Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Maxxxine

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I would not define Maxxxine as a horror movie. The third film in Ti West’s trilogy featuring actor Mia Goth is more of a crime story set in the world of Hollywood of the 1980s.

According to IMDB, “In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past..“

Mia Goth is great. She is a star and she shines brightly in this role. Maxine Minx is such an original character that has gone through a lot of problems in her life that we saw in the film X.

The first two thirds of this movie was fantastic. It was tense and you were never sure what was going to happen. I love how when Maxine needed to step up, she did so. She had such confidence and strength that she was an inspiration.

The last act of the film, the final set piece, felt very much out of place among this movie and took a weird turn that slowed the progress the film had made. It threatened to derail the film for me, but thankfully, the corny final scene did not last too long.

By the way, Kevin Bacon was awesome in this film. I forgot to mention that but he was epic and brought some great moments to the beginning part of the movie.

Maxxxine was a solid film with a weak ending. Mia Goth carried the film on her back and she made this a success. I would have liked a better ending, but I did like where the character of Maxine Minx ended up. This was a good conclusion to the trilogy.

3.5 stars

Kinds of Kindness

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This was garbage.

The latest film from director Yorgos Lanthimos was not for me. Even a little bit. There were three basic stories with the same actors in different roles. None of them made any sense. It was a pretentious, obnoxious mess that lacked any narrative sense.

The actors involved are tremendous, but they do nothing for this film. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, William Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, and Mamoudou Athie were in the film. They are great performers.

This film was mean-spirited, both objectified women and treated them poorly, and had things happen that (scenes involving abuse, rape, and misogyny) were both offensive and lacking any real meaning to the story.

This movie was way too long. I could not believe when the first story had credits come up on the screen because it felt as if nothing had actually happened. The story beats are scattered and convoluted.

This felt like a director who was hot off the Oscar-winning Poor Things who thought that whatever he would do would be beloved. This is not that. I really hated this movie.

0.9 stars

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

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My expectations were very low for the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. Axel F was released on Netflix and most of the time, these long stretches between sequels are a bad sign. Beverly Hills Cop 3 came out in the early 1990s and this is over thirty years since. And the franchise’s third film was already bad. All of this added up to my expectations being so low.

I was pleasantly surprised when I watched Axel F that I was enjoying the film, that it felt like an Axel Foley movie featuring the cast that I remembered, and that it was funny and filled with some good action.

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) gets a call in Detroit from Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) in Beverly Hills saying that Axel’s estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) was involved in a tricky case that Billy had been investigating. Billy was worried about her and thought that Axel should come and help. Unfortunately, Billy is captured and disappears before Axel could arrive in town.

Axel immediately began causing trouble in Beverly Hills and winds up arrested where he meets young detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose case Rosewood had been interfering with.

I was really pleased with this movie. I thought it was well done and well written. It was not just another cash grab in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. This felt like it had more on its mind than just Eddie Murphy being funny.

Eddie Murphy fell right back into the role of Alex Foley easily and had his typical charisma in doing so. He had that same flair of being an outsider in the world of Beverly Hills that worked so well in the 80s. Taylour Paige was solid as Foley’s daughter. This could have been a cliche with the adult child and deadbeat dad, but her talents and a well written script kept it feeling fresh and strong.

It was great to see Judge Reinhold back as Billy, as well as John Ashton back as Taggart. They both seemed like old friends that we missed over these years. Their participation was kept at a reasonable level, which I think was a good choice. They avoided being seen as overused and instead worked when they were on screen.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked well with Eddie Murphy as a younger partner whose relationship with Jane was a tad hokey. There were some solid scenes with these two actors that worked well in the film.

There were several moments that felt similar to previous installments of the franchise, including the finale, which could be considered too similar to the first film. I would have liked something a little more original in the finale because they had done some very good action throughout the film that felt new and exciting. In particular, there is a scene with a helicopter that was excellent. The lack of originality of the final set piece was a negative toward a film that had been doing very well up until that point.

Kevin Bacon is another actor in the film, as a police Captain whose expensive shoes and watch make Axel suspicious of him. Beverly Hills Cop franchise has a history of showing you the bad guy upfront and not trying to make it a mystery. This falls right in line with the other ones. I mean, the minute you see Kevin Bacon appear, you know what is going on.

