During Collider Movie Talk this morning, Perri Nemeroff suggested that her “Best Hidden Gem” of 2019 was Head Count.  It was a horror film that no one else on the panel had seen and that she said was on Netflix.  So I added it to my list on the streaming service for later viewing.

That viewing turned out to be this afternoon and I found the film to be a decent horror film with some clever tricks on the tropes of the genre.

Evan (Isaac Jay) was visiting his brother but instead ditches him for a group of students for a weekend of drinking and drug use.  Unfortunately, a round of telling scary stories lead to Evan accidentally summoning a creature by saying its name five times.  The creature tormented these kids without their knowledge for much of the time they were together.

While the story itself was nothing too original, I did like the way the story progressed and how the film takes its time with some of the main characters.  It avoids much of the gore scare in favor for more of a psychological fright.  The creature was a shapeshifter and played with the heads of these characters to get them paranoid and anxious.

The drugs are an easy excuse for the odd things happening and, before they realize what has happened, the creature had hidden within the group in plain sight.

Elle Callahan directed the movie, her feature film debut, and does a very good job.  The film feels as if it is a small story, but never feels cheap, as some horror movies do.

The ensemble actors do an admirable job despite not having anyone that I recognized.  None of them feel as if they standout in a negative way, which,a gain, is something that some low budget horror films have happen.

The film builds to a frightening finale that leaves a lot of questions in the air.

The movie was fine and I liked watching it.  Horror fans would most likely enjoy the film, but those who are not into this genre would most likely not be changed over by Head Count.

3.2 stars

I was perusing the choices on Vudu this morning looking for an interesting film to fill Christmas morning.  I like the opportunity the streaming site gives me to see some films that are in theaters right now, but are extremely limited in their releases.

I came across one listed as I See You with Helen Hunt on the poster.  The synopsis was intriguing and so I clicked on the trailer, which was available on the site.  It wasn’t half way through the trailer and I turned it off and ordered the film.

Watching this movie was quite a trip.  I loved it, but it was really an experience.

I have said before that I tend to be a difficult person to fool in a movie and those that fail to do so, when trying, usually end up in my dislike column.  I See You succeeds in this area better than any movie since The Sixth Sense.  I never saw any of this coming.

A local police detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) is assigned a case of an abducted child, a case that has eerie similarities to a previous case solved from years before.  Meanwhile, Harper is having troubles with his family. His wife Jackie (Helen Hunt) has had an affair.  His son Connor (Judah Lewis) is having issues with his anger over the situation.  Strange things begin happening in their home that hint at something more than human is going on.

Then, it switches gears… and I’m like…”Oh..hey?  What?”

The story goes in a completely different way and then, suddenly, once again swerves, catching you completely unaware.

Every time I thought that I had everything sussed out, the film threw me for a loop.

It was an amazing ride.

The tension created as this movie progressed was real and powerful, aided in the fact that I was not sure what type of movie I was seeing.  The creepiness factor was off the charts.  You weren’t sure what was happening and yet, it all fit together in a very satisfying way.  The director, Adam Randall, doesn’t have much on his IMDB page (iBoy and Level Up, neither of which I had heard), but I was very impressed with the way he played with perspective in this movie and how he created a different feel for scenes that we had seen before.

The tropes of the horror/thriller genre gets a workout here too as they are tossed around and subverted in many ways. Just when you think that you know what you are seeing, something weird happens.

The only spot that I did not love was the very end (which of course I will not spoil), but there is a coincidence that was hard to buy.  Other than that, I thought the writing of this was just tremendous.  It was written by Devon Graye, an actor who does not have any other writing credits on IMDB besides this one.  If this is his debut, I am really looking forward to what he will do next.

I found this to be completely engaging, totally unexpected and thoroughly surprising.  Worth every penny it cost to stream it.

4.6 stars 

This is one of the A24 movies that had not wound up in a theater near me this year.  A24 movies have typically been very high in quality, but the small independent nature of this studio some times makes it less likely to see.

So, I had to search this film out on Vudu.

Jimmie Fails (Jimmie Fails) hopes to reclaim a house that had been built by his grandfather in San Francisco.  Joined by his best friend Mont (Jonathan Majors), Jimmie begins a path to discover whether the city has passed him by.

There is a sadness to this movie.  However, there is more to it than just that.  It strives to have you feel for the plight of these characters and it succeeds considerably.

The score is distinct and beautiful.  The music punctuates every scene with power and poignancy.

