where they left off. The dynamic that brought Steve back from the dead worked for me (although there was one part of it that bothered me a bit–can’t go into it further without spoiling it). The film flipped the script with Steve now being the fish out of water and having Diana lead him through the world of the 1980s where Diana was the fish out of water in the late teens. The scenes with the two of them worked completely.

I also liked the scenes with Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva, but she feels as if her story got rushed and tossed into this movie to say “Hey, we have the Cheetah!” Cheetah is Wonder Woman’s most iconic villain and she did not feel as if she needed to be here. I would have rather saved Cheetah for a future installment of the series or to have had her be the lead villain in this one.

I should also mention that Gal Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman. This casting, which I did not think much of prior to the first movie, works so well again. Gadot is exceptional as Diana and hits all of the major emotional moments well. She is exceptional in this role.

I found most of the CGI and effects here to be awkward and lacking any real feel to them. With the exception of the lassoing lightning scenes that were shown in the trailers (which looked fabulous), a lot of the rest did not look great. There was also a story beat in the second act that, while I will not reveal it, is very much a super hero trope that has played its course. It felt the same as if the characters would get amnesia. I’ve seen that too many times to be too invested in it.

The film was too long too as it should have trimmed about 20 minutes off the runtime of 2 hours and 31 minutes. WW1984 has some great moments in it and I believe it is worth seeing. I wish it was more focused of a film than it turned out. Gal Gadot is fabulous again and her relationship with Chris Pine is special.

3.2 stars

Soul

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Pixar’s latest animated movie dropped on Disney + after getting pushed thanks to the virus. Soul was directed by Pete Docter and he provides the most metaphysical Pixar film since Inside Out.

Joe (Jamie Foxx) was a middle school band teacher who had been struggling to chase his dream of being a jazz musician. A former student was able to set Joe up with a gig playing piano for diva Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). Unfortunately, Joe found himself in another realm of existence. Along his desperate path to return to earth, Joe meets up with 22 (Tina Fey), a uninspired spirit, and he has to help 22 find its spark.

Soul is beautiful in all ways. The animation is the typically spectacular animation of Pixar. The music, particularly the score, is astounding. The score was created by Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, with Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste providing jazz compositions and arrangements.

The voice cast was led by Jamie Foxx as Joe and Tina Fey as 22. However, the cast included such notaries as Questlove, Graham Norton, Phylicia Rashaad, Daveed Diggs, Angela Bassett, and Rachel House. The voice work in Soul was spectacular.

The story of Soul contains some really deep ideas and some existential beats. It is a film that can keep the mind occupied of the adults as well as the children. It takes this metaphysical realm and creates a beautiful world around it. Soul is a world of imagination and creativity like few movies reach. This reminded me quite a bit of Inside Out, which was Pete Docter’s last Pixar film.

Soul is an amazingly gorgeous film that sounds better than most films around. The score, music, animation and voice work is superb. Soul is one of the better Pixar films to have been released in the last few years.

4.6 stars