Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Stitch Head

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I had intended on renting and watching Stitch Head, the animated movie in the style of 3D CG animation, during this past weekend’s post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I did not think about Stitch Head until I was filling in the list of films and I saw the character of Stitch Head on the banner. Oops. So I rented it from Fandango at Home and planned on watching it this week.

The time was tonight and I watched the film.

According to IMDB, “Follows Stitch Head, a small creature awoken by a Mad Professor in a castle to protect the professor’s other creations from the townspeople of Grubbers Nubbin.”

My first thought was that this, particularly the character designs, reminded me of the old Rankin/Bass animated shows like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The colors of Stitch Head also made me think about the old Christmas shows. That was all good things.

The story was cute with the monsters that were being created by the mad Professor were all scared of humans, expecting the angry mob to burst through the door of their castle at any minute. Stitch Head, the first monster created by Professor, was the one who could keep the monsters calm.

When circus ringmaster, Fulbert Freakfinder, came across Stitch Head, he knew that bringing Stitch Head to his circus would make a lot of money. He manipulated Stitch Head to agree to leave the castle and join his circus.

The voice cast was led by Asa Butterfield as Stitch Head. There was also Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Seth Usdenov, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Fern Brady, Jamali Maddix, Sway Clarke and Paul Tylak.

Stitch Head was simple in a lot of ways. It was weird as a couple of times, the film seemed like it was about to burst into songs, but they ended about as quickly as they started. The animation was great, bringing me back to those old Rankin/Bass shows and it was fun.

Character design was quirky and creative. Yes, there may not have been anything groundbreaking about this animated movie, but it was solid and enjoyable.

3.75 stars

Jingle Bell Heist

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The only reason I decided to watch this Netflix film, Jingle Bell Heist, was I needed to have a Christmas movie for the Year in Review.

Who would have guessed, but I really liked this movie.

According to IMDB, “At the height of the holiday season, two strangers team up to rob one of London’s most famous department stores while accidentally falling in love.“

I found this charming and fun. However, more than that, I found this one to be written extremely well. There were a couple of twists that happened in the film that I did not see coming and that was unexpected.

Olivia Holt played Sophia and Connor Swindells played Nick. The had chemistry with one another and, even though they were always going to be the pair that falls in love in this Christmas rom-com, they were quirky enough to stand out from the typical couple in these Christmas movies.

The film moved well, flowing from one scene to the next. It did not overstay its welcome and I would think this is an exceptional film to watch during the holiday season.

Peter Serafinowicz played the rich and crooked Maxwell Sterling. As a villain, Serafinowicz was basically one note, but there was enough from him to help us understand how rotten a person he was. Lucy Punch played Sterling’s wife, Cynthia, in a fun, albeit small, part. Though it was small, it was very impactful.

I was pleased that the first Christmas film I watched for the Year in Review turned out to be a extremely solid one. If this turns out to be the only Christmas movie I get to see this year, it is nice to know that I have seen a good one.

3.8 stars

Wildcat

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I was watching a video on YouTube today of the Kristian Harloff Show. This was the day of the week where Roxy Striar appeared. I always enjoy her TV picks for the week so I played it for awhile. They were speaking about a new movie that Roxy was in, which starred Kate Beckinsale, called Wildcat. Looking at the info for the film, I saw it was rentable on Prime.

It was an action movie, directed by James Nunn, who has a reputation for action.

Sadly, the story was fairly convoluted and messy.

Beckinsale played a former black ops operative named Ada. She had a relationship with another operative named Roman (Lewis Tan). Ada wanted to leave the life and settle down, but Roman was not interested.

Several years later, Ada and her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley) ran into Roman and they had dinner. They were going to remain friends. Later that night, Charlotte was kidnapped because Ada’s brother Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) owed money to mobsters and had spoke about his sister the former black op.

Ada reunited with her former team in an attempt to pull of a heist to get the money to pay off the mobster.

This had some possibilities, storywise, but it felt that these plot points got too lost among the rest of the pieces tossed into the movie.