The film is an odd one, but yet it is quite powerful.  If you have not had the chance to see this, you should search it out as well.

3.7 stars

The latest movie to appear on Disney + is a true story of one of the greatest sled dogs of all time.

In 1925, a breakout of diphtheria, mostly among the children, in the small town of Nome, Alaska, led to a desperate attempt to save the kids by transporting life saving serum over 600 miles by dogsled.  A relay across the distance was planned.

Leonhard Seppala (Willem Dafoe) and his dog Togo, the lead dog on his team, went through a terrible storm, dubbed “storm of the century” and traveled across the frozen Norton Sound to cut the time of the journey.

During the Serum Run, we saw flashbacks to the beginnings of the relationship between Seppala and the dog.  We meet Seppala’s wife (Julianne Nicholson) during this time.  I loved this character as she was witty and straight-forward.  These flashbacks felt much more intricate than those during the Aeronauts.  They were used to show how important the bond was between the two and how it developed.

This film has some real intense moments during the serum run, and some wonderful moments between Togo and the Seppalas.  It is a very enjoyable and potentially emotional film to watch with a family and, if Disney + continues to provide this solid of content, then the streaming service will be in great shape.

3.75 stars

This is a biopic of some people I have never heard of that made some major discoveries about the layers of the atmosphere by taking a trip in a balloon.

Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne reunited in The Aeronauts from their previous on screen pairing in Theory of Everything, also a biopic.  Maybe they have a future together in other biopics.

Pilot Amelia Rennes (Felicity Jones) and scientist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) decide to take her balloon into the sky and go further than anyone else had ever gone before.  They faced daunting challenges as they discovered the dangers of life at 28,000 feet.

Any parts of this movie dealing with the balloon was riveting.  The combination of Jones and Redmayne created some wonderful moments in the balloon and the dangerous situations that they found themselves in were keeping me on the edge of my seat.

However, there was a strange format of storytelling here.  As the balloon continued its voyage, the movie kept taking flashbacks to see how James Glaisher convinced Amelia Rennes to fund his trip.  This was clunky as could be considering we know how that turned out.  We saw them take off together.

There were also some inconsistencies with how Amelia was portrayed.  Was she the flashy, entertainer as she was when they took off or was she the cautious, we’ve-gone-far-enough person aboard the balloon.  It seemed as if she was portrayed the way that the script needed her to be portrayed, which is not strong writing.

The scenes when they have gone too high and everything after that was just fantastic though.  The steps needed to take to survive are powerful and I can excuse the weakness of the earlier part of the film.

The balloon scenes are mostly all exciting and thrilling while the flashbacks are anything but.  I enjoyed the film for the most parts and the exciting conclusion helps to make up for the dragging flashbacks.

3.5 stars 

There have been many films like this one over the years.

What do I mean by that?  Certainly, the film The Two Popes is a groundbreaking story of the resignation of Pope Benedict and the rise of Pope Francis.  Yes, this biopic is a story that is unlike any other because of the rarity of the situation.  But that is not what I mean.

What I mean is that this film is one where the movie itself is not the greatest film ever made.  In fact, the story is a tad basic.  However, you have two powerhouse performances from the lead stars, Sir Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis, that elevates the movie into a higher stratosphere that it would have reached had it not been for these two performances.

There have been plenty of movies that have been elevated from being average into exceptional by the actors.  Eddie Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything, Benedict Cumberbatch’s role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady spring to mind.  These are forgettable movies without the lead performances.

The Two Popes is blessed with two such performances.  Hopkins and Pryce are brilliant in this movie and their interaction is what sells the narrative completely.  They dive into the background of each man, but the film truly comes alive when Hopkins and Pryce are exchanging words, no matter which language they used.

In 2012, Cardinal Bergoglio (Pryce), a liberal Cardinal from Argentina, was becoming frustrated with the path of the Catholic Church.  He was preparing to go to the Vatican to offer his resignation to Pope Benedict.  However, Benedict, who had been facing an internal struggle of his own, had other ideas.  Deciding that he was unable to effectively lead the Catholic faith into the new times, Benedict requested to see his old rival with the intention of Bergoglio being the one to announce Benedict’s resignation and, hopefully, assume the mantel of the pontiff.

In the world we live in today, this film is an important one to show how two people with differing viewpoints on just about everything could come together to cross the divide.  This is something that we could look to as inspiration for our own problems.

Both actors brought their best game here and the film is all the better for it.  In what could have been a dull little picture, Pryce and Hopkins make it essential viewing and compelling characterization.

