Just a few years ago, I watched, for the first time, Tom Cruise’s iconic film Top Gun, and I did not like it at all. I know it is a beloved film by many, but it was just not my thing. So I approached the sequel Top Gun: Maverick with less excitement than many people may have.

Still, there was a ton of positive word of mouth floating around about this movie, so my interest level had improved.

After seeing the IMAX version of Top Gun: Maverick, I can say without any doubt that this movie is worlds better than the original, in my opinion.

After years, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) gets called back to train a group of young fighter pilots, the best fighter pilots in the world, in an attempt to carry out an improbable mission to bomb an uranium enrichment facility of an unnamed enemy country. Maverick was not wanted by Admiral “Cyclone” Simpson (Jon Hamm), but Maverick’s old friend Iceman (Val Kilmer), another admiral, overrules him. Maverick’s brand of rebellious behavior conflicts with everyone.

There is a great cast. The new pilots included Miles Teller (who played the son of Goose), Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Glen Powell, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez. Yes, most of these were fairly typical type characters, but you do grow to like them. Miles Teller is the character that really gets some time as his relationship with Maverick came to the front.

Top Gun: Maverick has much more depth and more emotional moments that connect with me than the first film. Tom Cruise is excellent throughout the film, carrying a lot of powerful angst on his shoulders, dealing with loss and his own doubts about his past. The scene between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer was just outstanding.

The action scenes with the jets were totally compelling and put you on the edge of your seat the entire movie. There were so many stakes involved because you were never 100% sure who might be killed. The stunt work was amazing and the choreography is gorgeous. Some times it was hard to follow with who was who, but it never looked anything but spectacular.

It was not a perfect movie. The third act had not one, but two Deus ex Machinas involved, and both were pretty predictable. The events in the third act were really hard to believe as well. The thing is, by the third act, you are so into the movie that you cannot help but be swept up by what happened and the weakness of the story/plot does not jump out at you.

This was a lot of fun and was a complete exciting joy of a film that, if you look too close at the story, it may not hold up. However, if you just engage with the spectacular, you will have all kinds of fun. If you can see it in IMAX, do it. You will appreciate it all the more.

4.5 stars

The latest Liam Neeson film arrived on Vudu recently and I gave it a watch. Memory did not last long in the theaters, but there have been decent films starring Liam Neeson over the years. Sure, several of them were interchangeable and forgettable, but not all of them.

Unfortunately, Memory is one that will not stick in my own memory for long either.

Alex Lewis (Liam Neeson) was an assassin-for-hire whose reputation for precision was well known. He was hired to carry out a contract on two people, a lowlife and a little girl. Alex refused to kill the girl, thus breaking the contract. He tried to get the contract revoked in his special brand of violence, but the girl still wound up dead. This sent Alex in a path of vengeance for those involved in the case.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Vincent Serra (Guy Pierce) had been involved with an investigation toward the little girl and her sex trafficking father and her death brought him into the case and crossing paths with Alex Lewis.

Oh, there is one more issue going on here. Alex Lewis was hoping to retire because his own memory was beginning to fail with Alzheimer’s Disease starting to develop, much like his brother, whom we saw for a moment.

Liam Neeson was fine here and he was different than in many of his other roles because he looked really old and shaky. That is, until he wasn’t and was a killing machine.

There were so many times during the film that I stopped and wondered who these people were. The villains were so underdeveloped and were nothing more than a person for Alex to kill. Alex was placed as our protagonist but then so was Vincent. There was a Mexican FBI agent Marquez (Harold Torres) who was constantly being, at best, treated as an outsider and, at worse, treated in a totally racist manner. There was meant to be a twist at the end but it was so poorly foreshadowed that it was painfully obvious what was going to happen.

The film was a mess with a poorly written story with weak characters. Liam Neeson deserves better than this.

2 stars

I’m feeling a little queasy and shaken after watching The Sadness, the Taiwanese film from director Rob Jabbaz in his feature film debut arriving on Shudder last weekend. There were some scenes, especially in the first 15-20 minutes when things were starting to ramp up that really stuck with me in that “kicked-me-in-the-gut” way.

