Built on the blood, sweat and bullets of Spielberg's brilliant Normandy beach scene in "Saving Private Ryan", Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's powerful new film WARFARE is a relentless beast. After about 15 minutes of introduction to a platoon of Navy Seals led by Erik (Will Poulter) and Ray (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), we are dropped into a silent nighttime street with them in 2006 Ramadi, Iraq. Serving as support to a nearby Marines mission, the brigade takes over a civilian house and hunkers down. We meet the distinct personalities of the group, each with their own specialty as sniper, interpreter, medic. They are the best of the best. Garland & Mendoza wrote the film based on the memories of his real platoon and Garland's own memories of his time in Iraq. As such, the film doesn't provide even the slight comfort of traditional war film tropes. There is no music in the film. There are no flashbacks to the girls back home or a young family waiting for them to return. There are no standard hero moments of convenience. There's just a group of incredibly brave men that have each other's backs in the constant face of death. The morning after their arrival, hostile forces begin to gather, vowing instant jihad on the Americans hunkered down in a house in the middle of their city. When the attack on the Seal team begins, it starts an incredible hour plus of tension, horror and unblinking realism in portraying the events that unfold. I remember watching Spielberg's cutting edge sound and photography opening weekend of his 1998 war masterpiece. As soldiers went underwater on Omaha Beach, so did our own ears. When explosions went off on the beach, our ears went dead with shock along with Tom Hanks's own. Garland & Mendoza and their incredible sound team take that to the next level. A huge IED explosion renders our Seal team and us, the viewer momentarily deaf, stuck in a near zero visibility as the smoke and blood clears. But even in the film's opening, middle of the night scenes, the sound team is just as effective, surrounding you with tracers far away, barking dogs and the chatter of distant gunfire. It's a haunting start that subtly cranks up the rising tension. Ben Barker (Gravity, Civil War) and his sound team deserve an Oscar for their immersive mix. It's absolutely incredible and offers no escape from the unfolding horrors. As casualties mount, the screams of the wounded go on and on. Blood covers the floor. Rescue teams are held and the Seal team is stranded. Those looking for a rousing, traditional war picture ending will be left wanting. The film does end with pictures of the real Navy Sales team members next to the actors that play them. Some key characters are seen visiting the movie set recreation of where the action actually took place. Cosmo Jarvis (Shogun) is exceptional as Elliott, the lead sniper of the team as is Woon-A-Tai (Hell of a Summer), who's reaction to the scenario feels absolutely real. There were moments in Garland's fantastic "Civil War" last year that left me speechless in their military firepower. The gunship helicopter on the streets of Washington DC in that film showed Garland at his most powerful. It's classic Garland that he's chosen to follow that film with over an hour of the same jaw dropping type of action. WARFARE is a triumphant modern take on a war film, placing you in the middle of American servicemen battling to live one more minute. By the time the film ends with its haunting final moments in the street, you're left numb and exhausted, like you've fought the conflict at their side. WARFARE earns an A.

The creators of APARTMENT 7A have created an interesting prequel to the 1968 classic "Rosemary's Baby", but they've had a devil of a time convincing me why it needed to me made. Let's conjure up what they did right. First, they've cast Julia Garner (Ozark, Wolfman) as Terry, a young woman from Nebraska newly arrived to conquer the Broadway stage. Filled with talent, desire and a refusal to be intimidated by the veteran dancers, she earns infamy through a rehearsal accident that's a graphic as it is shocking. Terry finds herself spiraling and at the gates of the Bramford, a massive luxury apartment building in the middle of Manhattan. Just as in the original film, it's actually The Dakota in NYC. Two good Samaritans in the form of Minnie & Roman Castevet swoop in and offer Terry an apartment they own in the building. Fans of Roman Polanski's brilliant original film probably already started smiling at the thought of Ruth Gordon's amazing, hilarious performance as Minnie. She won a Best Supporting Actress or her performance and earned it. The reliably great Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters, The Birdcage) delivers an amazing tribute to Gordon, channeling her dark spirit through every laugh out loud, biting word of dialogue. She NAILS it beautifully. Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean) takes over for the late Sidney Blackmer as Roman and serves up his own seductive brand of charm & conspiracy. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, Cloud Atlas) also lights it up as Broadway Director Alan Marchand, a cruel influence broker who answers to a lower power. The film treads some interesting and captivating territory in Apartment 7A. Fans of Mia Farrow wandering around in that same apartment will likely, as I was, be intrigued...at first. But the film falls short of ever being scary or truly suspenseful. It's far too predictable in its second half to offer any surprises. I guessed Terry's final scene well before it arrived. The character of Terry actually appeared in "Rosemary's Baby" and that short scene and dialogue served as the major plot driver for this film. It starts to feel thin, fairly early on. Garner is a solid core for the film. She's convincing as an innocent woman struggling with a taste of fame and the mysteries of the big city. Her slip into addiction and struggles with morality feel very real in Garner's hands, but the rest of the film (save Wiest) fails to rise up to meet her. Stick through the start of the end titles for a mid-credits sequence that tries to serve up a clever hand off like "Rogue One" did to the original "Star Wars". Sadly, it just reminded me of the superiority of Polanski's FAR superior film. I end up where I began. Why did this film need to be made? Does it offer anything truly new in perspective, scares or mystery? Sadly, no. But Wiest rises up like a dark Phoenix, throws the film on her back and makes it watchable. If you're a fan of the original classic horror film, or Ira Levin's Rosemary novels, dig in. If not, just go watch the original again and revel in Farrow/Polanki/Gordon's jet black alchemy. APARTMENT 7A should have stayed vacant, earning a C+. Wiest gets an A+. She is fantastic.

The creative team behind THE ALTO KNIGHTS reads like a who's who of legendary mob film creators. Writer Nicholas Pileggi wrote "Goodfellas", "The Casino" two of my all-time favorite mafia flicks. Director Barry Levinson created"Bugsy" a Vegas set masterpiece. At the top of the pyramid sits Robert De Niro of "Godfather","Goodfellas" and "Casino" fame, the holy trinity of classic mob movies. With that lineage, you would think that this film would be another classic. While it's certainly not the disaster that its mega-bomb box office crash would suggest, it's foundation is built on the hook of having De Niro play both of the two main characters. CGI has created the ability for these two performances by De Niro to interact, to hug, to converse effortlessly in the same space. But to what end? The story is intriguing. De Niro stars as Frank Costello AND Vito Genovese, two of New York's most powerful crime bosses. They grew up together on the streets of NYC after immigrating here from Italy. In sparingly used flashbacks, we see Frank and Vito building a business on gambling, prohibition liquor and neighborhood protection. But most of the film sees the older version of these men. Frank narrates the film, often talking directly to the screen as he documents his life. Costello is by far the most diplomatic member of the crime duo. He has the patience and long term view of a politician. When Vito is sent to prison for years, Frank's gentler hand builds deep loyalties and a huge business. When Vito gets out, he wants all his power and business back immediately, ignoring the fact that the world has changed during his absence. DeNiro carves out two very different men. Vito has the explosive, hair-trigger temperament and paranoia of De Niro's Travis Bickle. Frank has the patriarchal, guiding hand of Michael Corleone. He does a hell of a job creating two very different men, whose lifelong friendship is frayed by the family business. But I couldn't help wonder during some of his scenes playing against himself, if the film wouldn't have been just as effective, or more focused if Levinson had just cast another actor in one of the roles. Joe Pesci was born to play Vito Genovese. The film spans many years, but it's never boring. As is typical in gangster films, you're introduced to many characters. Katherine Narducci (The Irishman) is perfectly cast as Anna, a successful club owner who falls for Vito's charms before she discovers the man beneath. Cosmo Jarvis (Warfare) is haunting as Vito's less than sharp enforcer, Vincent Gigante. He's scary as hell, but is terrified of Vito. Only Debra Messing (Will & Grace) seems miscast as Frank's longtime wife Bobbie, bringing little to the character and feeling out of place. Production values are first rate. The film is shot by Dante Spinotti of "Heat" and "LA Confidential" fame, it looks spectacular. Produced by the legendary Irwin Winkler (Rocky, Goodfellas, The Right Stuff) this turned out to be one of his biggest flops, earning $9 million against a $45 million budget. Warner Bros seemed to smell disaster, barely promoting the film, which seems like a huge mistake in light of the team behind it. Sell it as the next great mob film from the creators of "Goodfellas" and "Casino". They whispered it, no one heard and no one showed up. I expected a disaster based on the reviews I'd heard. It's far from that, but doesn't live up the legacy of its creators either. Maybe audiences would rather see a film about the rise of organized crime than the true story of how it collapsed from it's pinnacle. Frank Costello had a strong hand in it's loss of power and his story is a fascinating one. THE ALTO KNIGHTS gets a B- thank to two great De Niro performances that dominate the screen. While it can't hold a candle to the last time he played a mobster named Vito, De Niro still delivers, surrounded by Levinson's perfect trappings.