The Two Popes is currently available on Netflix so you should take the opportunity to see this.  Both actors have a chance to be nominated for Academy Awards,as their performances are that good, and makes the movie better.

3.75 stars 

The #metoo movement was striking some big fishes in the world of news and entertainment and one of the biggest of the fish turned into a scandal that rocked the world of 24 ours news.

Roger Ailes of FOX News was accused of sexual harassment by on-air personality Gretchen Carlson, followed by multiple women.  This would lead to his removal from FOX by Rupert Murdock.

This movie is that story, of Carlson, along with anchor Megyn Kelly, and a third woman (who is a compilation of several women) and their lives behind the scenes at this time.

Nicole Kidman (who played Carlson), Charlize Theron (who played Kelly) and Margot Robbie (who played Kayla, the amalgam character) gave three powerhouse performances in Bombshell.  Each woman provided a different perspective on the horrors that many women faced at the hands of this predator.

Ailes (played by John Lithgow) was shown in Bombshell as, not only the disgusting sexual harasser, but also as an intelligent businessman who helped created the model of FOX News, changing the cable news community forever.

There was one scene in particular that was desperately uncomfortable and disgusting.  It is nearly unconscionable to know what horrendous things these women had to do because Roger Ailes had all the power.  It was a tough scene to watch, but an important one to know.

While this story does not go as deep as it could have gone, Bombshell boasts some great performances and is worth the time to see.

4 stars  

I am going to strive to not make any cat puns during this review.  We’ll see how well that goes.

There was a woman in my theater sitting two seats from me who was waving her hands in her face to keep from crying and she was clearly filled with joy over this movie.

I’m glad that she found joy here, because there was little to no joy to be found by me.

This was a total crap-show.

I’ll get the positives out of the way first.  God bless Ian McKellan.  He was the one actor, appearing as Gus the Theater Cat, who seemed to know what movie he was in.  When he meowed, I nearly fell out of my chair.

Second, the musical performance of Memory by Jennifer Hudson was astounding.  Hudson has an amazing voice and she put every last bit of emotion into that version.  I also have a special place in my heart for the song, Mr. Mistoffelees so I liked hearing that song.

That was about it.

You may wonder why I have not done the plot synopsis that I normal do.  Simple.  There is no plot here.  The story is severely lacking at best and at worst non-existent.   From what I can tell, the story was that each new Jellicle cat arrived and sang a song about who they were, hoping to be selected by Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench) to be reborn into a new life on the Heaviside Layer.  No explanation of what any of that means, mind you, but there it is.

The biggest issue with the movie is the horrific CGI that made these wonderful actors into some kind of nightmarish cat/human hybrid.  It may look somewhat better than that terrible trailer they released earlier this year, but it still looked atrocious.  Jennifer Hudson was frightening as she performed her brilliant version of Memory.

There were times where I simply stared at the screen in utter shock over what I was seeing.

The tone of the film was scattershot.  One minute, it felt like the movie was intended to be a comedy (such as when James Corden and  Rebel Wilson were on screen) and in another minute it felt like a serious drama (when Judi Dench and Hudson were on screen).  Meanwhile, there were dancing and singing cats all over the place.

The size of the cats was inconsistent.  Some times they seemed as if they were supposed to be human sized.  Other times they seemed to be cat sized.  There was even a time, when they were walking on a rail, that they seemed to be tiny, almost mouse-sized.  This is just sloppy editing and direction.

Most of the music could not replace the story and it made much of the movie feel boring.  None of these characters that were introduced, outside of Gus, were interesting at all.  Macavity (Idris Elba) was the main villain, but there was little point to him.  He arrived to spirit away the individual cats so they would not be around for the selection.  This whole subplot was forced and irrelevant.

This may be a film that eventually will find its place as a cult movie or a film to be riffed by RaffTrax Live or some type. That would be purr-fect.

Dang it.  I didn’t make it.

0.9 stars 

In the immortal words of LOST’s John Locke, “We’re gonna need to watch that again.”

The LOST allusion is not completely out of left field because I saw Charlie on screen tonight as I was watching the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker.  I know Dominic Monaghan has had other roles (including a huge one in Lord of the Rings) but he will always be Charlie Pace from Drive Shaft to me.

After the first viewing of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, I am torn.  I enjoyed the process of watching the movie, yet I have major issues with what I saw.  I was enjoying the film, but I am afraid that this could be one that I have a different opinion of as time movies along.

I am avoiding all spoilers for this movie review which means that there may not be much that I can talk about at this moment.