I did not think that Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F was going to be any good at all, so I am beyond pleased that there was as much humor and action that worked and that Eddie Murphy and a cast of talented actors had a strong enough script to keep them and me involved.

3.85 stars

Despicable Me 4

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The fourth film in the Despicable Me franchise (seventh if you count the Minion films in the franchise) dropped today. It has been hit and miss for me over the lifetime of the franchise, so I had no idea what this one would be.

After watching Despicable Me 4 this morning, I did not find that this new film did much for me.

The film was not aggressively bad. I just did not find the film very entertaining. The humor fell flat with just a few exceptions. The story was simple and dull. The Minions were a huge distractions as always.

The positives were the voice cast was solid, if not really great. Steve Carell as Gru is clearly comfortable in this role. Kristin Wiig, Will Ferrell, Sofia Vergara, Stephen Colbert, Joey King all did a strong job.

The animation was fine too. It may not have been unbelievable, but it is certainly watchable.

While the young viewers may like this, the film is much lower level entertainment for the young kids. Especially since there is a considerably better animated movie for kids out there, Inside Out 2. Despicable Me 4 has a lot of stupidity to it and you do not have to lower the level of story just to focus on kids.

I did like some of the finale, but it went too long and ended poorly.

There was nothing that was special with this film and was basically the same things we have seen in previous Despicable Me movies. There was nothing new and it felt dull. As I stated, there was not much that I found funny, and the story was everything that we had seen before.

2.6 stars

The Burial (2023)

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June 30, 2024

The June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback draws to a close for this year with a film on Amazon Prime that I had on my radar for several months at the end of 2023, but one that I simply did not find the time to watch. I am glad that the June Swoon gave me the opportunity to see The Burial as it was an engaging and dramatic court movie.

Starring Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones, The Burial is based on a true story of a small business owner’s struggle to save his business in the face of a greedy corporation.

According to IMDB, “Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.“

I really loved the character played by Jones in this. He went against just about every convention you would have in a film, especially from a character played by Tommy Lee Jones. Nary a sign of a gruff, growly man. My favorite scene of the film was when Jones and Foxx were on Foxx’s plane and they played some music.

The best parts of the film were between Jones and Foxx as they had a tremendous chemistry on screen. They felt like true friends despite the natural differences between them.

The court scenes were also very well done as Jones gave an excellent person for whom the audience could relate to.

The Burial runs for over two hours but it did not feel like that. Nicely paced and brilliantly acted, The Burial was a wonderful way to wrap up the June Swoon 3.

Reality (2023)

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June 29, 2024

It is the penultimate film in the 2024 June Swoon today on June 29th and it was one on Max called Reality.

I was not sure why the title of the movie was Reality, but soon I learned that it was named after the main character, Reality Winner, a real life American intelligence leaker from 2017. The film itself is based on the recordings from the real life interview of Reality Winner by the FBI as they searched her home for any evidence that she had sent classified materials to an online publication.

Sydney Sweeney played Reality and she did a fantastic job. This was one of my favorite performances for Sweeney and from this you can see why she is considered one of the up-and-comers in the world of entertainment.

The dialogue of the movie reportedly came directly from the recordings of the day, including a bunch of the small talk that ensued between Reality and the FBI agents, specifically with agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis). Some of the dialogue was uncomfortable and could be considered cringe, but you could feel the tension of the moment with every word.

The film does a cool thing when it comes to parts of the questioning that needed to stay confidential. The film does a glitch type thing and reappears after the part is done. This is a clever way to conceal info that needed to remain hidden.

Tina Satter directed the film, which she also co-wrote. She had originally adapted the transcript into a stage play entitled Is This a Room. Reality was Satter’s first directorial debut.

The film was well done and highlights the talents of Sydney Sweeney. It is available for streaming on HBO Max.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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The original A Quiet Place was one of the best movie experiences I have had in a theater. The tension in the theater, with everyone being just as quiet as the actors were on screen was an amazing atmosphere. It has not been rivaled in that manner since.

That does not mean that this new film, a prequel to that first film was not good. On the contrary, I found this new film, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn was a very engaging and intense film.

A woman named Sam and her service cat Frodo found herself trapped in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion. The aliens responded and attacked with their amazing hearing forcing everyone to be as quiet as they could be.

I am reminded just what an exceptional actor Lupita Nyong’o is. Her portrayal of Sam was exceptional, displaying every bit of anxiety and stress with the most limited dialogue possible.