The Sadness started out with our two main protagonists, Jim (Berant Zhu) and Katie (Regina Lei) waking up, happily in bed. They seemed happy, despite Jim lacking drive in his life. While Katie prepared for work, Jim saw a TV broadcast talking about a pandemic sweeping the land called the Alvin virus. A doctor (a very Dr. Fauci type individual) argued with the news program about the dangers of the Alvin virus and how people should take it seriously.

As Jim took Katie to the train station, they passed by the police dealing with a man who had brutally murdered another person.

After dropping off Katie, Jim went for a coffee, where he and others in the shop were exposed to an older lady who viciously attacked other customers, that triggered a full out bloodbath. Jim ran from the suddenly bloodthirsty crowd, getting back to his place.

Meanwhile, Katie was being hit on by a weird businessman (Tzu-Chiang Wang) on the train just before someone else started to stab victims in the train.

The film was kind of like a zombie movie, but different because the zombies were not brainless, but, in actuality, vicious and horny. They were not only looking to eat their victims, but also sexually gratify themselves before consuming them. This twist in the zombie tale really made for some disturbing imagery in The Sadness and kept everybody tense and on their guard.

This is one of the goriest and, frankly, unnerving films I have seen in awhile, probably since the DailyView when I watched The Bay. I found myself, especially early in the film, crying out in shock and, perhaps, disgust as the shocks came quick and hard.

It may be a little too close to home with the Alvin virus being the cause of all of the death, and being debated and refuted by governments and the media until it is too late.

This is not a film for the faint-at-heart or someone who does not do well with the sight of blood. There is a lot of it here. However, it is an absolutely tense thriller with plenty of real frights as you follow the two main characters in their efforts to get back to one another. The Sadness is a creative adjustment to the zombie sub-genre of horror films and creates a mood of fear and lack of safety.

4 stars

Rebel Wilson goes into a coma for twenty years and then awakes in the latest original movie from Netflix this weekend. I was in a coma for what felt like twenty years watching this.

In an attempt to become prom queen and grab her perfect life, Stephanie (Angourie Rice) went out of her way to become popular. She became the cheer captain, got her perfect boyfriend, and campaigned for prom queen. Unfortunately, Stephanie was injured during a cheerleader performance and spent 20 years in a coma.

When Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) awoke from the come, she found herself still mentally a 17 year old girl in the body of a nearly forty year old woman. She was somehow able to get up and walk around after being in a coma and not moving for 20 years, but why sweat the little details.

Stephanie decided to go back to high school to get her diploma and win that prom queen she was robbed of.

All of the high schoolers from Stephanie’s original class seemed to be stuck in their high school personas too, including Stephanie’s rival Tiffany (Zoe Chao), her old flame Blaine (Justin Hartley), her friend Seth (Sam Richardson), her old friend who was now principal Martha (Mary Holland) and her father Jim (Chris Parnell).

This was such a bad movie. I was ready for it to be over fifteen minutes into it. It was almost two hours, which was way too long. This should never have been more than 90 minutes. The plot itself was not developed enough to support that run time.

I guess I was supposed to be rooting for Stephanie during this entire film, but she was a horrible person. There was no one that wasn’t rotten. And it too long for Stephanie to start learning her lessons. By the time she did, I couldn’t care less.

There a ton of dance numbers in the film too. Most of those are fine. Some of the music is catchy.

This was meant to be some kind of fairy tale, but it just did not work on any level. Rebel Wilson looked great and brings a lot of energy to the role, but the character is so unlikable that I couldn’t care less what happened to her. None of the supporting characters are worth anything, with the possible exception of Sam Richardson, who has been great over the last few years. Nothing here makes sense and is so unrealistic. Had the film totally embraced the fantasy elements, it may have been better, but I found this so dumb and a waste of time.

1.3 stars

I was never a fan of Disney’s Rescue Rangers when it was on TV, and when I heard talk about this 2022 reboot (if you want to call it that), I was anything but enthusiastic.

