For thirteen days in October of 1962, the world teetered closer to the edge of nuclear war than at anytime in history. Those days are created with class and suspense in THIRTEEN DAYS. A dream cast of character actors play all the real life folks involved, with Bruce Greenwood leading the way as JFK. Greenwood doesn't do an impression of JFK, but he inhabits his look, mannerisms and charisma facing off against Soviet counterparts and his own Pentagon. After discovering nuclear weapons capable of striking nearly everywhere in the USA (you seem to be the only safe city Seattle!) tensions escalate between the two military superpowers. The film focuses on three people, JFK, attorney general Bobby Kennedy (a very good Steven Culp) and Special Assistant to the President Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner). Costner is actually the weak link in the film, sporting a ridiculous Boston accent that somehow manages to out-crap his legendarily disastrous "Robin Hood" accent. Costner rises above that handicap at moments, especially in the impactful scenes of stolen moments with his family during the crisis. Historically accurate, fading in and out of black and white and using plenty of real Walter Cronkite clips of him reporting on the events as they happen, the film does a terrific job of immersing you into the fall of 1962. Dylan Baker (Happiness) is great as Robert McNamara, Bill Smitrovich (24) is war-hawk General Taylor and Michael Fairman (Mulholland Drive) is a real standout as Adlai Stevenson. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from tapes within the Oval Office that JFK recorded of key meetings. The dance between political positioning, strength and politics is fascinating to watch. With an $80 million budget, this was a box office failure at the time of its release, but has grown in stature and appreciation since. This was the first film that George and Laura Bush screened at the White House in Feb of 2001, with members of the Kennedy family in attendance. It's been a favorite of mine since its release. Like "All The President's Men" or "The Post", its a historical film that moves like a thriller. Seeing how close we came to nuclear war nearly 60 years ago, we're left wondering how the same situation would be handled today. Scary thought. THIRTEEN DAYS gets an A.

Romantic, funny and loaded with smart Aaron Sorkin dialogue, 1995's THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is a heartfelt, enjoyable comedy pretending to be a political thriller. Michael Douglas is President Andrew Shepherd, nearing the end of his first term as a very popular Commander In Chief. All that comes to a screeching halt when he meets Climate Change lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (a perfect Annette Bening). Having been a widower for his entire first term, a date with Sydney fires up the press and the most conservative wing of his competition. His staff goes into overdrive. And what a staff it is. Martin Sheen is best friend and chief-of-staff AJ, Michael J. Fox is a volatile speech writer and Dayid Paymer (City Slickers) is a chatty analyst. It's a cavalcade of great actors, adept at spilling Sorkin's smart, rapid fire dialogue that will conjure up more than a few great memories of "The West Wing". Douglas is excellent as Sheperd, just the right mix of leader, Dad to a teenager and nervous guy who's forgotten how to date. Douglas has always been a great actor at blending comedy into a performance and he delivers some great laughs here along with the drama. Bening matches him. One of Rob Reiner's best films and remember this Meathead delivered "A Few Good Men". "When Harry Met Sally" and "Misery". Whatever your political leanings, you'll enjoy the sparring between staunch conservative Senator Rumson (a fiery Richard Dreyfuss) and Shepherd. The state dinner with the President of France and Wade's reaction the first time the President calls her are classic moments. President Clinton gave the filmmakers several days of visits for production design and it shows, every corner of this White House feels authentic. Mark Shaiman's music score (Hairspray, South Park) is excellent and has been stolen for many trailers in the two decades since. A throwback to a time when even combative politics were much more civil than they are today, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is a fast moving winner that gets a B.