And early on during the film, I thought to myself, “If that cat dies, we riot.” Maybe that was an exaggeration, but the cat had some great moments in the film as well.

I did not realize that the other actor playing against Nyong’o was Joseph Quinn, who has been cast as the next Johnny Storm, the Human Torch in the upcoming MCU film Fantastic Four. I found this performance from Quinn as Eric to be very solid and working extremely well with the nearly silent Sam. Johnny Storm seems to be in capable hands with Quinn.

The film also had Djimon Hounsou as Henri, but he was not used to the level that one would expect. I wonder if this is intended to be the same character that he played in A Quiet Place Part II as IMDB only lists him as “Man on Island” in that film. Overall, Hounsou felt more wasted than anything else.

One of the few nitpicks that I had with this film was it sure seemed as if the whole ‘sound attracts these monsters and that you can avoid them if you are really quiet’ concept was figured out too quickly. I kept wondering how they figured that little tidbit out in such a rapid manner. It did not pull me out of the film, but I did think about it several times throughout.

The relationship between Sam and Eric was very original and strong, again because so much of their interactions came sans dialogue, I was connected to them, and it was not just because of the cat.

The sound design of this series of films has been sensational, and Day One joins in with them beautifully. The little sounds that were suddenly amazingly loud because of the way the aliens hear it was anxiety-creating and built amazing tension.

Of course, in the first couple of films, the focus was on a major character who was deaf. Here, Nyong’o had something else that I won’t spoil, but you learn about in the first ten minutes that really set the stakes for her character in an unexpected way.

Admittedly, the gimmick of the aliens who are attracted to sound has been played out a bit, but this film makes it work with the way it created a new group of characters and made us care for them. Then, by casting some excellent actors in the roles, you elevate what could have been just another monster movie into more than that, while still maintaining the aura of the original and sequel. I am not sure that I wanted another A Quiet Place movie, but I am glad that I got one.

4.2 stars

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)

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June 28, 2024

Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in today’s June Swoon 3, a film called You Hurt My Feelings, an A24 film that follows her life as writer.

Louis-Dreyfus played Beth, a writer who overheard her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) telling his friend that he really did not like the new book that she was writing. This bit of honesty sent Beth on a spiral, doubting everything in her life and putting her marriage under a scrutiny that she had never had before.

The film was fine. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is funny and she delivered her performance in the slow, real life tone. The film builds a series of events together, showing a full picture of her and her family’s life.

Some could consider the pace of this film to drag on, but I liked the simplicity of the presentation. The film takes its time it spends with each character to really reveal what they were like. Nothing major would happen to any of them, but these seemingly unimportant moments all had a powerful impact on each person.

The film does take time with Don as well, looking at his job as a therapist, a job that the film seems to be implying that he is not very good at. He has several clients that come in to air their problems with Don, to little success. Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, and Zach Cherry are standouts among the therapy sessions.

This had a definite independent movie feel to it. It is not flashy but it was an entertaining film with some thoughts on the little white lies and their effects.

Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter One

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A three hour, chapter one Western?

Kevin Costner’s epic Western Horizon: An American Saga debuted this weekend. At least, the first part of the movie debuted this weekend while Chapter Two will arrive in August.

This film looked beautiful. There were some decent performances. However, the film has its share of problems that outweigh the positives.

What are the problems? Well, there are a bunch of characters and storylines and it feels as if there are too many. Even for three hours, they bounced around to these different storylines, all that were interesting to be fair, and it never got a good feel for any of them. There were so many characters that half the time, I was never sure who was who and what each one of them were doing.

It did feel as if Kevin Costner wanted this film to be sweeping, with multiple plots going on at once, and it felt as if some of them should have been tightened up or removed to make it more cohesive.

The last five minutes of the film featured, I assume, scenes put to music from the next film. This montage was confusing and felt silly.

There were scenes that were enjoyable, but I just do not think it matters because the story is so scattered and the characters are not as developed as they should be.

2.8 stars

Infinity Pool (2023)

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June 27, 2023

I avoided this movie not only when it was in the theaters, but this month during the June Swoon 3. I had a feeling that this would not be a film that I would enjoy. Infinity Pool was a Brandon Cronenberg directed film. Brandon’s father is David Cronenberg, who was renown for his body horror films. I am not big on the body horror.

Despite my hesitancy, I gave Infinity Pool a chance on Hulu.