A massive box office hit that earned nearly $370 million against its $5m budget in 2002, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING became a comedy phenomenon. It's the second most profitable film of all time, even though it never hit number one in any week of its 52+ weeks in wide release! Tom Hanks wife, Rita Wilson has seen Nia Vardalos one woman stage show of the same name and suggested that their production company, Play Tone, produce a film adaption. Good eye, Rita. It's easy to see why this became such a feel good, laugh filled hit. Vardalos is winning as Toula, a 30 year old Greek woman still living at home with her family and driving in with her father Gus Portokalos (played to perfection by Michael Constantine of "The Hustler") to their Greek restaurant seven days a week. All her many, funny, crazy cousins have done the right thing in Gus's eyes. They all married Greek boys and made Greek babies. To say he is immersed in their culture would miss the hilarious, absolute commitment Gus has to his homeland. Vardalos' Toula wants more than her job at the restaurant. She enrolls in college, finds that she's got a great knack for computers and starts working at her Aunt Voula's travel agency. The fantastic Andrea Martin, plays Voula as a tornado of a modern woman, dressed to the nines and armed with an incredible wit. I've been fortunate enough to see Martin in the original Broadway casts of "Young Frankenstein" and the last "Pippin" revival, where she blew the absolute doors off the theater. She brings the same spark here. One day, Voula meets Ian Miller (John Corbett), a tall dark and handsome high school teacher. He's got everything going for him except one thing. He's not Greek. What follows is a classic class of cultures, played to the nines by this exceptional cast, playing fully fleshed out characters that Vardalos has carefully crafted based on her own family. She knows these people, and by the end of the film, we do too. Lainie Kazan delivers plenty of laugh out loud moments as Toula's mom, Maria. A dedicated wife who wields a lot of power with Gus, even if he doesn't know it. Louis Mandylor (Rambo: Last Blood) is very funny as Toula's brother, Nick, delivering lines like "I've never seen my sister this happy, Ian. If you hurt her, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident." Gia Carides (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) steals every scene she's in as Toula's sexy cousin Nikki. Vardalos takes a traditional romantic tale, douses it with Greek pride and creates a film with genuine heart along with generous laughs. Fans of PlayTone's other big comedy hit "That Thing You Do!" might recognize the song "All My Only Dreams" from that 1996 hit. " I had to go to Greek school, where I learned valuable lessons such as, "If Nick has one goat and Maria has nine, how soon will they marry?" Grab your Windex and settle in for a good time. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING gets a laugh filled B+ Followed 14 years later by MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2.

23 years ago, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland teamed up to kickoff one of the best horror trilogies of the modern era with 28 DAYS LATER . Boyle had already delivered 'Trainspotting" and "The Beach". This was Garland's first screenplay and he would become a frequent partner with Boyle. You can see why in this haunting, explosive and violent film that leans in on George Romero territory, with a twist. The killing humans here are infected with "Rage" a fast moving virus with a 15 second incubation period that brings the dead back to life. Their eyes blaze red and they're permanently pissed off, but easier to kill the second time around than Romero's zombies. But don't get me wrong. They are FAST, they are always drawn to sound or light at night, but appear to hide during the day, "I Am Legend" style. After an opening scene that shows how this pandemic got started, Boyle brilliantly executes our main story. Bike messenger Jim (a very young Cillian Murphy from "Oppenheimer") wakes up in a London ICU hospital bed after a long coma. But where is everyone? No doctors, no nurses, no patients, nobody period. Boyle stages some incredible visuals as Jim walks outside, across the Westminster Bridge and through the heart of London in complete isolation. There is NO ONE else in sight. Eventually, Jim does run into some additional survivors. In her first big screen role, the always terrific Naomie Harris (Skyfall, Black Bag) stars as Selena, a resourceful survivor who's Jim's first human contact. Harris is excellent, intense and drives the story. Brendan Gleeson (The Bashees of Inisherin, Troy) is Frank, holed up on a high floor of an apartment building with his teenage daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). It's interesting to watch this film again now and see how Garland's themes that he first explored here have echoed in his later films like "Civil War" and "Annihilation". As Jim, Selena, Frank and Hannah seek safety and answers from a military outpost, what they find is as far from a stereotypical refuge. Garland likes exploring how humans interact in time of crisis and disaster. If you know and like Garland's films as much as I do (Ex Machina, Civil War and Annihilation were all in my top films the year they were released) you know that Garland is dark. Damn dark, he but always delivers unexpected turns exploring the jet black side of our human nature. His observations and the characters that express them are not always pleasant to watch, but the lesser side of each of us rarely is. Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston from "True Detective") is an enigma, running the makeshift military encampment as some sort of killing field/day camp for unhinged young soldiers that have seen way too much death for the past month. The ending, which I won't discuss here, feels like a bit of a disconnect compared to the tone of what has come before, but that's a minor quibble. Boyle reinvigorated the zombie thriller with this low budget (only $8 million) blast that grossed ten times that at the box office. Murphy and Harris are both terrific, showing early signs of the reliable screen presence they'd continue to expand more than two decades later. Boyle's style is evident here, mixing scary pops of horror with quiet moments that haunt. My favorite? When Jim finds his parents on their death bed, having taken themselves out when the pandemic spread. They've left a note for him, in a coma at the time. It simply reads, Jim- With endless love, we left you sleeping. Now we're sleeping with you. Don't wake up. X It's one of many moments within the film that blend Garland's powerful writing and Boyle's intimate style into something...above. Zombie flick + survival thriller + human drama= an A. Followed in 2007 by non Boyle/Garland entry "28 Weeks Later" but both will return later in 2025 with their new, final leg in the trilogy, "28 Years Later".

One of the funniest, grittiest football movies of all time, THE LONGEST YARD is a time capsule of seventies action films, with director Robert Aldrich and star Burt Reynolds scoring a big box office hit. Reynolds plays faded football star Paul Crewe. The opening scene finds Crewe fighting with his rich girlfriend, stealing her Maserati and throwing drunken punches at arresting policemen. Upon arriving in a swampy, hot and brutal Florida prison as a result, Crewe is approached by warden Hazen (Eddie Albert in nasty villain mode) with the fact that his guards have a big football game coming up in their league and he wants Crewe to coach them to victory. Instead, Crewe suggests putting together a game between the inmates and the guards to prep them for their big game. Reynolds is great as he recruits the nastiest, biggest inmates, all of whom are anxious to get some revenge against the guards everyday abuse with some (semi) legal hits on the field. Richard Kiel (Jaws in the Bond films), Ed Lauter as the leader of the guards, James Hampton and Bernadette Peters all are great in support of Reynolds. The last 45 minutes of the film features the guards/inmates game and it's realistic, brutal and hilarious. Director Aldrich also made "The Dirty Dozen" and its basically the same format here, moved from the battlefield to the gridiron, with Reynolds ragtag bunch of misfits pulling together for one big battle. Seventies films don't get any more macho than this and 40 years later, most of the laughs and all of the football moves hold up pretty well. I've never watched the Adam Sandler remake, I can't imagine why they made it. If you love football, action and laughs, The Longest Yard scores. We'll give it a game day B.

A fairly funny time capsule of 1977, SEMI-TOUGH captures a very different era of sports films and R-rated comedies. Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson play two professional football players, aptly named Billy Clyde Puckett and Shake Tiller. As longtime best friends, the two have long been a trio completed by the team owner's daughter Barbara Jane, sweetly played by Jill Clayburgh. The film focuses on pro football, the oddball bunch of team players including Brian Dennehy and Carl Weathers in early film roles. Robert Preston is hilarious as team owner Big Ed Bookman. If you've read the classic sports book by Dan Jenkins on which the film is based, the film really disappoints, barely resembling the novel. It's a great and funny read. Director Michael Ritchie (Fletch) throws out the source material to focus on many other topics that seemed timely in 1977 including self help groups and seminars. Reynolds and Kristofferson have a lot of fun playing off each other, but Kris plays it pretty low key throughout. When the dynamics of their three way friendship are thrown off by Shake proposing to Barbara Jean, Billy Clyde focuses on trying to find a way to stop the marriage, all while preparing for the Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys. The "game" scenes are pretty badly shot and the onfield action only comes to life when a young Ron Silver appears as a VERY long range field goal kicker named Vlada Kostov (what's up with these names?). It's all pretty lightweight, but sprinkled with enough language and nudity to earn the R rating. I wish the makers of Moneyball would take a serious crack at Jenkins book, now THAT would be a great sports comedy! SEMI-TOUGH is only SEMI-entertaining, but plenty of lightweight fun if you are looking for a nostalgic Burt Reynolds comedy. We'll put a B- on the scoreboard.

Any NFL fan will be hard pressed to not enjoy DRAFT DAY on some level. Your enthusiasm will vary wildly based on your forgiveness for how badly the film fumbles the ball when it gets off the field. Kevin Costner stars as fictional Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver. He has just lost his legendary father/previous Browns GM after firing him the year before. Sonny is facing a draft day that will shape his team and his career as he is truly at the controls for the first time. Dennis Leary is excellent as Browns Coach Penn, whose style is the opposite of Sonny's. Leary brings his usual humor and attitude to the role, man how I miss "Rescue Me". Frank Langella is owner Anthony Molina, who challenges Sonny to make a splash on draft day but has no idea how seriously Sonny will take that advice. Trading to the #1 pick in the draft, Sonny must decide between a picture perfect QB who may or may not be hiding something and Sonny's personal favorite Vontae Mack, whose passion for the game and the draft is over the top. Vontae is played by Chadwick Boseman and he is terrific, completing an amazing year in film that included playing James Brown in "Get On Up" and Jackie Robinson in "42". As long as the film stays in the boardroom, the field or Radio City Music Hall for draft day, it's a lot of fun. When it strays into Sonny's personal life it fumbles badly into predictable and maudlin territory. It manages to correct itself in the final quarter, scoring well some unexpected twists and turns that manage to make drafting players look pretty damn exciting. Costner is reliably good as Sonny, Jennifer Garner is ok as his love interest Ali and Ellen Burstyn is very good as Sonny's hard wired Mom. Look for Sean Combs as an agent and plenty of ESPN regulars as themselves. DRAFT DAY is predictable gridiron fun for football fans and (as long as it's focused on football) a well made diversion. We'll give it a game day B-.

Much darker than I expected and elevated by a terrific Billy Bob Thornton, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is a gritty look at the 1988 Permian High Panthers from Odessa, Texas. In an economically depressed community where Football may be the only way out, we watch the entire year from pre-season to Championship Game in the Astrodome. Watching these young men battle with the weight of the entire town behind them is powerful and at times, hard to watch. Thornton is excellent as Coach Gary Gaines, juggling overzealous boosters, the future of a lot of young men and his own tenuous grasp on the job. His final halftime speech in the film is a perfect moment that defines football, teamwork and sports. It's flawless. If you aren't moved in that moment, you probably aren't near a TV all day Saturday and Sunday every fall. The cast is excellent. Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) is hilarious as Boobie Miles, the cocky superstar of the team who faces unexpected adversity. Lucas Black (Sling Blade) is Quarterback Mike Winchell and Jay Hernandez (TV's Magnum PI) is Chavez. The third member of their rarely separated trio is Don Billingsley, well played by Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy, Triple Frontier). Country singer Tim McGraw had his first big screen role as Don's alcoholic father Charles, a despicable and abusive parent punishing his son for his own failed dreams. McGraw is damn good, and very repulsive. Against the backdrop of the struggling town and its citizens that live for Friday nights, Director Peter Berg (Patriots Day, Deepwater Horizon, The Kingdom) structures a compelling flight through the season that never feels rushed. He finds a near perfect balance between the personal stories off the field and the game action under the lights. Special kudos to editors Colby Parker Jr (Ant-Man, Gran Turismo), Susan Rash and David Rosenbloom (Black Mass, The Insider). Their editing of the game action delivers plenty of thrills and hits you can feel in your bones. Based on HG Bissinger's book detailing the true story of the Permian Panthers, this is a story that only real life could create. The last half hour is emotionally draining and as good as sports films get, making you feel like you ARE AT that State Championship game. I loved the final coda after the final whistle, with Berg letting the sound fade away and his images alone tell the story. Creatively it's a risk that pays off. The FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS burn bright, delivering a game time A.

I don't know a red-blooded American male that doesn't weep at the power of RUDY. Between Jerry Goldsmith's music, Sean Astin's perfect performance as a blue collar dreamer and the power of its roots in a true story, this is the sports film that makes every grown man choke up. Yep. Me too. The film immerses us in Rudy's family life in a small steel town. He's been told his entire life he's too small to play football, he's not smart enough to attend Notre Dame. Ned Beatty is terrific as his Father Daniel, whose own dreams never looked beyond the mill. His speech to Rudy at the Greyhound bus station is sad and believable. After a tragedy, Rudy leaves everything and heads to Notre Dame, determined to play football for The Irish and prove every naysayer wrong. There's so much that this film gets right. The casting is amazing. Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, The Goonies) IS Rudy. He never has a non-genuine moment in the entire film. Jason Miller (The Exorcist) is excellent as Coach Ara Parseghian. A very young Jon Favreau is hilarious as D-Bob, a TA at Holy Cross who quickly bonds with Rudy. Charles S. Dutton (Alien3) is Notre Dame groundskeeper Fortune, Rudy's ticket onto the field long before he attends the university. Dutton is fantastic. I've never been a huge Notre Dame fan, but watching Dutton's face as Rudy repeats his favorite Knute Rockne speech in an empty locker room, I think I get it. Tradition and history are a powerful combo and there's no better medium than film to truly stir those emotions. This is one of Jerry Goldsmith's finest scores, SOARING at all the right moments. He also knows exactly when to let the game sounds be all the accompaniment the film needs. But WOW, when Rudy opens that letter alone on the bench and one of Goldsmith's most famous themes rises from a full orchestra....whew. It should be in a museum of how great film music can elevate a scene. And the track "The Final Game" is a piece of legendary film music. Used for numerous trailers and even Presidential campaigns, it tears through you and lifts you up. If this wasn't a true story, you'd never believe it. The friendships are real, the brotherhood is powerful. This is one of only two films in history that were allowed to be shot at Notre Dame, "Knute Rockne All American" in 1940 was the other. The film wouldn't work if Sean Astin wasn't so perfectly earnest in the role. He's never delusional, just committed. He carves out a truly inspirational character and I can't think of anyone we've ever rooted for on this level. Every supporting character is carefully crafted, adding to the power of the story. This was Vince Vaughn's film debut and his first of many films with Favreau. The last twenty minutes of the film, the final game of his senior year, is flawless moviemaking, offering the perfect ending to a film that defines "crowd-pleaser." RUDY is an emotional powerhouse. It ALWAYS gets to me (and every football fan I know) no matter how many times I see it. By never patronizing to its audience and respecting the true heart that makes sports great, RUDY climbs to the top of my favorite sports films, earning an A+.

Goofy fun once it gets going thanks to big laughs from Jack Black and Jason Momoa, A MINECRAFT MOVIE is a noisy, visually stunning family night at the movies. This one demands to be seen on the big screen, where every cube POPS . Falling into the "LOUD is FUNNIER!" genre of "The Goonies" and "1941", non-gamers are quickly introduced to the game worlds that serve as the playing field for our main character misfits. Jack Black is full-tilt hilarious as Steve, a boy who dreamed of becoming a pix-axe wielding miner. Finding two glowing cubes in a mine, the Overworld and the Nether are created, one a garden of Eden made of magical cubes and the other a right angle, flaming underworld that looks a lot like the cartoon hell of "South Park". Those magical cubes eventually pull four strangers into Steve's worlds. The first half hour of the film introduces us to these four and shares the same kind of small town quirk that Director Jared Hess brought to his biggest hit, 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite". That's a compliment. Mamoa, seemingly wearing the same wardrobe as his maniacal villain in "Fast X", plays Garrett, a loner living in his past as an 80's video game champ. Surely I can't be the only one to notice how much his dilapidated video store sits on a lonely, rounded corner like Flynn's in "Tron". Mamoa is hilarious playing dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks and commits 100% to the role. He and Black together share more than a few great side glances and raised eyebrows. Emma Myers (Wednesday) plays Natalie, a young woman moving with her brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen) to a very small town after the death of their parents. Their realtor Dawn is a wacky character, part realtor, part traveling zoo proprietor. Danielle Brooks (incredible in 'The Color Purple") is a lot of fun, but not given a lot to do. The film kind of plods along until the four are shot through the portal into the Overworld. At that point, the pace picks up and the movie is instantly more fun and visually, an absolute blast. Black manages to break into song more than once and every time he did, it brought the house down at the IMAX showing I enjoyed. Each of the songs is unexpected, funny and the best of them "I Feel Alive" is a great rocker. The music score is by Mark Mothersbaugh from "Devo" and he delivers. "Steve's Lava Chicken" is a comic highlight. The story does a decent job of setting our crew on a series of episodic quests that feel like the game, while offering plenty of easter eggs for gaming fans and humor for non-gamers. The reliable Jennifer Coolidge (A Mighty Wind) is also hilarious as the Assistant Principal at Henry's new school. To say she's an over-sharer doesn't quite cover it. Hess cleverly finds a way to keep popping back to the real world and Coolidge and she never disappoints. The CGI in the game worlds is very well done, and while there's a lot less "building" in the movie than I anticipated, the weapons making and some camera shots of multilevel worlds really deliver. With the best runaway mine car sequence since Indy and Short Round escaped the Temple of Doom and a chicken boxing match that kept me laughing, there's something for everyone. It's not easy to make a videogame adaption that connects with kids, teens and the adults taking the smaller ones to the theater. For me, the best recent example of that perfect blend is 2023's "Dungeons & Dragons", which was little seen and underappreciated. This feels closer to the box office hit "Super Mario Bros" from 2023, but the deft blend of human actors into the gaming universe here is impressive on another level. Based on the packed IMAX showing I was in and the audience of ALL ages in attendance, I'm betting this one is a big, Iron Golem size hit this Spring. Black+Momoa cubed=B+ family enjoyment.

Jason Statham and Director David Ayer deliver another slam bang thriller with A WORKING MAN , building explosively off their last success, "The Beekeeper". For those of us old enough to remember, or with a fondness for 70's cinema, their partnership reminds me of Charles Bronson and Director Michael Winner, who turned out hit after hit back in the day. With hits like "The Mechanic" (1972) and "Death Wish" (1974) they found an action rhythm that connected with audiences. Statham & Ayer seem to be finding that same groove here. Opening with a very cool, James Bond-like title sequence set to Jared Michael Fry's music score, we meet Statham's Levon Cade, a former counter-terrorism agent trying to live a quieter life. He's efficiently running a construction site for friend Joe Garcia (Michael Pena) and Garcia's family. Local gangs come a-calling and Cade's old skills emerge immediately. It's a fun scene and an early example of exactly why you bought your ticket. Joe's daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) heads out with her friends to celebrate her first college semester and she's kidnapped by a rogue division of a Russian gang. This gang is filled with the most eccentric, wild band of villains in recent memory. Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and its the absolute best and worst of Stallone on display. The dialogue can be cliche, but the man knows his way around an action one liner, those witty quips that our hero drops right before pulling the pin or plunging the dagger. "That's for slapping your wife" was a standout. Cade goes to meet his trusted best friend and blind former soldier Gunny, well played by David Harbour (Black Widow, Hellboy, Suicide Squad). Gunny provides a virtual armory worth of weapons and Cade's off and running to find Jenny. Ayer and Statham stage some terrific action sequences, including a biker bar fight for the ages followed by a motorcycle chase. Some of their quieter confrontations are just as good. Jason Flemyng and Maximillian Osinski are both terrific as violent organized crime leaders, one older and established and Osinski's young Dimi, a dangerously unhinged, disrespectful loose cannon that you just can't wait for Statham's Levon Cade to meet. This is based on the first novel of the Levon Cade book series by comic author Chuck Dixon. Stallone has optioned the series. I, for one, would be happy to see Stallone, Statham and Ayer continue with a film series around Cade's adventures. If they're all as smooth, fast and fun as A WORKING MAN , we're all in for a hell of a run. Statham has become our most reliable big screen action hero of the 2020's and he wears the mantle well. While it doesn't quite reach the buzzy heights of "The Beekeeper", it carves out a more than respectable B.