A B-movie blend of John Wick, Kill Bill and an 80's action flick, THE KILLER'S GAME is an enjoyable b-side thriller with a lot of laughs. Dave Bautista reminds me of Arnold in his early action flick days here (think "Eraser" and "Commando") showing little human emotion but plenty of inhuman ability to kick your ass nine ways to Sunday. Opening with the first of many 4k drone action shots that jump off the screen, Bautista's international hit man Joe Flood enters a black tie event in Budapest. Tuxes and luxury drip off the screen as a pretty bad-ass modern dance troupe led by Maize Arnaud (Sofia Boutella from "Kingsman" and "Star Trek Beyond") performs on stage. Flood assassinates a shadowy figure in one of the boxes with funny asides and lethal action that will be familiar to any Stallone/Schwarzenegger fan. In the post hit melee, he saves Maize from the crush of the crowd and begins a quiet romance with her. You get the feeling its his first genuine personal contact in decades. As his handler Zvi (a very welcome Ben Kingsley) offers further assignments, Flood confesses that he's suffering severe ear ringing and headaches. A trip to the doctor serves up a lethal diagnosis, three months to live and most of that in severe decline. Flood makes the same decisions that most of us would in that scenario, with one additional choice, to pay for a hit on himself so that he can give all his money to his new flame, Maize. He pays Antoinette (Pom Klementieff from "Mission Impossible" & "Guardians of the Galaxy") to hire the right killers. She's ALL IN. What follows is a funny mixture of Tarantino's big bold yellow titles on screen as each new hitman is introduced and John Wick style action as they all descend of Joe. Two minutes before this hit is scheduled to start, the Doctor calls to tell Joe there's been a mistake at the lab, he's actually NOT dying. But he's about to, as a cavalcade of killers descends on him. Some of these assassins are hilarious. Feuding, brutish Scottish brothers Angus and Rory come with their own subtitles as they drink and stumble their way to Joe. Ginni & Tonya, the most lethal and seductive female duo since Bambi and Thumper took on OO7 in "Diamonds are Forever" take on the hit. Goyang's Gang, a Korean squad of stylish killers take the bait. Creighton Lovedahl (Terry Crews) knows Flood well and won't take the $2m bait, but when it's upped to $4 million, he joins the chase. Crews really took me out of the film in his opening scenes. At first, he comes off like that guy in the Old Spice commercials, but the part of Lovedahl grows on him as the film goes on. The action scenes are first rate, bloody violent and in many cases, damn funny. Boutella has one of her best roles here, and since she's basically playing off a brick in Bautista, it's even more impressive. The final scenes are kind of dumb, feeling more like a family film that the blood thirsty thriller its been for 100 minutes. I laughed more than a few times and admired the action scenes even more frequently, even if they are marred by a little too much CGI blood. They need more on set practical effects teams and less digital effects folks, but it's still fun. But mindless. Come for the laughs, stay for the non-stop hits, using every weapon imaginable. THE KILLER'S GAME is a enjoyable knock off, but a second rate one at heart. If everyone had been as inspired as cinematographer Flavio Martinez Labiano (Jungle Cruise), this might really been something. His camera goes anywhere and everywhere at one hell of a pace. But they weren't. I'll give it a C. Kudos for Bautista for giving it his all. His comic delivery is as sharp as those giant handheld scythes that are a favorite of the Goyang Gang. Flood's reaction when one gets stuck in his shoulder is priceless. Goodbye Joe Flood. We hardly knew ye.....

Now THIS is the way to deliver a sequel nearly 40 years after the original. Tim Burton's BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a visual treat, a laugh out loud comedy and a fast paced adventure on both sides of the living. It also manages to pack in wall-to-wall hilarious songs that elevate the fun far beyond Harry Belafonte's "Day-O". It's many years since the first film and the story reflects it. Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) has turned her ability to see ghosts into Reality TV stardom, with her fawning producer/boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) hovering nearby at all times. Her mother Delia (a perfect Catherine O'Hara) is a famous artist, playing her eccentricities to the hilt with gallery shows that take self-obsession to another level. Lydia's daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is surviving a girls boarding school in the face of all the popular girls that constantly harass her about her family history. She's a non-believer and rebellious as hell. Meanwhile, demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, who hasn't lost a sidestep) pines away for Lydia in the afterlife while his ex-wife, the soul sucking evil Delores (Monica Bellucci) staples herself back together and begins a quest of vengeance against the man who cut her into pieces, Beetlejuice! Burton pops back and forth between the Deetz's on Earth and Beetlejuice and his team in the suspiciously 70's looking office building of the Afterlife. Burton and his design team are in absolute top form, mixing up stop motion, just a bit of CGI, mostly old fashioned practical efforts and a true sense of fun into a seamless mix of fan service to those that love the original 1988 film and wholly new directions for the characters. Willem Dafoe keeps popping up as an actor who doesn't quite seem to grasp that he's dead, playing the same cool detective role that he did when he was alive in Hollywood. The fact that half his skull is exposed doesn't seem to slow him down. Arthur Conti (House of the Dragon) is also good as Jeremy, a neighbor kid that has a "meet cute" with Astrid. Just when you think there's going to be a young adult style romance in the film, Burton reminds you who he is and spins that into a wild & crazy direction that really pays off. Has there ever been a more in-the-pocket cool blast of a Burton sequence than his vision of the Soul Train to the Great Beyond, loaded with bell bottomed dancers from the 70's, dancing wildly to Donna Summer and The Bee Gees as a Don Cornelius lookalike serves as a booming bass voice narrator to the ever after? You couldn't get the smile off my face. Keaton is obviously thrilled to be back in one of his most famous roles and makes every moment count. I would have liked to have seen him have more screen time, but that's just a testament to his manic, perfectly delivery performance. The finale's Midnight Halloween wedding ceremony with a giant cake spinning through the air as Richard Harris' strained vocals on "MacArthur Park" drone on endlessly about someone leaving "the cake out in the rain and all the sweet green icing raining down" is inspired lunacy. It's difficult to deliver a sequel nearly four decades after a blockbuster original and sell a multi generational story. So many fail, but Burton blows it up into supernatural heights with BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE . Someone say it three times again in another ten years, so we can see what else Burton has up his sleeve. With this, his twentieth film as a director, he proves that he's still capable of delivering inspired, off-kilter fun. The juice is loose and earns an A.