The Rise of Skywalker wraps up the third Star Wars trilogy in a way that tries to make everyone happy, and I think that many of the Star Wars fans will love this.  There were some really good moments that I liked too.  There was a ton of nostalgia in the film.  There were things that were fun to see.  There was some good humor here and most of the jokes worked for me.

There are some major issues too.  First, it was full of too much exposition.  They felt the need to explain most everything.  Second, the dialogue was not quite the sharpest we have see in this franchise.  Third, the pace of the film was a breakneck speed as the movie flew from point to point in the first part of the film.  fourth, I do not think that the trio of Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe (Oscar Isaac), and Finn (John Boyega) had the connection that the film wanted them to have.  We just have not had enough of these three characters together.  I absolutely did not buy the relationship with Rey and Poe.  It felt false.

However, the biggest problem I had with this movie was there were so many scenes that were basically the exact same scenes from previous Star Wars movies.  As I was watching, I kept thinking that, “Oh that was from Empire.  Oh, now we are doing Return of the Jedi.”  It was not even just homages either.  It almost felt as if they took the exact scenes from the previous movies and just flipped around the characters a bit.

That would become very distracting for me as I was thinking about past movies instead of what was happening in the new one.  Because of this choice, there felt to be very little changes taken by J.J. Abrams and the creative forces behind the movie.  That certainly feels like a choice made because of the backlash that The Last Jedi suffered.  No matter what you think of The Last Jedi, you cannot deny that Rian Johnson took some big swings in that movie.  The Rise of Skywalker…not so much.  And some of The Last Jedi seemed to be wiped away with this movie too.  The Rise of Skywalker did not feel to be a follow-up to The Last Jedi, which brings into question the overall planning of the franchise.

And yet even with these problems, I enjoyed myself fairly well.  The third act was shaky for me, but the first hour and an half was a decent time at the movies.  That may sound like I am trying to stay on the fence, and that would sound that way because that is exactly what I am doing.  This is a movie where I need to reflect on what I saw and let my perceptions settle.  I do believe I need to see this again to solidify what I think about it.

I really liked the performances of Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley.  They were stand outs here.  It was heartbreaking to see Carrie Fisher again and watching how they resolved her absence was one of the tougher aspects of The Rise of Skywalker.  The film looked like a Star Wars movie, unlike the entire prequels, which looked like nothing more than a video game/computer graphic background.  There was some good action.  However, the plot is lackluster, if not lazy.  While I enjoyed a good part of the first hour and a half, the story being told was not the best ever.  It was basically a “we have to find this thing so we can go there and do this” type of a story and those are not the deepest plots imaginable.

I’m still not sure what my mind is on The Rise of Skywalker.  The more I type here, the more reflective I am about the film, the more it seems that I am being negative, but there is no denying that I had fun with the movie.  I did not feel that it wasted my time.  I am glad that I was there opening night and that I saw it with a full house.  It was a moment.  Perhaps this truly is a film that I need to see a second time before I commit to what I think.  I am afraid that Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is going to be that type of film where I initially feel one thing, but over time, it slips down the chart.  I don’t know.  But for now, despite the drawbacks I have, I am going to give it …

3.25 stars

That still feels too high of a number, but, for now, that is what I am going with.  You should see this movie for sure to allow yourself to make up your own mind.  Maybe some of the problems I have are not going to bother you.  I hope you all enjoy the movie.

In my opinion, Clint Eastwood has not made a really good movie for awhile.  He made some okay ones (The Mule, Sully, American Sniper) and some really bad ones (The 15:17 to Paris, Jersey Boys, J. Edgar).  This time, with Richard Jewell, Eastwood feels as if he is back on track.

This is the true story of security guard Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) who was the person to discover the backpack that contained the bomb at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.  After a few days of calling him a hero, the FBI began looking at him as a suspect and the papers took that tidbit and ran with it.  Jewell had to face pressure on himself individually and with his mother Bobi (Kathy Bates) from the media constantly following him, camped outside their home and the perception of Richard as a bomber.

There are several strong performances in this movie that really help carry it.  The lead performance of Paul Walter Hauser is truly powerful.  He portrayed Richard as a man of principle and honor who had great respect for law enforcement until he could take it no longer.  His mother, played brilliantly by Kathy Bates, showed the pain and fear in every scene she was in.  Kathy Bates should really receive an Oscar nomination for this role.  Sam Rockwell was great as always as Richard’s lawyer, Watson Bryant, the eccentric lawyer who battled to give this man his life back.

