Tag Archives: movies

Twisters

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I was not a fan of the original Twister film with Helen Hunt. I had only watched it once so I decided to give it another viewing about a month ago and I found out that I still did not like the film. So continuing the series with a new Twisters felt unneeded for me.

So imagine my surprise, I thought Twisters was way better than that original film and it was a film that I really liked.

According to IMDB, “As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Cooper, lured back to the open plains after a devastating encounter years prior, and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.“

Why does this work more for me than the original. Fact is there is not too much different between these two stories. The actors are all decent in those roles.

I think part of reason is that I felt more for these new characters, especially Kate Cooper, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, who I really liked. She had a truly tragic past that I felt that they used during the film. I do think they could have gone into more of this tragedy than they did, but I felt like Kate was a deeper character than anyone from that first Twister movie.

Glen Powell continues his run as a huge star in movies today. I liked this character a lot too though he felt more like Glen Powell playing himself than anything else. I liked the relationship between Powell and Edgar-Jones and I thought the movie did a good job of taking it slowly between them.

The action in the film was solid and the tornados looked great. The tension of the situation was well built and the anxiety of seeing individuals being pulled away into the tornado was always effective.

It is not a perfect film by any stretch. There are holes in the story and some weaknesses in the characters, but none of them were major issues for me. This was a fun, summer movie watch with some good action, some exciting special effects and a couple intriguing characters. I like this more than I expected to.

3.8 stars

Gladiator (2000)

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This past week, I saw the trailer for Gladiator II, and that made me think about the original film from 2000. It has been a long time since I had seen the original and so I thought it would be a good idea to rewatch the Oscar winner before the sequel comes out in November.

Gladiator won several Academy Awards including Best Picture and best Lead Actor. It is an epic film well deserving of such honors. Russell Crowe, Juaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielson, Richard Harris, Djimon Hounsou, and Oliver Reed led the cast of the Roman epic, directed brilliantly by Ridley Scott. How Scott did not receive the Best Director Oscar for this masterpiece is beyond me (I take nothing away from Steven Soderbergh, though I have never seen Traffic, the film in which he won that year).

There are some criticisms about Gladiator not being historically accurate. I will not hold that against any movie that is not a documentary. I fail to see why that would be a reasonable or applicable criticism of any movie based in a historical time period.

According to IMDB, “Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.”

The amazing large scale battle scenes are unbelievably shot and directed by Scott. The action is top notch and beautifully shot in all its bloody violence. The smaller scale action inside the Coliseum was every bit as well directed and perhaps even more impressive. The scene involving the tigers was thrilling with every step and the final showdown between Maximus and Commodus was designed perfectly, very satisfyingly as well as emotionally. Visual effects were another Oscar win for the team from Gladiator.

The sound of this movie was masterful. Gladiator did receive the Oscar for best Sound and it was well deserved again. The sound of the clanking swords to the sound of the metal slicing through skin and bone are chilling.

The performances were breathtaking in many ways. Russell Crowe displayed such a visceral power in his anger and grief that fueled his revenge, yet never got in the way of the man he was. He was matched by the jealousy and insecurity of Juaquin Phoenix. He becomes so very sinister during the run of this movie, all built on the sense of loss of the love of his father.

Crowe and Phoenix do not share a ton of scenes, but when they are together, the energy is palpable.

“Are you not entertained?” I absolutely was. This was an amazing film and I certainly hope that the sequel coming later in the year is a worthy successor to this.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E1

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Spoilers

Look at what’s happened to me….

That is right. I found this series available on Amazon Prime and so I have added it to the watch list, along with The X-Files, Bates Motel and Battlestar Galactica. The Greatest American Hero was one of my favorite shows on ABC back in the early 80s. Starring William Katt, Robert Culp and Connie Sellecca, the series featured a high school teacher that was given a super suit by aliens. Unfortunately, the teacher, Ralph Hinkley, lost the instruction manual so he had trouble figuring out how the suit worked.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Bill Maxwell was with Ralph when the aliens arrived and becomes involved in the scenarios. Ralph’s lawyer and girlfriend Pam Davidson gets involved with the chaos as well, at first believing that Ralph had lost his mind.

This first episode is the full length pilot episode, running around 90 minutes long.

The Greatest American Hero was a ton of silly fun, playing with the tropes of the super hero genre. Ralph is unable to access the full power of the suit and what he can do, he does not do smoothly. [“DAMN”].

There requires plenty of suspension of disbelief here. Why doesn’t Ralph put on some kind of mask as he is flying around the city with his own face exposed. He also randomly tells people his name and job as he is dressed in his suit. Sure that defies logic, but so does a super suit from space aliens and a flying teacher who can crash through a wall. If you are derailed by some faults in logic, you have chosen the wrong show to watch.

Of course, one of the things this show had going for it was perhaps the best TV theme song ever recorded. “The Greatest American Hero [Believe it or Not]” by Joey Scarbury is undeniably catchy, easy to sing along with and sets the perfect tone for the show. To this day, that song is on my phone and is one that I always stop to listen to when it comes around.