Yes, SALEM'S LOT is one of Stephen King's shorter novels, but why is the new movie adaption so damn rushed? It's as if the filmmakers decided to create a King horror adaption for the TikTok generation. Everything is glossed over, characters are barely introduced before the mayhem begins and none of the scares have any time to fester. It's a shame, because this latest adaption does have its high points. First, let's just all admit that the original 1979 CBS miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce) is the all-time best TV King adaption. Still scary as hell, its loaded with scenes that have haunted a generation of scary movie buffs. It's one of my favorites and I watch it again every couple years. I don't even remember the 2004 TV miniseries with Rob Lowe. I probably considered it a travesty to even dare remake Hooper's vision and passed on it. So the new version from MAX and Writer/Director Gary Dauberman, who wrote the two excellent "IT" King adaptions along with many "Conjuring" films, comes with a nice pedigree but also trepidation from me on why we need another remake. I really enjoyed the main title visuals, but almost immediately, the two-hour movie format seems to be an ill fit. Nearly all the character set up is jettisoned in an effort to get to the first carnage as soon as possible. We meet writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman from "Top Gun: Maverick", pretty dull here) returning to Jerusalem's Lot for the first time since his childhood. He wants to dive into his past and ....oh never mind, the film has NO time for details. He arrives just as English gentleman Straker (Pilou Asbeak from "Overlord") opens a mysterious antique shop downtown and also moves into the Marsten House, that long abandoned, terrifying old mansion that seems to stare down over the town waiting for victims. Unlike in the 1979 miniseries, in which the legendary James Mason played Straker with a brilliant mix of aloofness and predatory behavior, the antique shop barely comes into play. The titles have just concluded when Straker's master, the hideously Vitamin D deprived Kurt Barlow takes his first victim. Director Dauberman takes the opposite approach of Spielberg with the shark in "Jaws" which you didn't even see until 45 minutes into the film. Chop chop, no time for waiting, show his hideous face and give away a huge scare in the first five minutes. I just shook my head. Mears and Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) fall in love quickly (no time for courtship) and the bodies start dropping as Barlow's vampire bites spread the undead faster than VD at Woodstock. As I mentioned, there are some very bright spots within the film. Jordan Preston Carter (Shaft) is a find as Mark Petrie, the horror film buff watching his school mates drop like flies. When Danny Glick comes a floating and knocking on his second story bedroom window, he knows what to do. While the 2024 version is no scarier than the original 1979 TV version, I do LOVE the reaction these vamps have to crosses. It's visually very cool and a blast to watch. The 1975 small town setting is fun and well executed. Bill Camp (The Outsider, Joker) is terrific as school teacher Matt Burke. He's a steady force in the community and one of the first townspeople to realize what's going on. As always, Camp is excellent and pulls you into the film. The cinematography during the first child kidnapping in the woods is visually clever and reminded me of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" by Coppola. The music score by Nathan Barr (True Blood) & Lisbeth Scott is really strong too, it draws blood. The treehouse scene with Mark is very well done. I loved the entire drive-in sequence at the end of the film. It's going to be new territory for any fans of the book or previous miniseries, but its fast, funny and action packed. But I pity anyone coming to this film without having read the novel or seen the previous miniseries. The story has enough meat on its bones and interesting characters to fill two long movies, just as IT did several years ago. Here, it just plays like SALEM'S LOT FOR DUMMIES, a rushed, cliff notes version of a classic horror tale from the master of the genre. For all the blood spilled, it ends up being a too rushed, detail-lite, toothless remake that burns up in the sunlight just as fast as the undead at the double feature. Sadly, this lot gets a C. I keep seeing that there's a three hour version by Dauberman out there somewhere. Please MAX, release it. I bet its far superior than this attention deficit disorder edition.