Boy, was I right.

I did not enjoy this movie at all.

According to IMDB, “While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror“

I will start with the positive. Mia Goth is a star. She has been amazing in other films such as Pearl and X and she is just as frightening here. I look forward to seeing her career move on.

That was about it. I had no character in this movie that I could support or root for. They were all just horrific people. I think I was meant to cheer for Alexander Skarsgård’s character, but I found him unlikable in just about every way.

The bizarre sequences of the film were not enjoyable to watch for me and just did not engage me with the story.

It was unsatisfying and I was right to skip it last year. I wish I had skipped it this year too.

Flora and Son (2023)

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June 26, 2024

How have I never seen anything about this movie before?

What a wonderfully charming movie. From the director of Sing Street, Flora and Son is a story of a single mom Flora (Eve Hewson) who has had trouble connecting with her 14-year old son Max (Orén Kinlan). One day, in an attempt to find something for her son to do, she rescued a guitar from the dumpster. When he rejected it, Flora decided to take online lessons to learn the guitar herself and she found a guitar instructor Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who changed her life.

This film is a love letter to music and its power to create, heal or maintaining relationships, even those that feel as if there is no possible way for those relationships to work.

The film has a complicated relationship between Flora and Max at the center, a mother and son who seem to barely stand each other, but their eventual similar love of music started to repair their bond.

The relationship with Flora and Jeff is one of the most fascinating ones of the film as they never meet face to face, only over the internet. However, the film uses some clever ways to show this online relationship that helps create a connection that benefitted both of them.

Ewe Hewson is tremendous as Flora. She is the ultimate standout of the movie and her performance carries most of the film. I found her so appealing that I bought every relationship she had and I rooted for her to be a better mom. Orén Kinlan was solid too, bringing the typical brooding teen more depth than you would think.

I did not expect to enjoy this film as much as I did, but I loved Sing Street and the vibe definitely matches that one.

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

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June 25, 2024

“Wars don’t start with explosions. They start with silence.”

Today’s June Swoon 3 film is another Oscar winner that absolutely rips at your soul and had me crying within the first 20 minutes. 20 Days in Mariupol won the 2024 Best Documentary Academy Awards this past March with this chilling look at the Russian invasion into Ukraine, specifically into a coastal city called Mariupol.

Three AP journalists, led by Mstyslav Chernov, who wound up writing, directing and appearing in the doc, end up the final journalists inside war torn Mariupol, dedicated to getting their footage out of the country to show the world the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers.

Absolutely heart-wrenching as the footage showed men, women, children being torn apart by the shrapnel and the bombing of civilian structures. As I watched, I was taken aback by the continued filming of these tragedies and how the Ukrainian people, for the most part, wanted the filming to continue. I guess the desire to show the world what was happening, to be able to record the travesty was vitally important to everyone involved.

The switching to news clips of Russian representatives claiming these images and film was of actors, that it was “fake news” was downright sickening. The use of that phrase to try and minimize the truth and throw shade at the media is obscene, and I am ashamed of how that term has been used in the US as well as abroad.

The film was so raw and painful to watch these innocent people suffer through because of the aggression of an occupying force. As painful as it was, it also was a homage to the power of the human spirit and the dedication to one’s craft in the face of real-world horrors. This was harrowing.

A Disturbance in the Force (2023)

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June 24, 2024

A Long, Long Time Ago… in a Galaxy far away… Well, maybe not that far away.

Few fandoms are as currently as toxic as the Star Wars fandom. Not to put down the entire group of people for the divisiveness of some, but there is no denying that Star Wars fans lean towards hyperbole. One only needs to look at the discourse surrounding the new Disney + series, The Acolyte, to understand it.

However, the Star Wars universe had something once that is both beloved and reviled unlike anything else. It was something that George Lucas himself wanted to see banished from the canon of his creation. It was something that Star Wars fans desperately tried to see for decades… a badge of honor among those who truly called themselves Star Wars aficionados.

The Star Wars Holiday Special.

So today’s June Swoon focused in on a documentary from Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak all about the creation of and response to on of the most infamous TV specials of all fandom.

Between the release of Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, the CBS network wanted a Star Wars special to broadcast over the holiday season and they turned it into a variety show, featuring Chewbacca’s family as well as Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Art Carney. It aired once and then disappeared, only to be seen by those who could find a bootleg copy.