However, a couple trailers were entertaining and I started hearing some good word of mouth and so, with a specifically weaker movie weekend, Chip and Dale shot to the top.

And you know what? It was very entertaining.

Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers was very funny, more clever than it had any right to be, and had a wonderful story of friendship and forgiveness.

Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samburg) were riding high as the stars of their own Disney animated show, falling right into their typical patterns of humor. However, Dale was always feeling as if he were the second banana, far behind that of his more popular pal. So when he had a chance to get a solo show, he took it, not expecting it to be the end of Rescue Rangers.

So with the Rescue Rangers cancelled and the new project a no go, Chip and Dale went their separate ways.

Years later, animated characters are disappearing, being changed and forced to play knock off versions of themselves in bootleg films. When Monterey Jack (Eric Bana) disappeared, Chip and Dale had to come back together to try and help their old friend. Unfortunately, Chip and Dale found that they still had some issues to iron out between them before they could discover the truth.

I loved how the movie had such a potpourri of animation styles. One of the best jokes in the film is how Dale had a 3D surgery to change his animation style to 3D. It was a clever and cool idea. Then there were all kinds of animation styles from hand drawn to sock puppets to claymation in the film. There is also live action involved in the film.

There are some great voice actors involved here including J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogan, Will Arnett, Keegan-Michael Key, Dennis Haysbert, Tim Robinson, and Rachel Bloom.

There was a ton of special cameos of other animated characters including characters NOT owned by Disney, big characters not own by Disney. It brings back memories of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (including Roger Rabbit himself).

This is a great movie that was a lot of fun. There is something here for the whole family. It is on Disney + streaming service.

4.5 stars

As I was going through Peacock today looking to see if there was anything of interest that I could watch on a Sunday afternoon, I came across The Outfit, a film that I had heard good things about and that I had planned on, eventually, renting on Vudu. However, now I did not have to because the film was streaming for free on my Peacock subscription.

Mark Rylance starred as Leonard, a high brow English tailor (though he would argue that distinction. He said he was a cutter, and that a tailor only sewed on buttons) in a small shop in Chicago that was patronized by members of the Boyle crime family. Leonard would look the other way as gangster would use a drop off box in his back room as a message port and as a stash box for dirty money.

Things become more complicated one night when Richie (Dylan O’Brien), son of the crime boss Roy (Simon Russell Beale) and chief enforcer Francis (Johnny Flynn) came into the shop. Richie had been shot in the side and was bleeding. Francis forced Leonard at gunpoint to stitch Richie up with thread from the shop.

Francis told Leonard that they had been ambushed over a tape that everybody wanted, that had been recorded by a “rat” working for the FBI. Francis needed to find a device in which to play the tape, so he left Leonard to watch over the wounded Richie.

In an attempt to get out of this situation, Leonard started to play Richie and Francis against one another. This led to an evening of violence and lies.

I loved this movie. I was engrossed by the entire story and I was fascinated by the performance of Mark Rylance. He was just great as he manipulated each situation that happened next. You could feel how each second, Leonard felt on edge, but was continuing to do what he could to maintain events.

You could tell that there was more to Leonard’s story than what we were getting, but since he was showing himself to be a complex liar, you were never really sure what the truth of the moment was or how much of it was just fiction.

Leonard’s receptionist, Mable (Zoey Deutch), was involved in the story as well, bringing a new wrinkle to what Leonard was hoping to accomplish. Zoey Deutch does a great job creating a character that you care about and that you believe Leonard would go out of his way to help.

Graham Moore, who won an Oscar for Best Adaptation of The Imitation Game and was the author of one of my favorite books, The Sherlockians, had his directorial debut in this film as well as co-writing the screenplay. I found all of the shots to be very effective and all of the pieces of the story came together extremely well. This would be a solid debut in the director’s chair for anyone.

The Outfit was a tense and enthralling gangster tale, told in a different manner than most of the others. The single area of the tailor shop helped build the feeling of everything collapsing in at once and you can’t help but wonder how Leonard would get out of the situation.

4.5 stars