Francis Ford Coppola is one of my all-time favorite film makers. "The Godfather", "Godfather Part II", "The Conversation", "Apocalypse Now", hell, I even loved his first mainstream film "Finian's Rainbow"! I've really been looking forward to seeing his self-financed, $120 million fable, MEGALOPOLIS for myself. It's been adored by some and shunned by others, there seems to be little middle ground. As for me.... I just walked out of the theater a half hour ago and I'm trying to figure out what the hell I watched. I laughed aloud at funny dialogue, I admired some of the visuals, I damn near slept as long stretches of the non-sensical first hour bored me to death. I also cringed as some of the dialogue landed with a thud, way off the mark as drama and nowhere near a bullseye as satire. This is a very strange film. Strange can be good. Mysterious can be fun. Satire can be biting AND hilarious. But what the hell is this? I'm a big Adam Driver fan, but he seems ill-cast as Cesar Catalina, a brilliant engineer/artist, city developer who dreams big. He wants to turn the current city of New York, oops I mean "New Rome" into a Utopian civilization for all. His biggest opponent is the Mayor, Franklin Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) whose vision is more traditionally based in power & greed. Circling these two are a maddening and bizarre cast of characters. Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) absolutely steals the movie from all the big name actors as Julia Cicero, daughter of the Mayor and an ever growing fan of Cesar. Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Goes West) overacts on a massive scale as TV host Wow Platinum. I guess with a name like "Wow" she's got to swing for the fences, but Plaza is all over the place. She's positively staid compared to Shia LaBeouf as Cesar's power hungry cousin Clodio. I feel like Coppola sat in a room with Shia, did peyote for a month, wound him up and let him go. LeBeouf is hilariously shot out of a cannon, but it wears very thin, very fast. And he's on screen for a lot of the 142 minute running time. Dustin Hoffman and Jason Schwatzman are completely wasted in glorified cameos. At least Jon Voight gets a strong final act as the President of a Bank that Clodio & Wow have their sights set on. But even his final scene has a strange, bloody comedic tone. Laurence Fishburne stars as Fundi Romaine (more peyote please, these names are killing me) Cesar's right hand man and our narrator. Fishburne not only narrates, he reads many of the big platitudes that Coppola places on massive stone engravings to start different sections of the film. Let's talk about the positives. Coppola has always been a visual genius. His special effects in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" were a revelation of shadow play, models and physical effects in the face of CGI. He masterfully uses the same playbook here, while also using CGI for some of the larger set pieces in the new city. There were moments that were brilliant. The shadows of citizens cringing against monuments as an object falls from the sky, conjuring up the feel of a modern day Pompeii. Huge sculptures depicting Justice move and portray emotion. Madison Square Garden is a modern day coliseum complete with Chariot races. Sadly, the brilliant moments are fleeting. The Roman allegory around the decline of the US is heavy handed. I could see what Coppola was trying to say, and I appreciate it, but I never felt it. Osvaldo Golijov's music score is part Sinbad movie, part gladiator movie and part death march. The last hour (except for the last scene) is by far the best part of the film as the clash of power and the future of New Rome and Cesar come into focus. But every time the film threatens to pull you in, Shia LeBeouf strolls in wearing a dress or acting like Jerry Lewis and you're pulled out of the film again. By the time LeBeouf and Plaza were engaged in a graphic sex scene that slowly morphed into a murder plot in a bathhouse, I felt a very long way from Coppola's incredible gifts as a storyteller that we've seen so many times in the past 50 years. Coppola has always been a master at pulling the best performances out of his massive casts. This feels sloppy, unfocused, more like a first film by a freshman film student wanting to make what he thinks an "art film" than the informative fable Coppola had in mind. His split screen work here starts off like Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix" and devolves into DePalma's "Body Double". And the final scene in Times Square on New Year's Eve. It's the exact ending a young Coppola would have battled against studios about, refusing to close the story that way. No spoilers, so I'll say no more, but see if you agree with me. Often when I see strange films that challenge me, I can't wait to see them again. An hour later, I am in no hurry to experience Megalopolis again. I'd like to say that even lesser Coppola is better than most films, but for the first time, I'm not sure that's true anymore. This MegaMess sadly gets a C-.