This documentary included clips of all of the Star Wars performers, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher with their thoughts on the special. Harrison Ford’s responses are always the most entertaining as he is clearly hoping the special would disappear forever.

There were also interviews of a ton of famous people in the geek community giving their comments and thoughts on the special including such notable stars as Kevin Smith, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bobcat Goldthwait, Seth Green, Paul Scheer, Donny Osmond, Gilbert Gottfried, and Patton Oswalt. There were a lot of interviews with people involved in the creation of the special including Bruce Vilanch, Mick Garris, Bob Mackie among others.

Though the doc certainly says that this special was bad, there was items included that show how some people, particular those who may have seen the special as a child, loved the show. Jon Favreau is an unapologetic fan of the special and they showed how he included Easter eggs from it in The Mandalorian. The clips from the animated section of the special was shown as the first place we saw Boba Fett.

The documentary was very funny and gave real opinions of people who were desperate at the time for content in the Star Wars community. One wonders what the fandom today would do if something like the Star Wars Holiday Special were to be released on Disney +. The review bombing that would happen would be generational.

All Star Wars fans should be looking for this documentary, which I rented on Amazon Prime. If you are interested in how something like this able to be created, you should check this out. It was highly entertaining and an easy watch.

El Conde (2023)

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June 23, 2024

Today’s June Swoon entry is a piece of historical fiction blended into a vampire tale that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography this past Oscars.

El Conde tells the story of Chile’s brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) as a 250-year old vampire who arrived at a point that he wanted to die. His sycophant children came to see him, with the hope that they would receive their inheritance. When they were unsure of the plans of their father, they hired a nun named Carmen (Paula Luchsinger) to find the missing fortune, although Carmen has ideas of her own to put into place.

The film is a black comedic satire of not only the vampire movies, but also of the political world of the time. One only needs to wait to discover the mother of Augusto Pinochet is to understand that.

There are some really gross moments in the film, but everything is shot in black and white which makes it more artistic. Again, to avoid spoilers, the use of a blender definitely stands out as one of the creepier aspects of the film.

The film may drag on a bit, but it does have its funny moments and makes the most of its gimmick. The performances are decent and the film looks amazing. El Conde is available for streaming on Netflix.

Thelma

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I have enjoyed seeing June Squibb in just about every supporting role she has ever had, from the movie Nebraska to the role of Mee-Maw on The Big Bang Theory. She was just recently the voice of Nostalgia in Inside Out 2 as well as voice acting in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Soul and Toy Story 4. She has had a tremendous career so far.

That is extremely impressive for the 94-year old actress. You can add another accolade to June Squibb’s resume. A lead role in a funny and heart-warming movie called Thelma.

Thelma Post (June Squibb) is still living alone, two years after the death of her long time husband, and, as a 93-year old, she is worrying her family who wonder if she can continue to live unassisted. Her grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) tries to help her out, but truth be told, he has enough trouble keeping himself moving forward.

So when Thelma receives a scam phone call stating that Daniel had been in an accident and needed her to mail $10,000 to help, Thelma fell for the act and mailed the money.

Embarrassed by her naivety and with the police being no help, Thelma decides to take things into her own hands and starts out to find the scam artists and get her money back.

June Squibb is excellent here. She is so charming and she is clearly a force of nature that I believe every far fetched situation that she is place within. Some of her choices are remarkably dangerous, and you just know that something was going to go wrong with this, but you can’t help but root for her anyway.

It is also great to see Clark Gregg once again. Our beloved Agent Phil Coulson is playing Thelma’s son-in-law, a twitchy, over-protective father married to a neurotic woman, Thelma’s daughter Gail (played by the ever awesome Parker Posey). Gregg and Posey are excellent here as the overbearing parents of Daniel, whose love for their son may get in the way of his development.

Despite some of the credibility-stretching scenes, there is a lot of heart to this movie as well. There are plenty of comments directed toward the aging process and how some have more troubles than others. There are several scenes set at a retirement/old folks home that show the whole gamut of the aging process. It has several jokes directed at aging, but they are done with surprising kindness.

Richard Roundtree had a major supporting role in this film as an old friend of Thelma who owned a scooter that she needed for her own independence. Roundtree was fantastic as Ben and brought a new element to the story.

This was a lot of fun and, despite being far fetched in a lot of things, it was charming enough to overcome any issues it might have.

3.7 stars