William Katt and Robert Culp are also huge pieces of this show’s unlikely success. Both actors are solid performers and have had plenty of luck in the past. Culp was a star of the show “I Spy” with Bill Cosby. Katt appeared in the Stephen King film, Carrie, as well as several other films. The pairing of Katt and Culp were one of the key elements to this series’ cult stasis.

There are 45 episodes spread over three seasons of The Greatest American Hero. We will continue to add to this watch as the months go on.

Longlegs

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This was a film that I really did not know much about. I knew it was a horror film. I knew it had been receiving decent reviews and that it had Nicolas Cage in a role. Outside of that, I did not know anything about Longlegs.

Coming out of Longlegs, I felt fairly disturbed and unsettled because the tone and mood of the film intended for me to feel that way. It did its job well.

According to IMDB, “FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monrow) is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer. As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.“

This film allowed Nicolas Cage to go full, crazy Cage, and he is wonderful. Some may believe that he took it too far and went too over the top, but I did not feel that way. The look of Cage in this film was so distinctive that his wild monologues worked in synch. It is amazing that Cage has such a wide swath of roles to play in his career.

The tone of this film is absolutely trying to keep you off balanced, and uncomfortable. It uses the music of the scene, the performances of the actors, the imagery of the film to do this effectively.

There is a feel of Silence of the Lambs here as there are many points that could be connected, but I don’t think that is a bad thing necessarily. I have heard claims from some online that this is the best horror movie of 2024, and, while that feels hyperbolic, there is no doubt that this is very stylish and should be in the conversation when discussing the best of the recent genre.

I would recommend that you go into the film with as little knowledge as you can. My own lack of knowledge helped my viewing experience.

3.75 stars

Fly Me to the Moon

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I was not excited to go see this movie. It did not resonate with me with the trailers and any sort of comments that I had heard of it. Then, with it being around two hours and fifteen minutes long, I just was not anxious to see it.

Boy, was I wrong.

I loved this movie. This film, starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, featured a great story of these two characters mixed in with the story of the launch of Apollo 11 and the eventual moon landing.

Scarlett Johansson played Kelly Jones, a marketing master, is brought in by the government, particularly shadowy agent Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), to help sell the idea of the NASA program to the public. Kelly ran into a conflict at the beginning with Cole Davis, launch director, as she did several things that Cole did not want to happen. As they continued their story, the pair grew closer though a secret from Kelly’s past threatened to tear them apart.

The film included the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was faked, and it blended this in with the real situation that was going on. This use of this legend was really well done and provided some of the romantic comedy’s best comedic moments. (I do not think this was a spoiler since the trailers did included this detail).

I loved the performance of Johansson in this movie. Kelly was strong and intelligent, able to manipulate those around her to get what she was after, and yet had a softness that told you that something tragic had happened in her past. Johansson and Tatum had good chemistry, but there could have been a scene or two more that focused on their relationship. It did seem as if Tatum went from trying to get her fired to being all in with her too quickly.

Woody Harrelson’s character was great too. I enjoyed the sleaziness of his character and how he was able to use his power to convince people to do what he wanted. He was an antagonist that was not exactly an antagonist.

The film was very clever and charming and flew by, making my doubts about the runtime bleed away. Fly Me to the Moon was a lot of fun and I had a blast with it.

4.5 stars

Captain America: Brave New World trailer#1

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After people expecting the trailer to Captain America: Brave New World to drop yesterday, Marvel instead dropped it today, and it looks great.

What blew my mind was the glimpse of Red Hulk that we got at the very end of the trailer because I know there was a lot of speculation about the possibility of Red Hulk because Harrison Ford was now playing Thunderbolt Ross, replacing the late William Hurt, but I really did not think they were going to go there. But they did.

The trailer has a definite Winter Soldier type tone to it. The beating music keeping you on edge as you might be in a spy thriller of some kind. Isiah Bradley making a return from his role in Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney + series. Giancarlo Esposito popping up with his mystery character (which some are guessing to be G.W. Bridge).

There was just a load in the trailer and it definitely looks promising. Captain America: Brave New World comes out n February 2025.

The Last Stop in Yuma County

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I rented a film tonight called The Last Stop in Yuma County at the site formerly known as Vudu, which is now referred to as Fandango at Home. I had seen this listed on a few lists of great movies so far in 2024 and I wanted to give it a try. After watching this violent crime thriller, I wholeheartedly agree in that assessment. This was fantastic.

The basic set up was that a knife salesman (Jim Cummings) stopped for gas at a station in Yuma county in Arizona. The gas station was dry, waiting for the gas truck to arrive to fill up the pumps. The knife salesman was told that he could wait in the diner next door.

There was a bank robbery earlier in the day and, unfortunately for everyone involved, the bank robbers (Richard Brake, Nicholas Logan) also stopped for gas and were told they had to wait.

The diner, whose waitress Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) was working by herself, started to fill up with people waiting for the absentee gas truck. When the knife salesman identified the bank robbers’ car (which had been one of the items identified on the radio), tensions began to rise inside the diner.

