Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Martin: Life is Short

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I have always been a fan of Martin Short, even more so since Only Murders in the Building. When the new documentary entitled Martin: Life is Short dropped on Netflix recently, I placed it on my queue so I could get around to watching it. I watched it this Sunday.

This gives the life story of Martin Short, from his childhood, including some terrible tragedies, to his remarkable career, from the flops and major successes.

There were a lot of great interviews from Short’s friends and family including his brothers Michael, Brian, his sister Nora, and Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, John Mulaney, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer, Steven Spielberg, and Rita Wilson.

The story spends a lot of time on the relationship between Martin and his wife Nancy. They are shown as the perfect couple, one that others wished they had relationships like.

I loved watching this documentary and it went by quite quickly.

4 stars

Eden (2025)

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June 14

Day 14

Today’s June Swoon 5 film was on Netflix and it was directed by Ron Howard. It was entitled Eden and it is based on a true story.

According to IMDB, “Based on a factual account of a group of outsiders who settle on a remote island only to discover their greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other.”

The cast was remarkably strong and their performances were all exceptional. The cast included Jude Law, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, and Vanessa Kirby.

These actors brought what they could to the film, despite that their characters were not written with much depth and were basically surface level.

There were some solid scenes and watching these characters back stab each other was a fun watch.

Ana de Armas was tremendously intriguing as the Baroness. She was very manipulative and used her sexuality in some very creative manners.

Eden was a mixed bag. Great actors with solid performances, but the story and characters were lacking at times. It was not a terrible watch, but it could have been so much more than what we got.

Power Ballad

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Director John Carney, who has had musical-based movies in the past with Once and Sing Street, is back in Ireland with another film about music.

Power Ballad starred Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas and they both do a top notch job as their characters in this film, and Paul Rudd did way more singing than I ever thought he would.

According to IMDB, “Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick’s song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves.”

The music of the film was fabulous. Paul Rudd did a great job performing all of these songs and Nick Jonas was excellent too. I liked the scene where Rick and Danny spends time together, drinking and jamming, and writing some songs. It was like a background of how songs are written.

The film was funny and entertaining. Rick’s arc was wonderful and you could feel his loss and his anger over the slight by Danny. The ending was very satisfying.

I wanted to go out of the way to see Power Ballad, as it was not going to fit well in my viewing schedule. I am thankful that I was able to make it work because I enjoyed this a lot. It may not be as brilliant as Sing Street, but there are plenty of positives to make it worth my time, especially Paul Rudd who is awesome as ever.

4 stars

Arco (2025)

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June 13

Day 13

Last year when the Academy Award nominations came out, there was one film among the Best Animated Feature category that I had never heard of before. It was a French film called Arco. I placed it on the list for the June Swoon 5 immediately.

I found it streaming on Hulu and watched it this morning with the English dubbed version. I typically am not a fan of the dubbed version, preferring the original voices. However, since it was an animated film, I decided it would not be as jarring as a live action dubbed film would be. Plus, the voice cast seemed very impressive with Will Farrell, Juliano Krue Valdi (who played young Michael Jackson in the biopic film, Michael), Mark Ruffalo, Natalie Portman, Andy Samberg, Flea, and America Ferrera.

According to IMDB, “In 2075, a girl witnesses a mysterious boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky. He comes from an idyllic far future where time travel is possible. She shelters him and will do whatever it takes to help him return to his time.”

The voice of Iris, the young girl who discovered Arco, was done by Romy Fay, a talented voice actor and singer-songwriter.

The film has several underlying themes in the story that kind of take a back seat to the lost in time aspect for Arco and iris. Some of the characters do not have the depth that they required, but they do seem to work together to form a tapestry of color and creativity. The imagery of the rainbows are lovely and the friendship between Arco and Iris is sweet, even if the backdrop of the world is horrific.

The oddball trio, led by the voice of Will Farrell, feels like something right out of anime. In fact, this reminded me of a Studio Ghibli film, only considerably shorter.

Arco was an enjoyable enough film that had a good message with some amazing visuals. I can see why it received an Oscar nomination.

Merrily We Roll Along (2025)

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June 12

Day 12

I repeat what I said earlier this week, I wish there were more examples of films like this. Not just adaptations of Broadway plays into film versions, but the actual play recorded live and put on the screen.

Earlier in the June Swoon 5, I watched Good Night, and Good Luck: Live From Broadway, which was starring George Clooney and it was awesome to see it in the way that it was shown on the Broadway stage. Today, I added another stage play filmed as it was to the list.

Merrily We Roll Along was a Tony-winning Broadway musical from Stephen Sondheim, including Tony-winning performances from Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe. It was available on Netflix and it has been waiting on my queue for June to begin.

According to IMDB, “Spanning three decades, the turbulent relationship between a composer and his two lifelong friends, a writer and a lyricist and playwright.”

The story is told in reverse chronological order, as we start at the point where the relationship between Franklin (Groff), Charley (Radcliffe) and Mary (Lindsay Mendez) was collapsing and we travel back over two decades through the play. It was a remarkable technique as it would make every scene from the past both hopeful and sad at the same time.

Jonathan Groff was sensational as the lead role of Franklin Shepard. His voice, as we have known from his roles in Frozen and Hamilton, is sublime. I did not know, however, that Daniel Radcliffe, our forever Harry Potter, could sing like he does here. In fact, one of my favorite songs was early in the play and I thought to myself, “Well, there’s why he won the Tony.”

The story itself was woven together beautifully, as it is not just writing the story normally and then reversing it. The foreshadowing from the scene of the past take on a new life in this order, meaning even more to the audience than if it were told in a typical structure.

I want more Broadway plays to be shot on film and shown nationwide, and with the proliferation of the streaming services out there, I wouldn’t think that there would be a lack of a forum for presentation.

Disclosure Day

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Steven Spielberg is back in the director’s chair for the new film, Disclosure Day, which brings Spielberg back to a topic that he seems to love… aliens.

Some of Spielberg’s greatest movies of all time have aliens at the center, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial to War of the Worlds. Now he is back with Disclosure Day, a film starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor.

This sci-fi film had just about everything that I would have wanted in it. Josh O’Connor played a man named Daniel Kellner, who had been working for the people trying to keep the existence of aliens hidden, but he had a change of heart, stealing away data proving the truth behind aliens and the government’s knowledge and involvement. Daniel was on the run, hoping to be able to show the data to the public.

Meanwhile, Emily Blunt, who played Margaret Fairchild, a weather girl in Kansas City, suddenly begins t show abilities that she had never had before. Speaking languages she did not know and knowing information about people she had never met before. When she started speaking in a strange language on live TV, things got weird for her.

Emily Blunt is absolutely on fire in this film. Her performance might just be arguably the greatest performance of her career, despite having plenty of banger performances to choose from. Emily Blunt takes the story to another level every second that she is on screen and she elevated the whole script. I truly believe that she should be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards next year from this work.

The rest of the cast is great, albeit looking a little less in comparison to Blunt. Josh O’Connor has been doing amazing work recently, including his great performance in the last Knives Out film. We also have Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel, Eve Hewson, and Jeremy Shamos.

Then there was the film’s main antagonist, Colin Firth. Firth played Noah, who was the agent with the top secret government agency trying to keep things under wrap, and he pursued Margaret and Daniel across the midwest.

I would not define this movie as an action movie, but they had some really good action, which included a scene with a train that was as good of an action sequence as you are going to see in any movie.

This film saw Spielberg beg the legendary John Williams, 94 years old, to come out of retirement to score Disclosure Day. Williams provided yet another amazing score for Spielberg, capping off an unbelievable career.

The movie might be a touch too long, but I do like how it took its time to develop the story and not just throw out everything about what was happening. The central mystery is handled well and kept me hooked from the beginning. The ending of the film has had some detractors, but I think it worked well. If anything, I wanted a little more before the screen went to black. I found the ending of the film to be quite an emotional moment.

Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time, and a member of the EYG Hall of Fame. His latest film recaptured some of the magic from his earlier filmography, especially feeling connected to films like Close Encounters. I saw this in IMAX and I found that to be a great viewing experience. I would recommend seeing this on a big screen while it is in the theater.

4.6 stars

Bambi: The Reckoning (2025)

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June 11

Day 11

I have had a pretty good run with the 2026 June Swoon 5. Ten really good, enjoyable movies so far. It is sad that had to come to an end, but I kind of expected it.

I have three movies I am going to today at Cinemark and so I needed a shorter movie. I just did a short yesterday and I wanted to avoid another right now. I found a film on Peacock that was only 1 hour and 20 minutes, that would work for the schedule. Unfortunately, it was Bambi: The Reckoning.

I have seen several of these movies. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, and Screamboat. Of those, I did not hate Screamboat as much as I hated the Winnie the Pooh movies, but it was not good by any stretch.

I gave it my best shot to come into this movie with an open mind, but that was wiped away early on.

According to IMDB, “A car wreck strands a mother and son in the deep woods where a mutated, vengeful deer stalks them. As local hunters and an obsessive grandmother converge, the forest becomes a bloody arena for a grieving creature’s primal rage.”

The writing on this is atrocious. I’m not sure that there is one redeeming character in the film. I was openly rooting for Bambi to kill these miserable excuses for human beings. Funnily enough, Bambi did not directly kill several of them.

The dialogue was basically yelling other characters’ names.

When most of these kills are funnier than scarier, you know you’ve got a problem. My favorite was the guy who got dragged behind a van as they were trying to escape from Bambi. What a completely random death.

There are some unintendedly funny moments and so little made sense. I could not bring myself to give this the “So Bad, It’s Good” ranking because there was just nothing good about it. Maybe if the RiffTrax crew would riff this, there might be something worth the time.

This may not sink to the depths of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey or its sequel, but it was nowhere near Screamboat. That is saying something.

Dirty Towel (2025)

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June 10

Day 10

Wednesday brought us another live action short film from 2025 for the June Swoon 5. This one I found on a list of the best short films of 2025 and it sounded the most interesting of the list. It was called Dirty Towel and it was a film by Callie Carpinteri.

A mother lectured her young daughter about sex, using the towel as a metaphor. She told her young daughter that having sex was like dirtying a new, clean towel and that you could never get it clean again.

Flash forward about 12 years and the girl, named Charlie, was having her first sexual encounter with a boy named Jack. After having sex, Charlie thought back to the words her mother spoke and had to deal with the feeling of shame.

At just over 12 minutes, Dirty Towel does a good job of displaying the inner shame people feel when they have done something that triggers that emotion. Charlie’s mind played tricks on her as she went through her normal routines and her own opinions were rough. They kept that dirty towel metaphor going throughout the short.

Emma Parks played Charlie and did a lot with the limited time.

The short was a solid film, with both humor and a strong message of self-acceptance.

Is This Thing On? (2025)

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June 9

Day 9

It is interesting when a film about a stand up comedian is not really funny.

Is This Thing On? is more of a character study than a comedy. I would go as far as to say that there is less comedy in this movie than you would see in most films. Because it is not really about the comedy. It is about the relationship between Alex and Tess (played by Will Arnett and Laura Dern) than anything else.

According to IMDB, “As their marriage unravels, Alex faces middle age and divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene. Meanwhile, his wife Tess confronts sacrifices made for their family, forcing them to navigate co-parenting and identities.”

Both Arnett and Dern do a great job with their individual characters, showing the cracks and frustrations of their marriage.

It is a slow burn of a movie, but it takes time to develop these two main characters and, because they do, the conclusion of the film works so much better.

It is directed by Bradley Cooper and he appeared as a supporting character in the film. In fact, Cooper’s character, Balls, was an odd character, bringing some levity to the film.

I was surprised with the tone of this movie. I expected more comedy than I got, but the film is still a very well written and acted movie. Arnett and Dern are great together and the film popped when they were sharing the screen. It was an unexpected tale.

Dust Bunny (2025)

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June 8

Day 8

Today’s June Swoon entry was a wild monster/thriller that I had never heard about before. It was entitled Dust Bunny, and I saw it on HBO Max.

What helped me pick the film out was seeing Mads Mikkelsen as the lead and Sigourney Weaver in a supporting role. Who knew that this was going to be a wild flick.