I hated the character of Edward. He made every scene worse, with the exception of the very final one.

The action was pretty decent, but there was a bit too much gunfire for my taste. I did like the connection between Ada and Roman. They worked well together.

The final was silly. I am not sure what they were doing.

I did love seeing Roxy in the film. She did great in her small role, and I am so happy that she has gotten the opportunity.

This just is not my type of movie.

2.5 stars

Splitsville

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Another film from Fandango at Home that I have been eyeballing for quite awhile was a comedy called Splitsville. I had seen trailers for this film in the theaters, but it never came around my area. So I knew it would be one I watched eventually. This weekend turned out to be the perfect opportunity.

According to IMDB, “When Ashley asks for a divorce, the good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. Their secret to happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.”

The ensemble of this film was solid with Dakota Johnson, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Michael Angelo Covino leading the way. These four actors were very solid and had some really good comedic timing. The fight between Marvin and Covino, as shown in the trailer, was extremely well laid out and escalated to a funny pitch.

I was into the story as the film was moving along, but I have to say, without spoiling anything, that I was not fond of where the story went and the final act of the film, while still funny, lost me. I just did not believe what happened would have happened, and it spoiled the first two thirds of the film that I was really enjoying.

Admittedly, it did not totally wreck the film. I am still going to give it a positive review, but the way this wrapped up definitely dragged the score down quite a bit.

3.1 stars

Twinless

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The snow continues here and so does the EYG post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend with another film I rented off Fandango at Home called Twinless.

Roman (Dylan O’Brian) had just lost his twin brother in a car accident and he was struggling through the grief and pain. He went to a support group for others who lost a twin. In this group he met Dennis (James Sweeney) and they bonded over their mutual loss. They became unlikely friends. However, there was a secret that threatened to destroy their friendship.

I had in my head what this film was going to be, but I was surprised by the way this story developed. There was a darkness to this comedy that I was not expecting.

Dylan O’ Brian did a great job as Rocky and there was chemistry between him and James Sweeney’s Dennis. Still, one of the characters was not as likable as you would think.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so it is going to be tough to go into specifics about most of this movie.

This was solid and engaging. There were great performances in the film, especially our two lead protagonists. It is a solid movie.

3.75 stars

Eleanor the Great

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As we have the second film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, there is actually snow on the ground. It has been snowing all morning though it does feel as if it is not as much as was forecast.

Still, nowhere to go this afternoon so I rented Eleanor the Great off Fandango At Home (aka Vudu) starring June Squibb.

After the death of her friend and longtime roommate, 94-year old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) was lonely and grieving. By fate, she wound up in a support group for Holocaust survivors. Not sure what to do, but craving the human attention, Eleanor, not a Holocaust survivor, began telling the stories of her recently passed roommate, who did survive, as her own. From these tales, she met a bright young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who had suffered her own recent loss.

This was the feature directorial debut by Scarlett Johansson, and she did a fine job with a story that placed the delightful June Squibb front and center. I am not sure there is a more impressive actress working today than the nonagenarian. She brought an energy to the film that would not have been there without her.

The story was good, but Squibb elevated it into a much higher level. It was a typical “lies get revealed” type story, but Squibb made this more than just a typical tale. You could feel her passion for the film in every moment she was on screen.

The relationship between Eleanor and Nina was another positive of the movie. They had a bond that you could feel on screen. When Nina discovered that Eleanor was not what she had represented herself as, the pain and betrayal cut deep.

It may have wrapped up too neatly in the end, but it did give us an ending that provided hope for the future of the characters.

3.5 stars

In Your Dreams

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No snowflakes around here yet, but this is officially the first film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend. In Your Dreams is an animated film currently streaming on Netflix after a short week length release in theaters.

According to IMDB, “Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.”

The film has some very deep and potentially troublesome themes that could trigger some. However, the brightness and colorful animation makes even the hardest topics palatable.

The voice over cast included Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, and SungWon Cho.