Are you having a good time? Zoe Kravitz directorial debut BLINK TWICE is astonishingly assured, mysterious and clever. It's a David Lynch/Christopher Nolan like immersion into memory & trauma that's brutally entertaining for every minute of its running time. Don't let anyone spill its secrets, I certainly won't here. Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody) stars as Frida, a server who works at a catering company alongside roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat from "Arrested Development"). Frida is excited to work at a major fundraising event hosted by recently cancelled Tech Billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). His apology is all over the internet, but we don't see any details of what he's apologizing for. The two have a moment at the event and King invites Frida and Jess to join him on his newly acquired tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Sound familiar? Champagne, gifts and drugs flow as they land in the middle of a paradise that seems to only have one issue, those dangerous vipers lurking about. Guests need to look out for the snakes too. King's entourage is an eccentric lot, well cast. Christian Slater (True Romance) is King's right hand man Vic. He's always smiling, quick with a quip and a highball as he takes constant Polaroids of their island adventures. Slater is funny and smarmy in equal doses. Adria Arjona (Hit Man, 6 Underground) is Sarah, a reality TV star whose adept at holding her own in a jungle as an all-star on a "Survivor" like show. She seems closest to their resident chef Cody (Simon Rex) whose nightly island dinners seem Michelin star worthy. Dessert is always something fancy followed by hallucinogenics. Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) stars a Tom, always surrounded by party girls Camilla (Liz Caribel ) and Heather (Trew Mullen). Golden boy and newly minted tech wunderkind Lucas (Levon Hawke, son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman) is unshakably happy, even when he wakes up with a hangover and a massive black eye. Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Dune) is King's therapist and Geena Davis (Thelma and Louise, The Fly) is Stacy, King's loyal if fumbling personal assistant. It's a great cast and each of them carve out a unique character that serves as a piece of the island experience. Days turn into weeks, nights seem to fade, mornings bring more poolside fun and luxury. All is not what it seems on King's island. We observe the happenings and are pulled into the mystery, each day brings more drugs, more gaps. Writer/Director Kravitz has plenty to say, and she does so brilliantly. Sprinkling alarming visuals into the film in both pops & flashes as well as more traditional flashbacks, she kept me on edge through the absolutely mad conclusion. She plays with time in a way that makes it feel almost elastic. When characters ask, "What day is this?" I can fully understand why. Tatum is terrific in an unexpected role. I'm not sure I'll ever hear anyone say "I'm sorry" and hear it quite the same way thanks to his performance. As Chanda Dancy's creepy AF music score weaves its way into your psyche, Kravitz takes you on a seductive, twisted trip that descends into some very dark places. Kravitz drives all with a gifted, sure hand behind the camera. She has Lynch's sense of mystery but Nolan's gift for storytelling clarity. I can't wait to see what she creates next. BLINK TWICE is the kind of film that I find myself still thinking about the next day. Scenes in the opening act take on new resonance with what I know now. I need to see it again to fully explore the mysteries and clues hidden within Kravitz's storytelling. Disturbing, thoughtful and tightly wound, BLINK TWICE gets an A.

After seeing the trailer for SPEAK NO EVIL countless times, I felt like I knew the entire story. Wrong. Writer/Director James Watkins still has plenty of surprises lurking in the stunning Italian countryside. We meet Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis from "Terminator: Dark Fate" and "Blade Runner 2049) hovering near her 12 year old daughter Agnes at a resort pool. Agnes's less protective father Ben (Scoot McNairy from "Argo") is nearby on a lounge chair. His attention is drawn to alpha male Paddy (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara and young son, Ant, poolside. Paddy is loud, the life of the party, bossy and clearly having fun. Paddy orders beers for he and his wife, Ben tries to order one, but Louise thinks its a bit early in the day. It's clear that Ben thinks Paddy is a Man's Man. You sense that he has aspirations to be the same. The two threesomes meet again at a joint dinner in town and soon Paddy & Ciara seem to be around every corner of every jaw dropping little Italian town. Finally connecting for a hilarious lunch then a dinner, the couple seem to hit it off. Even their children seem to share similarities. Agnes is a very young 12 and clings to her stuffed rabbit. Anxiety attacks lurk every time she's not near it. Paddy shares that Ant has a learning disability that prevents him from saying much of anything. Vacations end. The Dalton's return to their new home in London, where the screenplay by Watkins (2012's "The Woman in Black") begins to reveal fractures in Louise and Ben's relationship. On a whim, they decide to take Paddy up on his invitation to visit them at their secluded home, deep in the countryside. If you've seen the trailers, including the one below, you know a lot about what happens. But you know much less than you think. Before the film spins its wild final 30 minutes, it's an intriguing tale that keeps you guessing. Just who is Paddy? Is he the charming over-sharer that turns any social situation on its head with quick wit? Or is he the more twisted version that seems to flash before us, a peek here, a fading smile there? James McAvoy is a terrific lead as Paddy. He's hilarious & terrifying, not an easy mix to execute. McAvoy was excellent showcasing many personalities in "Split", but Paddy is more grounded in reality. As Paddy's wife Ciara, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones) gives off serious, earthy Shailene Woodley vibes. Her Ciara is perhaps the most challenging character to decipher. Davis is great as Louise. She is the one person in the story that we most relate to, cringing in shock as facades begin to fall. McNairy is terrific, even as he begins to sink into a sewer of Paddy's very dangerous ideas about life. I could feel McNairy's Ben being seduced by the apparent control over his own life that Paddy's oozes. In contrast, Ben feels like a man cornered by his own choices. Props to McNairy, because I had no idea what to expect when Ben is forced to step up. Special kudos to the two young actors that play Agnes (Alex West Lefler) and Ant (Dan Hough). They are both superb. Twice in the film, once in the mysterious opening scene and then again in the final shot, Hough's eyes pull you in and you can feel everything he is experiencing in the moment. He's one to watch. I was drawn immediately into the film by the hypnotic score from Danny Bensi (The Exorcism) and Saunder Jurriaans (Apple TV+'s "Presumed Innocent"). Setting the tone perfectly, they turn the screw slowly until the final 30 minutes, when their music score and Watkins unleash a tense, violent confrontation, spilling all of Paddy's secrets and plenty of blood. The finale feels like a game of hide and seek with deadly consequences. All our characters are dropped into a physical and psychological battle that you can feel. McAvoy perfectly pulls out all the stops. He feels as dangerous as Jack Torrance in "The Shining", if Nicholson had put on 50 lbs of muscle. Based on the original 2022 Danish film, "Speak No Evil", Watkins has crafted a tightly wound psychological horror film that ever so slowly tightens its grip on you. If the trailer had truly given away all its secrets, it would have been a passable Blumhouse horror entry. But that house in the countryside has many chambers, many doors. Trying to keep them barricaded against what's behind them is one hell of a ride in SPEAK NO EVIL . It gets a very solid B.

Should EVERY Transformers movie have been as an animated feature? Based on the new origin story TRANSFORMERS ONE , the answer is a resounding yes. 2011's "Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon" was a high point for the live action films, with the rest of the endless sequels finding new depths of repetitive, mindless, loud boredom to pillage. I stopped watching them and friends know that I cringe every time another one is churned out. Drawn by the nearly unanimous praise this new animated entry was receiving, I had to check it out. From its first moments, it's different. Funny, fast and engaging, it's a clever combination of beautiful digital animation from Industrial Light & Magic and a very witty script by Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarock), Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man and the Wasp). Loaded with one liners and throwaway punch lines, most of them land, keeping the film enjoyable for kids and their parents (or grandparents!). Borrowing a plot hook from "Wicked"'s spin on the Wizard of Oz, this is the untold story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, the mortal enemies, in their younger days. Best friends in the equivalent of college and their entry level jobs as miners, they are known as Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry from "Bullet Train"). Orion is the fun one, always pushing the limits and dreaming about finding treasure and a way out of the mines. D-16 is more grounded, but the two always have each other's backs. Their world is ruled by Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm having a very good time) who comes off as a star athlete to the masses, adored and followed without question. The first sequence of the film that really sold me is a citywide race among the Transformer class of robots. Orion Pax finds a way for he and D-16 to enter, even though they, like all the working class, don't have the transformation cogs, or "T-Cogs" to transform. The sequence is a visual blast, especially in IMAX 3D. Reminding me of the best sequences of Spielberg's "Ready Player One" and last year's underrated "Gran Turismo" the visuals pull you into the action as if you're driving/flying/scrambling. One of my biggest complaints about all of the Transformers live action flicks is that the action becomes so confusing, loud and overbearing that the film melts into an unending wall of visual noise. Not here. I don't know why animation gives the action so much more clarity, but it does. Not once did I utter "oh boy, another transformation, who cares.." as I have in every live action version. The voice acting across the entire cast is excellent. Scarlett Johansson delivers as Elita-1 and Keegan-Michael Key steals the show as B-127, the young autobot who becomes Bumblebee. When you have Steve Buscemi and Laurence Fishburne delivering their very recognizable voices to important smaller roles, your cast is undeniably strong. There are enough great action scenes to keep kids and grandkids engaged, and they save the best for last, loading the finale with big moments that are surprisingly rousing. Unabashedly cheering for the good guys never gets old. There were moments in the final battle, with ships whirling all around me in IMAX 3D, that conjured up the same sensations of my first flight through the asteroid field in "The Empire Strikes Back" more than four decades ago. I didn't expect THAT going in! Director Josh Cooley found a way to bring new emotion and power to a legendary film series when he wrote "Toy Story 4", so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that he's found a way to make Transformers soar, but I am. If you said TRANSFORMERS ONE has not only rebooted the films but elevated them to an entirely different atmosphere, I'd be hard pressed to argue. Okay, Transformers series, lets start over. I'm in. Welcome to Cybertron, you win a shocking B+.

The first 11 minutes of ODDITY are a masterclass on setting up a simple, clever horror concept. We meet Dani, wife of a Dr. Ted Timmins (Gwilym Lee from "Bohemian Rhapsody"). While he's working the night shift at a psych hospital, one of his released patients appears at the door of their new castle-like estate in the Irish countryside. He stands at the door, warning Dani that someone else has entered the house when she turned her back. He encourages her to call the police and offers to come in and help her look for the intruder. Then...... Flashing forward, we meet her twin sister, blind medium Darcy (Carolyn Bracken) who is determined to find out who killed Dani that night. Ted now lives in the estate with his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton). ODDITY quietly piles up intriguing puzzle pieces. A camera has been set up to capture possible supernatural episodes, shooting an image every 10 seconds or so. The Timms' home seems to have some fascinating hot spots, like the Freeling house in "Poltergeist". A wooden chest sits ominously in a corner, protecting its contents. The mental patients and staff at Dr. Timmins hospital offer up warnings and suspects. If you lose your keys around this lot, start running immediately. I loved the way that Writer/Director Damian McCarthy moves the contents of the wooden crate, an ancient wooden man, around the set. I can tell you that I personally would not interact with that thing the way these folks do. A life-size wooden man with holes in the top of his head like a bowling ball and a big gaping mouth? Yeah, I'll pass. I sure as hell wouldn't.....well, I'll let you see for yourself..... The camera seems to always capture things just on the fringes that creep up and creep out. The pictures on that camera are every bit as big a jump scare as the first view of the Aliens on TV in "Signs". In the second half, music+sudden image= BOOM. Got me good. At least 4 times, you bastards.... Tadhg Murphy (The Northman) is excellent as Olin Boole, that man at the door who warned Dani during the film's opening. He's an interesting presence that keeps you guessing. The final 30 minutes is really enjoyable if you love this sort of thing, and I do! Writer/Director Damien McCarthy (Caveat) doesn't go for the cheap jump scare approach, although he uses those judiciously & well. He creates real tension between these characters. Darcy is one of the most resourceful blind women on film since Audrey Hepburn battled Alan Arkin in "Wait Until Dark". No bad deed goes unpunished, in bloody fashion. ODDITY scares up an appreciate B.

I have to admit I've never seen a Bollywood film. For my first taste, I just watched the non-stop action thriller KILL . While no one broke into song and dance at any point, I was a bit taken aback by the almost non-stop music and the daytime soap opera level romantic scenes. I am thinking they were actually sending up Bollywood stereotypes in the opening act. But who cares. What surrounds the brief romantic interludes is one of the most sustained, violent and exciting action films of the year. And that romance will be important later. The plot is simple. Commandos Amrit (Lakshya) and his best friend are just off a long assignment when Amrit finds out his true love Tulika has been engaged to another man in an arranged marriage. She's on a New Dehli bound passenger train with her powerful father and family. Amrit heads out to board the train and whisk her away. Meanwhile, a crime family and their merry band of violent thugs have boarded the same train to steal everything they can from the passengers and then get off at the next station. The bandits are violent and their young leader Fani (Raghav Juyal) is one of the most brutal and casually ruthless villains of all time. Amrit barely has time to see Tulika on the train before the bandits move into action and the two are separated. What follows is an almost relentless John Wick/Tarantino style blast of hand-to-hand combat as Amrit takes on the entire gang. Like the John Wick films, Amrit finds a million ways to kill at close range. Lakshya is excellent as our hero. He OWNS the screen and rarely leaves it. He's got the right attitude and physical presence for the lead. After about 30 minutes of assaults against a never ending stream of opponents, it begins to sink in that Amrit can indeed be wounded. I'm not sure how you lose this much blood and keep fighting, but I can only assume its sheer adrenaline. There's a moment 45 minutes into the film that changes everything. The title KILL fills the screen as music blares and the train roars. Up to that point, the action was bloody, violent and thrilling. But everything changes. It's as if the filmmakers found the violence meter had been set to 5 and they spin it to 10. It's a powerful move and the consequences on both sides of the battle are elevated. As Amrit and Fani move outside the train, hanging onto ropes, running on top of the train to other cars, they become immovable forces of good v evil. The kills get bloodier, the screams louder and the tension even tighter. Like "The Raid" on a moving train, KILL is a mad blend of QT at his best, the 70's martial arts films and John Wick on vacation in India. Just before the film's release, the producers of the Wick films, 87Eleven Entertainment purchased the rights to remake KILL in America. I can't imagine they'll be able to equal the breathless pace and bloody thrills of this original. KILL gets a B. Here's the R Rated trailer for a taste.

They're coming to get you, Barbra! 56 years ago today, on October 1st, 1968, George A. Romero changed horror films forever with the release of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD . It was a huge hit on drive-in screens across America. In 1972 at the age of 11, I saw it as the bottom half of a double feature with "Ben", the dopey and decidedly non-scary sequel to "Willard". Romero terrified me. I'd never seen anything like it and it stuck with me. His low budget horror flick is really almost like the first found-footage film. Shot on a shoestring in black and white, its gore was unheard of at the time. The film opens with Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and her brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) putting flowers on their mother's grave outside Pittsburgh. Some strange news on the radio cuts in and out, nicely foreshadowing as Romero immediately introduces us to the first flesh eating zombie that comes stumbling slowly across the graveyard in their direction. It's hard to remember just how crazy powerful the concept of the dead coming back to life with a thirst for flesh was in the late sixties. Romero single-handedly created a new genre. As an 11 year old, all I knew was this movie scared the hell out of me. Barbra escapes the old man zombie (poor Johnny!) and holes up in a country home near the cemetery. Duane Jones soon arrives as Ben, escaping the ever growing horde outside and needing gas in his truck. He gets to work barricading every door and window. They aren't alone in the house. Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) and his wife Helen (Marilyn Eastman) are hiding in the basement alongside their daughter, Karen, who seems to have been bitten. Even as a kid, I knew that couldn't be good.... Young couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Riley) are also inside, working with Ben to create an escape plan to Ben's truck and the gas pumps outside. What Romero gets so right is the claustrophobic feeling inside the barricaded farmhouse. He seems to have a chewed up casualty around every corner and a hungry zombie ready to lunge behind every window. One question, why didn't that dead body on the stairs with the chewed up face come back to life inside the house? Hmmm....11 year old me kept waiting for that to happen, hiding my eyes. He puts these different generations and races (remember, this was 1968) inside the pressure cooker and lets them boil. Duane Jones saw himself as a very serious stage actor and he brings power to the role, even as some of those around him seem to be more in on what genre they're playing. He was one of the first African American leads in horror film history as well. Hardman, in addition to playing what I call the "angry Ernest Borgnine role" (think Poseidon Adventure) also served as makeup artist, electronic sound effects engineer, and took the photos in the closing credits. Romero, the actors and team would shoot what they could over about 30 days, picking up filming as money came in. One little known piece of casting trivia: Romero originally wanted to cast Betty Aberlin from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood"as Barbara. Fred Rogers would not allow her to do the film! "Can you say ZOMBIE boys and girls?" Rogers was a fan of both this film and the 1978 sequel "Dawn of the Dead", with Rogers calling the latter "a lot of fun." Fred Rogers gave fellow Pittsburgh citizen Romero one of his first jobs on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", directing a segment about Rogers undergoing a tonsillectomy. I still laugh out loud at how bad some of the local actors cast are. Sheriff McLelland was played by George Kosana, from a small PA town. He made six movies in his lifetime, but he never equaled some of his quotable worst lines of dialogue and delivery here. As a TV reporter interviews his Sheriff, Kosana drops this straight faced line: "Yeah, they're dead. They're...all messed up." It's a huge laugh with every viewing. "If you have a gun, shoot 'em in the head. That's a sure way to kill 'em. If you don't, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat 'em or burn 'em. They go up pretty easy." But the laughs fade in comparison to some of the most terrifying scenes. Young Karen's final scene with her mother rivals Norman Bates' basement for chills. Made for $114,000, it has grossed over $30 million, one of the most profitable independent films ever made. It's astounding what Romero did with so little money. He followed it up 10 years later with the sequel, "Dawn of the Dead" and completed the trilogy in 1985 with "Day of the Dead". There would be no "The Walking Dead" without this horror classic paving the way. The gore may be tame compared to today's films, but Romero's original still holds up as an important part of horror history, biting, chewing and moaning its path to an A. 11-year-old me still remembers pushing lower and lower into that theater seat to avoid what was splattered all over the screen in front of me. In those moments, Romero planted the first roots that would grow into my love for the horror genre.