According to IMDB, “After losing her foster parents to a bedroom-dwelling beast, young Aurora hires her reclusive neighbor, a professional assassin, to hunt it, unknowingly thrusting him into a war against both human killers and supernatural terrors.“

The little girl, Aurora, was played by Sophie Sloan, who does an excellent job of presenting this little girl with a dark past and a serious attitude.

The monster is done very well too, keeping it fairly under wrapped for much of the film. It is not until the third act where we start to get a better glance of the monster. It did seem fairly practical of an effect too, which was a welcome bit for Hollywood today.

Mads Mikkelsen and Sophie Sloan were great together, elevating this movie’s script above a typical movie. They worked well together, showing some serious chemistry and some good laughs too.

This was a really weird movie. Think “Leon the Professional” if written by Roald Dahl and R.L. Stein. Hitmen and monsters do not necessarily go together, but this somehow fits wonderfully. 

The Pout-Pout Fish

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The animated film The Pout-Pout Fish dropped on Amazon Prime recently. It was one of the films I did not see in the theaters, so I streamed it on Prime.

I’ll get this out of the way. The animation was excellent. It looked great, and the designs of the fish were clever and fun.

That was about all I liked about this one.

According to IMDB, “Living on a rundown shipwreck, Mr. Fish one day discovers a hyperactive young sea dragon Pip – who had mistaken his home for a junkyard – pilfering his belongings. The heated argument that ensues leaves both their houses in ruin. But there is hope. Embarking on a seemingly impossible quest in search of the mythical “Shimmer” to grant them a wish, there’s only one problem: someone else is on the hunt.“

I am afraid that this movie just never hit with me. I had a lot of trouble with some of the physics of the story. It seemed like they forgot at times that there was water around everyone. Things seemed to fall like they would without water and it bugged me.

Then, the character of Pip was just about as annoying as I have ever heard in animation. I was done with this character very early as well.

The film was very predictable and overall bland. Nick Offerman, who I have always enjoyed, just did not seem to fit the voice of the character of Mr. Fish.

I thought the trio of pink dolphins (voiced by Amy Sedaris) were the best part of the film, because you do not usually see dolphins as antagonists.

This one was a disappointment. I did not enjoy watching it and it felt like it took forever, even though it wasn’t that long time wise. I thought the ending was okay, but by that point, I was checked out.

2.2 stars

Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round

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I was on Amazon Prime and I saw a film that grabbed my attention immediately. It was a rental called Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round, a horror movie with an intriguing hook.

According to IMDB, “A children’s TV show host, ensnared in a case of amnesia, must confront his missing memories as his puppet co-stars turn on him.”

This is really creepy and there is a solid performance at the center of it by Michael Gilio. The Mr. Rogers Neighborhood feel is obvious and it is subtle at first with the slow burn on the mystery of Mr. Jensen and what had happened to him.

When I first saw this, I immediately thought about Bray Wyatt and the Firefly Funhouse from the WWE. I could absolutely see Bray Wyatt doing something like this. The movie listed something about “Freak” which immediately made me think of The Fiend. I have a hard time believing that the Firefly Funhouse wasn’t an inspiration for this movie.

This developed into a creepy, downright frightening film with the puppets and Mr. Jensen. The flashbacks were so effective and were doled out slowly, creating a great pace for the movie.

The character of “Kneel” had me yelling out loud.

Aiden Leary made his feature length film directorial debut with this movie and he does an admirable job with some of the creepy shots and lighting of the show. He provided a movie that played with people’s anxiety and gives us a top notch psychological horror/thriller.

It has been a solid year for horror movies so far and this one adds right to the list of strong newcomers. It is currently available for rental on Prime or for free on Screambox.

4.3 stars

John Candy: I Like Me (2025)

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June 7

Day 7

Today’s June Swoon 5 film was a documentary on Amazon Prime from last year that looked at the life and career of one of the most beloved actors/comedians of the past forty years, John Candy.

The doc started off with Bill Murray trying to come up with something bad to say about John Candy, and wishing the producers luck in their investigation to find some dirt on the man. It was a real funny kick off to the show and did a great job of pointing out how universally beloved men John Candy was.

There were a litany of stars who had nothing but amazing things to say about John Candy including Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, Macaulay Culkin, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, and Mel Brooks.

The doc does a great job of outlining how the death of John Candy’s father (when John was 5 years old) affected him as an adult, and how his behavior of drinking, smoking, eating led to his early death at 43.

It also showed what a lovely human being John Candy was and how much success he had as an actor, starting off with SCTV and ending as a movie star.

The doc also talked with John Candy’s family, his wife, his brothers, his son, and his daughter. They talked about the close relationship John Candy had developed with John Hughes, and how Candy wound up in 9 films from the director.

I liked John Candy, but I would never say that I was a huge fan of his, but I found myself tearing up at the end of the documentary, which tells you how well director Colin Hanks and the rest did with this doc. The story of them closing down a freeway in LA for John Candy’s funeral procession was amazing.

The doc is available on Amazon Prime and it moves at a brisk clip, moving through his way-too-short life and career. It is wonderful when you can look back on a person’s career and see only the good.

The Secret Agent (2025)

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June 6

Day 6

The Secret Agent was an Academy Award nominated film, nominated for  Best Picture, Best Actor , Best Casting and Best International Feature Film. Though it did not take any Oscars home, the film was an international success.

According to IMDB, “Amid the political turmoil of 1977 Brazil, a technology expert is forced into hiding and seeks help from the underground resistance as he tries to flee the country with his young son.”

Wagner Moura played Armando, a former professor who was involved in political bedlam during the Brazilian military dictatorship. Set in 1977, Armando traveled to Recife to see his son Fernando, and research his late mother, whom he did not remember.

There were assassins sent after him and there were several local problems he faced as well.

I had a difficult time following some of this movie as it was in Portuguese and the complex story kept me as the viewer off-center. I’m not ashamed to say that I was confused at time with what was going on. The film flipped time periods a couple of times and I was not sure what had happened,

There was a weird section of the film featured on a severed leg that had been found in a shark. This surreal scene was strange, but brought some levity to a difficult story. It sounded as if the scene had a deeper meaning.

The ending of the film was excellent and shocking. I was not expecting it. Wagner Moura was great in his role and certainly deserved his Oscar nomination.

Masters of the Universe

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“By the power of Grayskull…I have the Power!”

The new version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe came out this weekend, an IP that has been redone several times, both in live action and animation.

According to IMDB, “A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom.“

I was never a big fan of He-Man, although I did not dislike the IP. I watched the Kevin Smith animated versions on Netflix.

This movie was not my favorite. I had several problems with the film which I will go into later. However, it was not a total loss as there were some things I liked.

First off, I thought Nicholas Galitzine did a great job as Prince Adam. I may not necessarily like how they had him playing the role, but I do think he did a great job in the role. He had a Chris Hemsworth vibe to him.

Jared Leto, whose had some questionable roles, was an outstanding Skeletor. Again, there are some of the writing that did not work well, but Leto stood out among the cast.

There was some good action, especially in the later stages of the film. I enjoyed the finale of the third act, action-wise.

There were a lot of issues though. The biggest one is the tone. This is meant to be too humorous, kind of in the veins of a Thor: Love and Thunder. There were several times when there was a good scene, some times even an emotional scene, but it did not get a chance to settle in because there was a joke coming after.

And for a film that wanted the humor to be so front and center, the film was not very funny. I am not sure I laughed at all, certainly not more than a giggle here and there, and I found myself rolling my eyes more than anything else. I’m not opposed to a healthy dose of humor in my action movies, but the humor needs to be doled out in proper doses and in the correct moments. This film did not do that.

The earth section of this film could have easily been removed, because it did nothing and it was just a way to extend the run time. I really did not like the roommate character in this, and I wonder why people did not have this guy committed with his talk about swords and other planets. And there was a monster that showed up on earth and knocked away by an Amazon truck. This is an Amazon film. Brought me memories of War of the Worlds. Amazon is clearly the biggest heroes in all movies.

And, boy was there an obvious Coca-Cola product placement too. I laughed audibly at this.

There are a ton of secondary characters that were just here to stand in the background and not have any sort of story to them. Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn was a total waste, as was Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress.

It is not the worst movie to watch, but I did find myself bored in a good chunk of the film and very noticeably, not laughing. The last third of the film was better and one would wish it was the style the whole film would have taken.

2.5 stars