I thought this was a pretty decent animated movie. It had some fun and some drama, with a serious topic that the characters dealt with in the story.

I thought that the music was really solid in the film. I loved the use of some of the well known Sandman songs.

The character designs are well done and the dream world was creative and clever.

In Your Dreams was a nice animated movie for a snowy day (or soon to be snowy day).

3.5 stars

Train Dreams

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Based on a 2011 novella, Train Dreams is a drama directed by Clint Bentley and starring Joel Edgerton. The film just started streaming on Netflix.

According to IMDB, “…Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.“

The film featured a stunning performance from Joel Edgerton, while ripping the heart out of the viewer’s chest with some of the most painful scenes of the year.

It is an emotional tale of Robert Grainier’s life and the losses that tugged at his soul. The pain of his loss was tempered by his consistent search for life. There are some scenes that are just remarkably rough for the character, yet one of the final scenes of the film brings about a feeling of joyous freedom.

Great performances littered this movie. Add to Edgerton the strong work from Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon and William H. Macy.

The cinematography of the land is fantastic and the film is a beautiful one to watch.

I found this to be a lovely film that was difficult to watch with the emotional moments being powerful. It is available on Netflix.

3.6 stars

Zootopia 2

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Zootopia was a giant surprise hit in 2016 when it broke one billion dollars worldwide. With that much box office success, one would wonder why it took nearly ten years to have a sequel.

Zootopia 2 is an excellent new animated movie that does a great job of providing a new story and continuing the awesome partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

According to IMDB, “Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.“

Ginnifer Godwin and Jason Bateman are the voices of Judy and Nick respectfully. They do a fantastic job with these characters and their voice work is part of the reason this pair is so good together. They are also written well as any friendship you’ll find in the movies.

There is a great voice cast along with Godwin and Bateman. This included Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, Dasvid Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, Quinta Brunson, and Bonnie Hunt. In a fun bit of casting, the Zebros were voiced by pro wrestlers, Joe Anoa’i (aka Roman Reigns) and Phil Brooks (aka C.M. Punk).

I liked the story of the film as well. It was nicely developed without succumbing to the sequel-itis where the sequel tried to do way too much, cramming it in. However, this felt very well constructed and worked well. I was worried at first that there would be too much here and make the story feel convoluted, but it came together nicely as it progressed.

The character design is amazing, and the creativity is off the charts. The animation looked fantastic and you could tell that they were having a lot of fun with the film as it translated to the screen.

It had real emotion and some wonderful character moments. It was also hilarious and filled with some great animated action. It was worth the wait to see a sequel.

4.2 stars

After the Hunt

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The film, After the Hunt was a film that I missed out on while it was in the theaters earlier this year, but with it coming available on Amazon Prime, I was able to watch it this weekend. I have to say that I found this to be extremely disappointing and mostly a mess.

According to IMZDB, “A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.”

Thing is, this synopsis from IMDB is much more concise than this film is. I’m not sure what the overall story as meant to be, and it felt as if these characters were jumping back and forth in so many different manners that it muddied the waters of the narrative.

There are great actors in the film. Julia Roberts,  Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny all had important roles in the film and they all can really act. There just was too much chaos in the script to allow any of them to elevate the material. Certainly, Julia Roberts had the strongest performance, but there was just so much going on that was needlessly convoluted that it sapped any semblance of her performance.

The score was constantly in the way. I have never been as distracted by the music in a movie as I was with this movie. The score was nonsensical at times and really caused disruptions.

The narrative was scattered around and did not have a comprehensive idea of where it wanted to go. This was compounded by the different characters and what they brought to the story. Some things were brought in for reasons that I am not sure have a purpose.

I found this to be overly long, messy, and wasteful of some strong performances. After the Hunt never really knew what it wanted to be, and that is hat it became.

2 stars

Wicked: For Good

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Last year, Wicked found its way into my top 10 of the year. I loved the first movie and I was excited to see the follow-up, the finish to the story with Wicked: For Good.

I did enjoy the movie, but it just did not feel as enjoyable as the first half.

We pick up back in Oz with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) being pursued and demonized as the Wicked Witch of the West, and she is trying to show the citizens of Oz that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) was a fraud. Glinda (Ariana Grande) was the public face for the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and was being created as the Good Witch.

The strengths of this film included the two leads, Erivo and Grande. Their chemistry was off the charts in the first film, and they both carry it right into Wicked: For Good. Both of them give Oscar worthy performances once again, however, there was too much of the film where they were at odds, which dragged things down a bit. Specifically, with the love triangle between them and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), which did not seem to work very well.

The film looked beautiful once again. They had filmed this right after the first film, so everything was still in place and the sequel is sensational looking.

While there is no song in the second film that could match the power or emotionality of “Defying Gravity,” I did enjoy the music throughout. The voices of both Grande and Erivo are spot on and could handle anything thrown at them. My personal favorite songs were “Wonderful” featuring both Erivo and Grande with Jeff Goldblum. The scene of them dancing together really was an awesome shot and “No Good Deed” with Erivo standing out.

I just had trouble with this film not reaching the levels of the first film. Wicked was filled with magic and charm, while it felt like Wicked: For Good was too busy trying to cram the parts of The Wizard of Oz to make it fit the story of the original 1939 film. I am not sure much of the Wizard of Oz bits worked for me.

Specifically, the origins of the Scarecrow and the Tin Man made no sense to me and felt extremely shoehorned into the script. I won’t spoil this for anyone who doesn’t know from the stage play, but I did not like the use of these characters.

A lot of the story was not dealt with, as if there were several dangling plotholes left unfilled. Again, without spoiling I can’t go into too many details, but this was a problem for me, especially in reflection.

The second film is definitely darker than the first one with a few surprisingly dark scenes. There was less humor in this new film, which is not a bad thing, but Ariana Grande, whose comedic timing was on full display in the first film, did not have the opportunity as much in this one. Again, that is not necessarily bad, as it might show character growth, but it was a missing feature for me.

Wicked: For Good is a solid film, if not as good as the first one. I wonder what it would be like to watch both films back to back? I wonder if that would change the thoughts I had for part two? Maybe I’ll do that some day.

3.75 stars

Sisu: Road to Revenge

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A few years back there was a film featuring a Finnish protagonist who had become a legend by his brutality and his survival. Dubbed the “Man who refuses to die,” Aatami Korpi stomped through Nazis, killing everyone in his path.

Aatami Korpi (played by Jorma Tommila) is back after the war and he returned to his home in Finland, which had been annexed by the Soviet Union in the peace treaty, to the home where his wife and two sons were murdered.

Korpi dismantled his house, taking the lumber from it to leave the now Soviet Union so he could rebuild the house again. Unfortunately, the man who killed his family, Yeagor Dragunov, played by Stephen Lang, was hired to go and kill the legend, once and for all.

The story was really simple, and Jorma Tommila does not have one line of dialogue, but he did a nice job with his body posture and his facial expressions (that is, when we could see the facial expressions through the crimson mask that covered his face at multiple times in the film) to express the pain and anguish he was going through.

Korpi is beat all the crap in the film, to the point where it is amazing that he could possibly still be functioning, much less alive.

I have to say that while I did enjoy a lot of the excessive violence that was going on in the film, it got to a point where it may have been too much. It was difficult to accept that he was still alive after so much without any sort of magical/mystical abilites.

Some of the things he does is also too cartoonish. Some of the things had me rolling my eyes or trying to decide exactly why he did that. There was one scene with a tank that truly showed this concept.

Because of the violence becoming too out there, I felt like the movie took a step back from the previous one. I do not remember the last Sisu movie being this over-the-top, Looney Tunes type violence and this just was more than I wanted.

It was still a fun revenge flick, but, interestingly enough, Korpi wasn’t in search of revenge. Had the Soviets not sent Dragunov after him, he would have just left the Soviet Union and built his new home. I am not even sure Korpi knew that Dragunov was the man who killed his family until he started bragging about it.

A solid revenge flick that does takes things too far for my tastes, Sisu: Road to Revenge is a decent afternoon watch, it is paced quickly and has some good humorous kills. Lots of blood too.

3.4 stars

Being Eddie

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I watched a second Netflix documentary tonight, this one much more upbeat that the previous one. I saw the Netflix documentary on Eddie Murphy’s life and career called Being Eddie.

We follow through the career of Eddie Murphy, with his own words. There are plenty of moments of Eddie Murphy talking about the aspects of his life, from SNL to Beverly Hills Cop to his Oscar nomination back to SNL.

There are a bunch of other comedians who appear as talking heads on the doc to speak about Eddie’s success and his career. Others in the doc included Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Jamie Foxx, and Tracy Morgan. We meet Eddie’s older brother, Charlie Murphy, who resembled his brother considerably. The doc interviewed writer Barry Blaustein as well as film director John Landis.

The doc was filled with nostalgia over the early days of Eddie’s career. Flashes from SNL and his early movies were great. They spent time on the joke on SNL by David Spade that ticked Eddie off. They touched on the film Norbit, which is widely considered to have cost Eddie an Academy Award for Dream Girls.

They talked about his recording of “Party All the Time” and showed clips of Eddie on different talk shows.

The doc was very fun. It certainly was not deeply in-depth. It did not dive too much into the deep problems and when it brought up difficulties, they were just touched upon.

Still, it was a fun watch and a nice palate cleanser after the rougher “The Perfect Neighbor.”

3.5 stars

The Perfect Neighbor

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There is a new documentary on Netflix called The Perfect Neighbor and it was a tough and sad story.

According to IMDB, “A minor disagreement between neighbors in Florida takes a lethal turn, with police body camera footage and interviews probing the aftermath of the state’s controversial “stand your ground” laws.”

The shots of the doc were mostly from police bodycam recordings. It made for a fascinating narrative for both the people involved in the case as well as the way that the police handled the situation.

Some of the scenes were very tough. When the news arrived at the scene that the woman had died, watching the pain of the family was very difficult.

The film does not go into the “Stand Your Ground” laws very much. It could have been more time spent on that, though it did not necessarily fit with the format of the doc.

The Perfect Neighbor is a warning sign for the division we have in our country. It was a shame that we can’t be more understanding in our world.

4 stars

The Running Man (2025)

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Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of the Stephen King book came out this weekend. It should be mentioned to everyone that this is not a reboot or remake of the movie from 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Richard Dawson, but a closer adaptation of the novel, because if you go into the new The Running Man film thinking it is going to be like that, you might be disappointed.

Ben Richards (Glen Powell) has lost his job and his young daughter is extremely sick. In order to try and get enough money for his family to get her needed health care, Richards applied for some of the game shows on the network. The game shows were violent and dangerous, but could help provide enough money to save his daughter.

However, Ben’s anger over his situation shone through the audition process and led the network head, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to offer Ben a spot as one of the three runners on the final hunt for the game show The Running Man. A group of Hunters would try to find the runners and kill them, but if they could survive for 30 days, the runner could win a billion dollars.

Of course, the network and Killian were not going to play fair and were as corrupt as you would expect, and things turned badly for Ben.

The best part of the movie was Glen Powell. He showed himself as a capable and engaging action star. He showed how much of a good man he was at first, despite his internal anger, and the contest showed how those morals could be warped. Brolin was tremendous in lesser amount of screen time. You could quite figuratively feel the slime coming off of this character.

The action was really well done and thrilling. Powell is easy to root for and his efforts to survive got tougher with each moment.

The film did feel like it was too long. Some of the middle part of the film could have been trimmed down. I would say that they could have dropped around 15-20 minutes of run time and made this feel more streamlined. I also am not sure if the third act was as good as it could have been, because the first part of the movie absolutely rocked.

I feel like this was very entertaining, but I think it does not quite reach the level of epic. It absolutely could have been more than it was, but I do think that it was an exciting action film at the very least.

3.7 stars