There is a definite theme about the dangers of the media with how an untrue story can decimate a family, especially if the authority is not acting on facts.  The film also has some stings toward the FBI as well, as FBI agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) tried several sneaky, underhanded tricks to try and get the naive Richard to implicate himself.  Shaw had formulated a theory and nothing was going to break him from that path.  Both of these can be plugged into today’s society easily.

The news media, in particular one journalist Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) is portrayed in a very cartoonish light, which makes her very two-dimensional instead of the potentially fully filled out character she could have been.  It is interesting that Kathy Scruggs was a real person, but the FBI Agent Shaw is a fictionalized compilation of an agent.  Neither character gets much in way of development with Shaw never admitting that Jewell was not guilty.

I think an argument could be made about this film being too political and aspiring to present Eastwood’s side of thought, but, during the film, I did not feel as if it was tilted.  It was only after reading some background info on the situation that I thought there may be some fire to go with the smoke.

Either way, I did like this movie much more than Eastwood’s recent work and it does provide three top notch quality performances from three great actors.  If you keep it at that, Richard Jewell is an enjoyable watch.

3.7 stars 

I saw this on Netflix and I was intrigued.  I like Ryan Reynolds a lot.  Then I saw the director:  Michael Bay.

Now, I am not a Michael Bay hater, per se.  I mean, yes I hated the Transformers movies and there are other Bay movies that I disliked, but I also liked Pain & Gain, 13 Hours and The Rock.  So there is that.

6 Underground is THE MOST Michael Bay movie I have ever seen.  That may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.  For me, it was definitely NOT a good thing..

What did it include?

Explosions ✔

Slow Motion ✔

Car Chases ✔

Explosions ✔

Montages with bad rock music ✔

Pop Culture references ✔

Explosions ✔

Needless shots of beautiful (usually scantily clad) women ✔

Explosions ✔

I checked out on this one very early.  I was bored.  Not even Ryan Reynolds’ charm could save this turd.

When it first came on screen, Reynolds said that he was a ghost and the ghost has one superpower, which was to haunt the living.  And I thought this was going to be the literal story.  I thought, “Hm, what a strange and intriguing idea.  Maybe RIPD with a better story or execution?”

Nope.  They meant “ghost” as a person who fakes their death to drop off the radar and then become a mercenary.  Suddenly much less interesting, but I gave it a chance.

The dialogue was terrible.  Nobody really talks like that.  None of the characters stood, with the possible exception of Corey Hawkins as Seven.  The rest are cliches and underwritten stereotypes.

I really should have watched The Mandalorian instead.  Michael Bay fans may love this.  I hope they do.

1 star

When Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out, I had very little interest (outside of Dwayne Johnson, whom I love).  The sequel had no business of being any good.  And yet, it crushed it, both critically and monetarily.

Could they do it again?  That was another point where I was just not sure and I was nervous about.

After seeing The Next Level, I have nothing to worry about.

Spencer (Alex Wolff) has been having problems since leaving the world of Jumanji.  It had become so bad that he decided to go back into the game for a chance to feel the power and confidence of Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson).  When his friends discovered that he had gone into Jumanji alone, they chose to follow him in to help him with his quest.

However, there were some switches of characters that were unexpected and brought a different set of challenges.  When you add Danny DeVito and Danny Glover into the mix, you amp up the comedy part of this comedy/adventure movie.

As with the previous movie, one of the best parts of The Next Level is the cast including Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black.  These four, especially Black and Hart, bring their A-game to this movie, providing an imitation of the actors/characters that is extremely well done.  Kevin Hart’s version of Danny Glover is spot on and never fails to be hilarious.

They also bring a plot point into the film as they near the third act that feels effective and helped to maintain the freshness of the performances, particularly Dwayne Johnson’s Danny DeVito imitation, which was threatening to run its course.  The plot point helped the movie dramatically.  It was also something that made sense in the world of video games.

There are similarities to Welcome to the Jungle, but I feel that they tweaked sections in different ways that really helped to provide the variety in the scenes.  Plus, it is just a fun and extremely funny movie with lots of adventure.

The CGI was very well done with all of the animals that the group had to face.  The herd of ostriches was especially great.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire Jumanji: The Next Level.  The changes they made were refreshing and the adjustment through the movie made perfect sense in storytelling.  The cast is still the selling point of this movie as they are able to show their talents and knowledge of these characters, while clearly having fun making this movie.  A very worthy addition to the Jumanji franchise.

4.4 stars