The idea of this movie was very simple, and yet brought out some exciting moments and some black comedic bits featuring a group of people who made some terribly tragic choices along the way. The film was remarkably violent but with some great scenes that tied everything together. The film was directed by first time feature director Francis Galluppi, who show a real flair for the filming of this (for the most part) single setting in which a lot of anxiety and tension was on display, starting slow and building to a point where everything exploded. There were some excellent shots of the area both inside and outside of the diner.

The actors all did a great job developing characters without a ton of time to do so. I found myself feeling connected to several of the characters without really even knowing much about them.

The story progressed quickly with some very clever writing keeping things moving even in the slow parts. It also did not turn out anywhere what I expected it to as the story took a turn that I did not see coming.

The Last Stop in Yuma County shows how effective storytelling and direction can create a tense tale with minimal time and budget. This is one of my favorite films of 2024 so far.

4.8 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

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.

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.

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.

The Exorcism

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I wonder what the producers have on Russell Crowe? They must have something for him to appear in this train wreck.

Russell Crowe played Tony Miller, an actor with his share of personal problems, takes a job playing a priest in an exorcism/possession movie, and the role is bringing up all kinds of past troubles. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) is trying to get past her own problematic history with her dad.

David Hyde Pierce is here too, playing Father Conor, and being a huge distraction as he just looks too much like Niles Crane. Sam Worthington is in the movie, but he is totally underused, and Chloe Bailey is here too for some reason.

I found this to be trash. The first two-thirds of the film was dull and then the final act of the film was so off-the-track that had there been any goodwill generated previously, it would be spent completely. The story was ridiculous. The characters were wasted. The backstory of Tony was jumbled and not delivered in a manner in which it could be understood. Poor Niles was there looking for Frasier.

The acting was not very good. I mean, I believe that Russell Crowe was giving it his all, but I felt as if the director of the film in the film, played by Adam Goldberg, was constantly berating Tony’s performance and it made me question what Crowe was doing too.

There was a potential story that was here that could have been different and potentially fascinating, but this was not it. This was another terrible movie this year, which seems to be packing them up all over the place.

1.3 stars

Shortcomings (2023)

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June 19, 2023

The directorial debut by Randall Park is today’s entry in the June Swoon 3. It is an unconventional rom-com called Shortcomings.

According to IMDB, “Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.”

This was an interesting film. Usually, I have problems when the protagonist is such an unlikable character, and Ben (Justin H. Min) is absolutely in that category. He is opinionated, mouthy, rude and arrogant. It seems like every scene he is in, all I want to do is yell at him to shut up. Yet, there was something about Ben that was appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I was cheering actively for him to understand what a jerk he was being, but I was also ready to support him learning from the events of the film and adjusting his behavior.

I have to say, I did like this conclusion to the movie. It felt real and played with all of the conventions of the rom-com.

The movie had some great laughs in in, although nothing that was going to be over the top hilarious. The situations are where the humor came from and they all worked very well. Probably the one moment that stood out was when actor Jacob Batalon joked about loving the Spider-Man movies, considering he played Ned in the MCU Spider-Man movies

Sherry Cola played Alice, Ben’s friend, and she was the standout performance for me in the movie. She had an Awkwafina type vibe about her and she was both funny and an excellent ‘straight-man’ character.

I found this to be very entertaining and a creative way to take the rom-com genre in a new way.

Flamin’ Hot (2023)

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June 17, 2024

This is another Oscar nominated film from 2023 that I missed. Flamin’ Hot received an Oscar nomination for Best Song, which was quite an accomplishment for this biopic about Richard Montañez and the beginning of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

I will address the controversy off the top. As I was researching the film, I discovered that a report from the LA Times indicated that Richard Montañez did not have any direct involvement in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and that the film was inaccurate. I won’t lie, when I first saw this, it did affect my thoughts on the film, but, the more I thought about it, the more I let that go. This is not a documentary. I know plenty of biopics that have exaggerated or downright made things up. So the accuracy or lack thereof of Flamin’ Hot, as a movie, will not go into my consideration of the film.

And, when it comes to my consideration of the movie, I loved it very much.

This was the first time directorial feature from director Eva Longoria, well known actor from Desperate Housewives among other shows. Longoria does a tremendous job of telling this story with a very distinct voice and a humorous touch.

Some of the scenes of Richard’s narration, which remind me of Luis (Michael Pena) from Ant Man, are very funny and show how the mind works in many ways.

Jesse Garcia played Richard Montañez and he has a natural charm in doing so. You can’t be help to root for him as an underdog, looking to escape the life of crime that threatened to ruin his life.

Two distinguished actors had supporting roles in Flamin’ Hot that gave the movie even more credibility. Bennis Haysbert played Clarence Baker (whose middle name is Charisma) as one of Montañez’s co-workers, and Tony Shalhoub, the star of Monk, appeared as Roger Enrico, the CEO of Frito Lays. Both actors are excellent as always and their roles do a great job of elevating the performance of Jesse Garcia.

The tone of this movie was very light and engaging, as Richard told the story of his life. The film’s focus was on the character of Richard Montañez, not specifically on the Cheetos.

This was an easy, enjoyable watch and worth the time. It is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney +.