The best Marvel movie since "Avengers: Endgame", THE FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS brings back what we love about Marvel films. Big laughs, killer villains, heroes we care about and exciting action scenes. FINALLY, a Fantastic 4 that delivers. From the opening moments, Director Matt Shakman (WandaVision) creates a retro world that feels mid-century, 1960's pop modern. Similar to Gunn's "Superman" that just hit theaters two weeks ago, Shakman isn't interested in boring us with the origin story of our power quartet. Maybe because I sat through Josh Trank's absolute crap last version of this story in 2015, I had zero desire to see how they got their powers. We're plopped into this alternative Earth, and through the newsreels on a Vintage ABC network TV special about them, we see how they got their powers. It sets the story up beautifully, with drama and humor. The cast this time out is flawless. Pedro Pascal is terrific as a brilliant but introspective Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic. He blames himself for the incident in space that transformed them all. Reed has the ability to stretch in all the right ways, but I loved that the film used it sparingly, with well placed humor, saving the best of his talents for the finale. Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) is fantastic (no pun intended) as Sue Storm, Invisible Woman, Reed's wife and newly expecting Mom. Rarely has a new baby played such a pivotal role. Sue has the power of invisibility and creating massive force, which proves very handy more than once. Joseph Quinn (Gladiator II) is hilarious as Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, Sue's single brother who has an eye for the ladies. Following in Captain Kirk's footsteps, it doesn't matter what planet they're from. Quinn is a blast and unrecognizable as the same actor who played a crazy Emperor Geta in Ridley Scott's Gladiator follow up last year. Last but certainly not least is Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Fringe) as Ben Grimm, The Thing, whose face of rock doesn't prevent him from being one of the most expressive of our heroes. His reluctance to say his cartoon catch phrase delivers laughs and a superb payoff. Their idyllic alternate Earth is shattered by the arrival of The Silver Surfer, Shalla Bal, embodied to shiny perfection by Julia Garner (Apartment 7A). For the first time, this character has weight, has a back story that resonates and provides an emotional through line for the tale. She has arrived to announce the approach of Galactus, Eater of Worlds. When I heard the story line, I was pretty hesitant. How would you depict the size of that villain on screen? I can assure you that on screen, especially in the IMAX 3D format I saw it in last night, the scale of Galactus is jaw dropping and more importantly, cool as hell. Galactus is voiced by Ralph Ineson (The Creator, Nosferatu) with power and surprising humanity for a guy that's here to eat your planet. The sound design team, led by Josh Gold (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) delivers in every scene, providing the gut punching sound to match the visuals throughout. The story is nuanced and emotional and I'm not diving into it here, no spoilers. The predicament is clever and how The Fantastic Four address it is unexpected, dramatic and fun. The last time I felt like this watching a Marvel movie was the grand scale action and emotional punch that "Avengers: Endgame" delivered. There's more humor and consequence in every scene. The film gets everything right. The supporting characters are funny, well cast and important to the story. The Fantastic Four's lair is stunning and their rocket and launchpad just a stone's throw from their building is a total throwback in all the right ways. Like "Superman", the film feels like a sincere attempt to honor the source material. As anyone who knows my detest for robot companions and goofy sidekicks knows (Yes I'm talking about you, Ewoks and every Star Wars robot since R2 and C-3PO) I have to say that the Fantastic 4's robot sidekick Herbie is brilliantly executed. Fun without slipping into kiddie-cute, Herbie's a great add. Their flying car is perfect... Speaking of perfect, Michael Giacchino's music score is one of his all-time best. That seems fitting, since he also wrote the music for "The Incredibles", which for me, was the best Fantastic Four adaption in film history before this one. From soaring themes to suspenseful tracks and Disney like, full-choruses and orchestra singing "Fantastic Four!" , the score roars. Come on, this version delivers what Fantastic Four fans have waited decades for. I have never been a fan of the characters because my only exposure to them was the lame 2005 version with Jessica Alba & Chris Evans, followed by the even worse 2015 version slammed above. This is a great Marvel movie. It's a powerful story of family and friendship. It's got the best finale surprise since Han Solo flew in to save Luke's butt in "Star Wars". In short, THE FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS is exactly that, FANTASTIC . Stay seated when the end credits roll for the best mid-credits Marvel scene in many moons.

I went into HONEY DON'T looking for a Coen Brother movie. While one kept trying to breakout, this laugh and sex filled study on lust eventually disappoints. The cast is fantastic. Margaret Qualley (The Substance) is perfectly cast as small town Private Investigator Honey O'Donahue. All legs, sass and brooding humor, Qualley creates a fascinating character with the DNA of Katherine Hepburn's comedic roles blended with the contempt and decisive actions of Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan. Every word of dialogue spoken by Honey is pure Coen brothers, but only one brother has come to play this time. Ethan Coen is again paired with his wife Tricia Cooke, creating a second entry in their comedy action series featuring Lesbian protagonists primed for action, that started with last year's "Drive Away Dolls", also starring Qualley. They're apparently defining a new niche, or trying to, based on the dismal box office results. Audiences may not be showing up, but EVERY member of this cast sure does. Aubrey Plaza is ferocious as cop MJ Falcone, the guard of that classic police station evidence room that looks the same in every movie. Every time Qualley's high heels and short skirt walk down the hallway for information, Plaza's Falcone comes to attention. Chris Evans is absolutely hilarious as Reverend Drew Devlin, the leader of a sex cult barely disguised as a religious group. His baptism appears to be wild sex in the backroom of the strip mall church. I laughed out loud every time one of his henchmen, oh I mean deacons, walked into his room without knocking, in the middle of a wild sex act. Evans is having a hell of a good time here, banging parishioners and killing anyone that gets in his way with equal abandon. His facial expressions and line deliveries are Coen nirvana. Check out the portrait on the right side of the pulpit below. Huge laugh in the theater. Charlie Day steals every scene he's in as the Chief of Police in this dusty, forgotten, damn near dead California town. He never stops flirting with the gorgeous Honey, always just laughing when she reminds him "I like girls". Day finds ten ways to say "You always say that!" in response and every one of them lands. As a character study, the film is loaded with bizarre, funny or extreme characters that could populate any Coen brothers film. It's the mystery part of the film that seems tacked on, with a major plot twist reveal near the end that feels both desperate and disappointing. Violent moments are explosive and gory, reminding me that Ethan's first film was a FAR superior murder mystery with clever characters called "Blood Simple". It's a bit sad that that first film, 41 years ago, is so much better than this one. Maybe it's the alchemy of Joel and Ethan together that has created so many incredible films over the decades. Here, partnered with his wife Tricia, Ethan spins off into uncontrolled side stories and so many graphic sex scenes that it feels like they're trying to recreate the unbridled sexuality of the gritty films of the 1970's. There are moments where they're nearly successful in creating a raw Peckinpah-like scene, but then you're snapped back into the comedy in jolting fashion. Three people walked out of our already sparse crowd by the third graphic sex scene. The puritans would never have survived the seventies. There are some great scenes, some hilarious and fascinating moments to be sure. Some of the best come early, especially the visually innovative main titles set to Carter Burwell's score and the perfect theme song, "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" by Brittany Howard. The combination created high expectations that Qualley and Evans flawlessly deliver on. Too bad the film around them seems so scattered and in a hurry to go, ultimately, nowhere. HONEY DON'T gets a C+. If the film was as great as its trailer, this would be a Coen classic.

If there was an Oscar for casting, John Papsidera (Oppenheimer, Yellowstone) would win it for the absolute perfection of every actor cast in James Gunn's thrilling new comic book epic, SUPERMAN . This is the DC movie that we've all been waiting for since 1978, when Christopher Reeve wore the cape so well in his original outing. I'd never heard of David Corenswet until I saw him in last year's hit "Twisters". He is, without hesitation, the best Superman since Reeve and in some ways, even exceeds Reeve's portrayal, especially in his Clark Kent guise. Rachel Brosnahan is the best Lois Lane ever. Confident, funny, flawed, she's fantastic. James Gunn brings the same sense of FUN and thrills that he did to "Guardians of the Galaxy" as he launches into this complete reboot of the DC film world. He makes some bold choices that work beautifully. First, he skips all the "Superman arriving from Krypton, growing up" back story and skips right to a present day Metropolis/Gotham City. He also establishes a DC universe in which creatures from other universes are already here. Superman is not the lone super being on Earth. Lex Luthor, again, perfectly cast and embodied by Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) already has a giant industrial presence, his LutherCorp mega skyscraper dominates the skyline. Hoult's Luthor is shrewd, intelligent and manipulative on a global scale. Hoult nails it, making Superman's foe much more dangerous than Gene Hackman ever was. By plopping us down in an established world, it gives Gunn a lot of room to fill and the first half hour, for me, seems a bit overstuffed. I love that he credits the audience with enough intelligence to soak it all up, and by the 45 minute mark, I did. Everything takes off from there, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit some concerns in the first thirty minutes. I should have trusted Gunn, because he ramps the final hour into a fantastic, TRUE COMIC BOOK film. It's loaded with wild characters. Nathan Fillion is hilarious as Guy Gardner, the cocky leader of the Green Lantern Squad. He's always there to have Superman's back, as long as he gets credit for it. Isabel Merced (Alien: Romulus) is a blast as Hawkgirl, who would scare the hell out of me with that shriek. Edi Gathegi, who fans of Apple TV's "For All Mankind" will know as Dev, is flawless as the technologically brilliant Mr. Terrific, the most balanced member of the wanna be Justice Gang, or whatever they decide to call it, the name is as yet, undetermined. At the Daily Planet, Skylar Gisondo (Vacation, Booksmart) brings big laughs as Jimmy Olsen, a very social media savvy reporter with some powerful sources. I could go on all day about the cast. From the leads to the smallest roles, they are the perfect choices. Gunn knows what we loved about Richard Donner's film and the key notes are all there. Unlike other reboots though, he finds the perfect tone for those notes. When they arrive on screen, the moments are 100% a new take, but feel proud to be referencing the 1978 film and the rich comic book history of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Superman's Fortress of Solitude, yes. Spectacular. Krypto! Come on, I'll admit it. When I heard Superman had his dog along for the film, I was very skeptical. Sounded cheesy to me. Gunn made a racoon into a superhero, so why did I doubt what he'd do with Krypto!?! The pup has some of the best scenes in the film, including one hilarious bit in the conclusion involving Lex that only Gunn would stage this way. It got huge laughs and applause from the sold out crowd. One scene between Superman and Lois takes place in a quiet apartment, with a nighttime battle going on in the background that would have been an action center piece of any other DC film. For me, it was Gunn's deft way of shoving the battles to the background and focusing on the humanity of the story. Thank you, James Gunn. Frequent Gunn music collaborator John Murphy and David Fleming's score is omnipresent, weaving in John Williams original theme music at all the right moments. There are also a couple of nostalgic visual allusions to the soaring main title credits of Donner's original that made me smile. Hell, this whole movie made me smile. Mostly because its left the dark, self importance of the past few Superman films behind, instead celebrating what is good and right about our most morally sound superhero. Other than the Dark Knight films and the original Wonder Woman film, DC has been a slog through boring, turgid self importance for me. Not here. There are so many old fashioned, joyous movie moments in these 129 minutes that it's impossible not to walk out with a HUGE smile on your face. It's a star making turn for Corenswet, whose range of emotions as the man from Krypton exceed any other past actor. He's funny, he's pissed off, he's wounded, he's incredibly powerful. At the root of his performance, he's kind. That turns out to be not only the greatest power of all, but exactly what I've been waiting decades for in a DC movie. Kindness, Joy and laughs are going to make this one a massive hit this summer. The audience at our preview event went wild with applause as the end credits rolled. Well earned James Gunn. Welcome back, Superman. SUPERMAN gets an A. Yes, there are two end credits scenes, one sweet and one funny that you'll want to wait for!

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH lives up to its name, breathing innovative fun and relentless summer dino thrills into a tired series. Gareth Edwards created one of the best Star Wars films of all time with his superb 2016 "Rogue One" and his last film, "The Creator" was one of my faves from 2023. (Not enough people saw it, if you haven't, do yourself a favor and stream it tonight on the biggest screen you can find.) So, it's no wonder that Edwards has created a stand alone chapter that ranks among the best Jurassic films since 1993's original entry. It's also a terrific add to have screenwriter David Koepp back. He wrote the screen adaption of Michael Crichton's original novel and brings back not only some of the wonder of the first film, but the same rhythm of action set pieces that blew us away the first time Crichton's dinosaurs appeared on the big screen. Koepp deftly educates us on the world as it stands, 33 years after the original park opened. People are bored with dinosaurs and most of the creatures have died, but the equator provides a perfect temperate zone for the hearty survivors. We meet mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlet Johansson) as she is hired by mega tech/pharma man Martin Krebbs (Rupert Friend) to collect DNA from living dinosaurs. Those specific species only live on the island that was used to create the magnificent creatures that made it to Jurassic Park. Of course, you tend to create a lot of Frankensteins before you get it right. Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey from "Wicked") is along as scientific advisor. Zora partners up with longtime friend and nefarious partner Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), a global adventurer skilled at taking people where no one wants to go. Johansson, Ali and Bailey have an easy chemistry and create evolving relationships that keep us more than engaged. With these three on the front line, I never once missed any of the actors in the previous films. As a matter of fact, I loved the fresh start. Koepp then drops in a second story line that starts off on rough waters, but gets better as it goes. We plop down into a sailboat with a Dad, Reuben (a very solid Manuel Garcia Ruflo from "The Magnificent Seven" remake by Antoine Fuqua) and his two daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and her older sister, Teresa (Luna Blaise). Teresa's lazy boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) is also aboard. In the first of the great action sequences, their boat is attacked by a Mosasaurus on the open sea. The special effects and sound design teams bring incredible realism to the sequence. The story begins to split between Reuben and his family and Zora and her mission, which at first seems clunky. Edwards pulls it together quickly though, providing so much suspense in each group that there's never a lull. There are plenty of surprises here, along with some incredible re imaginings of some of the series greatest hits. I'll divulge none of them here. Edwards and Koepp create one of the best action scenes of the entire series in a T Rex encounter on a river. Every fan of Crichton's original novel and its sequel novel, "The Lost World" will remember the life raft/sleeping T Rex chase from the pages of the best seller, and Koepp has finally been able to bring it to the screen. It is, from its first quiet moments to its ROARING conclusion, a film study in suspense, cinematography, special effects and music. The score by Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, Godzilla) features a full orchestra that pounds home the suspense and drama with equal bite. Desplat also weaves in John Williams score at moments primed to give you chills. The entire sequence in the massive green marshlands in which Loomis and Zora gather their second sample serves up warm nostalgia, creating the grandeur and size of the creatures that's been missing for years. Lastly, who would have thought that the best film reference to "Jaws" since Spielberg's original film would be in a Jurassic film? Edwards serves up a boat/dino sequence on the high seas that made me laugh in its allusions to my fave shark film, when it wasn't dropping my jaw at the action. It's a WOW. Koepp has said that he wanted the last hour of the film to be a "Run Like Hell" movie, the best example of which I would note as James Cameron's "Aliens". That film was also a sequel that took what you know and love and then wound it up into a thrill ride with NO breaks. Or brakes, for that matter. Koepp achieves that and more. REBIRTH is one of the most suspenseful films of the year. Certainly the strength of the story is its backbone in the pages of Crichton's novel. No one wrote science gone amuck adventures quite like Crichton. He is missed, but lives on proudly here. JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH is a an exciting, scary roller coaster of dino sized thrills, landing as the third best film in the entire series from my seat. Edwards continues to be one of the globe's best sci-fi directors and his latest gets an A. Talk about exceeding expectations....

This guest review is from our great friend and fellow movie fan Ronnie at Screen Gems  in Australia. His site is packed with current & vintage movie knowledge, reviews and daily industry news. His reflections on the 50th anniversary of Rocky Horror are insightful, funny, deeply personal and we're proud to share them here! - George On 14 August, 1975 (50 years ago), The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened at the Rialto Theatre in London. Rocky is still the longest running movie in theatrical history and the biggest cult movie of all time! I doubt if any other film will ever “usurp” it. [And whatever you do, forget the 2016 made-for-TV remake. It’s a pale imitation, woefully flat and best left in the vault or preferably down the pooper!] Screen Gems 70’s Flashback THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975). A Look Back at the OG (totally re-written for the masterpiece’s 50th anniversary) Two of the most unforgettable Saturday afternoons of my life were spent watching live matinee performances of The Rocky Horror Show; years apart, yet equally electric. While the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has rightly earned its cult status, nothing compares to the raw energy of the stage. Still, the movie captures the essence and outrageous brilliance of the original, preserving it for eternity. As a screen adaptation of musical theatre, Rocky stands alone. There’s truly nothing else like it. The score is wildly eclectic, veering from tender ballads to glam rock anthems, and yet not a single dud among them. It’s a sonic rollercoaster that defies genre and expectation. The plot? A delicious mash-up of horror and sci-fi tropes, with a heavy nod to Frankenstein. But what emerges is something wholly original: a campy, chaotic celebration of identity, desire and rebellion. Written by Richard O’Brien, The Rocky Horror Show premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre Upstairs on June 19, 1973. The original cast: Tim Curry (Frank-N-Furter), Richard O’Brien (Riff Raff), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), and Nell Campbell (Columbia), all reprise their roles in the film, bringing their eccentric brilliance to the screen. The stage show holds the record as the longest-running theatrical production in history and it’s still performed around the world. The film, after flopping on its initial release, found new life through midnight screenings in the mid-70s. Word of mouth turned it into a phenomenon. Since 1975, it’s been shown continuously in cinemas — the longest theatrical run ever. Every Friday or Saturday night, somewhere in the world, fans gather in costume, props in hand, ready to shout, sing and surrender to the madness. I’ve never attended a midnight screening myself, but I’m told it’s a surreal, unforgettable experience. The Story … Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), two squeaky-clean newlyweds, find themselves stranded on a stormy night. Seeking help, they stumble into the gothic lair of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a self-proclaimed “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania”, and his bizarre entourage. What follows is a wild descent into seduction, science and spectacle as Frank unveils his latest creation: the perfect man, built for pleasure. Does the plot make sense? Not really. But that’s beside the point. It’s pure fantasy, a glitter-drenched fever-dream, powered by a magnificent score and unapologetic theatricality. Tim Curry was born to play Frank-N-Furter. His performance is iconic, seductive, menacing and utterly magnetic. The rest of the cast delivers with equal flair. The film’s comic book aesthetic (garish lighting, bold colors, exaggerated performances) only heightens its surreal charm. Themes Beneath the Fishnets … At its heart, Rocky Horror is a battle between conservatism and counterculture. And, as in life, the establishment unfortunately wins! Frank-N-Furter and Rocky are killed … but … Brad and Janet return to their “normal”, mundane lives. However, the film leaves us questioning what “normal” really means and whether conformity is truly a happy ending! hopeful! https://www.facebook.com/screengemsbyronnie

If Ari Aster could figure out how to end a movie, his films would all rise to the pinnacle of challenging American cinema. But damn.....he never knows when to quit and EDDINGTON suffers for it. The first two hours of Aster's new, modern western is an enthralling, biting satire of our current divided country. With equal measures of dark humor, razor sharp observations and harsh takes on both sides of the political spectrum, it is built to shock and offend. Aster drops us into the middle of 2020 and the dusty, dying New Mexico town of Eddington. It's one of those "drive through on the way to a real town" burgs that I've driven through a hundred times and wondered how the hell people survive there. Joaquin Phoenix stars as the town's sheriff, Joe Cross. He's a small town cowboy who thinks the pandemic is overblown. Constantly puffing on an inhaler, the mask doesn't help his breathing and he refuses to wear one. Meanwhile, Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) is the wealthiest businessman in town and is running for re-election on a campaign based on bringing a mega corporation and a massive new plant to the town, alongside enforcing every Coronavirus regulation to the full extent of the law. (Except when he's not around voters, than the rules seem to apply less and less...) Decades of history and rumors swirl along with the dust devils. Joe's fragile, child like wife Louise (Emma Stone) has a past with Mayor Garcia. She seems ready to break, which isn't helped by her Mother, Dawn (Deidre O'Connell) who believes every online conspiracy. The Titanic was intentionally sunk, the Towers were taken down and don't even get her started on the pandemic. We all lived through the pandemic and watched the members of our core friends and family react in wildly different, polar opposite ways. The citizens of Eddington are Aster's embodiment of the nation, battling over the six foot rule and which way to walk in a supermarket. After Joe sees one too many neighbors battling neighbors, he decides to run for Mayor against Garcia on a campaign that he makes up as he goes along. His brainstorming sessions with his small force are hilarious. Cross's deputies cover the spectrum as well. Michael (Micheal Ward) is a young African-American Bitcoin fan who's introspective, observant and proud to be in his new role. Guy (Luke Grimes) is a good old boy in over his head, bringing plenty of comic relief in his man-child reactions to the spiraling news. Aster is brilliant at creating an ever expanding world of characters that are each written as distinct people. I was reminded of Robert Altman watching the film, as Aster expands his circle of characters in a never ending spiral that felt distinctly like Altman's "Nashville" here, a story with a similar arc. Just as Garcia plans a big campaign event at his hilltop home and Joe prepares for a campaign town hall at the local Mexican food restaurant, the events of George Floyd in Minneapolis hit the news. As that story grows, the teens of Eddington, bored beyond belief and looking for a reason to congregate, immediately embrace all the Tik Tok social experts and begin a chapter of Black Lives Matter. Two of those teens will have major impact on the story. The Mayor's son, Eric (a terrific Matt Gomez Hidaka) seizes on a chance to rebel against his recently divorced Dad. The rallies might be a great way to meet local girl Sarah (Ameile Hoeferle) too. She has never met a social cause that hasn't wounded her deeply. Listening to her spout endless virtue signaling is equal parts hilarious and tragic. Brian (Cameron Mann) also has eyes for Sarah. He first approaches her at an unlawful gathering of more than 5 (remember those? LOL) by googling Angela Davis and pretending to know all about her when he spots Sarah reading a Davis book. The deadly infection poisoning Eddington isn't the Coronavirus. It's the internet. Aster has created one of the most satirically sharp commentaries on social media I've ever seen. It's like Paddy Chayefsky's "The Hospital" and "Network" writing as he dove into healthcare and broadcast news. Tall praise. The teens of the town, Louise, Dawn, even Sheriff Joe, spend more time gawking at their screens than they do each other. Joe's off the cuff campaign ads he posts are hilariously bad. About halfway into the film, social media guru and whacked-out self help "celebrity"Vernon arrives to Eddington and spreads his visions/flashbacks from therapy of his past in a tortured childhood out of a dystopian novel. He's a magnet for Louise's fractured soul and many others like her. The dinner scene in which Austin Butler as Vernon sits down uninvited and shares his philosophy is an acting showcase for Phoenix and Butler as two men whose world views uncomfortably collide. And then, Aster turns up the heat to an explosive, white hot fireball that blows your limbs off. Impulsive posts go viral, death arrives and the second hour of the film becomes a post-modern, incredibly violent fever dream. Phoenix soars in this hour. There is no better actor to play the depth of Joe Cross's vision of himself and his role in this town, than Phoenix. White hats don't stay white long. Shocks abound. Aster also drops in huge laughs at unexpected times, including a father's response to his white son's long speech about white privilege at their dinner table that brought down the house at the showing I attended. The film morphs into an action thriller that feels more like Cross's fantasy than reality. Aster pulls no punches on either side. He knows that each of us are more firmly entrenched on one side of the post 2020 pandemic than the other. He forces you to evaluate your stance and then bathes you in an epic battle that could be a Rambo sequel. And it could have ended perfectly, with the end of Joe Cross's showdown on a nighttime crossroads in this small town. But Aster fans (and I'm firmly, if frustratingly in that camp) know that Aster never ends a film when he should. His debut film, "Hereditary" is one of my favorite films of the past 20 years, until the final five minutes. The ending of "Midsommar", no, just no. And the ending of "Beau Is Afraid"...WTF, that thing went on 45 minute past its due date. Once again, Aster lets another 20 minutes play out that seems wholly unnecessary. Don't get me wrong. The first two hours of the film are some of the most enthralling, challenging and fascinating moments of any Aster work. It's like having one of the best meals of your life and then getting served a cold bowl of old oatmeal for dessert. The rest of the meal was great, but you're left disappointed. Again. Far better than "Beau Is Afraid", perhaps because it's more palatable to see Aster viewing our neurosis as a country versus through one individual, EDDINGTON is built to push your buttons and make you evaluate our current state. On that mission, it's a rousing success. It earns a very solid B+, his western rising to my second favorite Aster film, after his brilliant take on horror, 'Hereditary".

I feel like the Blumhouse pitch meetings need to feature less weed. After managing to create a feature film out of the "hey, what if there was a haunted pool!?" concept with 2024's "Night Swim", someone green lit an even lighter concept, simply titled, THE WOMAN IN THE YARD . Come on Blumhouse, are you even trying?? Saddled with this weak title, screenwriter Sam Stefanak head scratchingly centers the film on one of the most unlikable female lead characters in recent memory. As we meet Ramona, she's barely getting out of bed to check on her children. Depressed, on pain killers & crutches, pissed off at the world and all but ignoring her kids, she's not a pleasant focus. It's not that Danielle Deadwyler (Till) isn't a great actress, she's strong here with what she's given, which isn't much. The actors that play her children fair much better. Peyton Jackson ( The Harder They Fall) is very good as Ramona's teenage son, Taylor, who's become a father figure to his young sister, Annie (big screen newcomer Estella Kahiha) since the recent loss of their father. With a running time of less than 90 minutes, you can feel the padding start early and you can almost smell the flashbacks coming when the kids start talking about what happened to Dad. Living in the middle of the country, there aren't a lot of places to run after a mysterious woman shows up in a large chair on the edge of their property. If you're going to create a scary foe in a Blumhouse film, I'm not sure an old woman in an antique chair would ever register as foreboding. Mildly intriguing, maybe. Puzzling, perhaps. Scary? No. Hey, is that Woman in the Yard actually getting closer or is that my imagination? This is the type of movie where Mom keeps saying, "the Andersons live at the next farm, go over there for help!" but no one ever does. It also has pretty silly rules for shadows, lightness and darkness that seem to bend to fit the story line. If shadow puppets gave you nightmares as a kid, this movie is going to terrify the bejeezus out of you. If they didn't, get ready to laugh, or snooze. The emotion I felt the most during these 88 minutes was boredom. Director Jaume Collet-Serra showed he can helm a hell of an action flick with last year's wild, airport set "Carry On". Here, the script gives him so little action to film that he seems as bored as I am for most of the running time. And the ending. Dark, self important and dumb is not a winning trio. Never has the title to a great Barbra Streisand movie been used to so little effect. I actually thought of "Jaws: The Revenge" as the final five minutes unfolded into a mess that thinks it's clever but plays for eye rolls. What a mess. I can't wait for the next film in the series, "The Dude in the Driveway". Wait, no one mention that at Blumhouse, it will be in pre-production next week. THE WOMAN IN THE YARD gets a D.

The Philippou Brothers are back. For those fearing that their debut film 'Talk To Me" was a fluke, rest easy. Or maybe not sleep well for quite a few nights after watching their excellent, dark new meditation on death, BRING HER BACK . Many of the steps that his film takes are as ballsy as modern horror gets. It never flinches in delivering a modern Frankenstein tale beautifully melded into a meditation of grief. A tricky subject, deftly handled. The reliably great Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Blue Jasmine) stars as Laura, the boisterous, hippie owner of a foster home in the Australian countryside. Her latest two short-term guests are a recently orphaned brother and sister, Andy and Piper. Andy (a terrific Billy Barratt) is 17 with a shadow of a violent past haunting him. He is a caring and attentive guardian to his sister Piper (newcomer Sora Wong, who had no acting experience before the film) a partially blind teenager who can only see light and shadows, but refuses to be defined by that issue. The two are inseparable after dealing with an unexpected death in their own home, graphically revealed in all too realistic fashion. Laura's home is an eclectic mess. Loud, caring, tender and in-your-face. The only other current resident is Oliver, a young, mute, strange looking young boy. His face is scarred, his eyes vacant, his voice silent. Laura's swimming pool is nearly empty. That shed in the back yard is well locked. I'll reveal nothing else as Danny and Michael Philippou tease and pull you in with reveal upon reveal. This isn't the gentle pulling back of an onion. They gnash one secret back after another, ripping plenty of flesh and boundaries along the way. Hawkins is explosive as a caring woman twisted by loss and grief. Her character is almost impossible to define, but feels hauntingly real. This one will stick with me for a long time. Sally-Anne Upton is a treat as Wendy, the agency person who's worked with Laura for decades and thinks that Andy and Piper are in good hands. Some of the most harrowing scenes feature grisly events that are made even more so by the sound effects team that make you feel every knife & tooth. The scene in which Andy lets Ollie out of his room and decides to give him some melon left my jaw literally dropped. The Philippou Brothers are the real deal, proving once again in their second feature film that there are no boundaries they won't cross in their storytelling. Their style of horror is taboo busting, flesh tearing and heart breaking at the same time. The stunning finale is paralyzing as it portrays the torture of loss and grief on a grand scale that somehow feels initimate. This is filmmaking that threads a needle between horror and drama and then plunges that needle deep into your soul. BRING HER BACK took me to hell and back. What a trip. Horrifying and deeply rooted, it gets an A.

WOW. Absolutely blown away by F1: THE MOVIE , an old fashioned, perfect summer blockbuster that looks and sounds incredible in IMAX. Jerry Bruckheimer has created the same magic he did so many summers ago with the opening music and visuals of "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder". This time, he drops you into the world of F1 and behind the wheel of the fastest cars in the world. Filmed at the real F1 events around the globe, the film oozes class, drips money and thrills. When I say that we were on the edge of our seats for all the races, I mean that literally. Director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) delivers a flawless experience that exceeded my very high expectations. Brad Pitt is a movie star, effortlessly charming, real and funny as driver Sonny Hayes. Talented, haunted by his past and lurking at the corners of Nascar and other race formats, he was at the top of his game in F1 when tragedy struck. Former race team partner and great friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem, reaching his career peak in cool) approaches Sonny to join his last place F1 team. He's got a talented but very young emerging star in Joshua Pierce (Damson Idris) but needs a lead driver or he may lose his F1 team. Idris is a breakout star here and the perfect, funny and dramatic foil for Pitt's Sonny. Cervantes has the only woman head engineer in the sport and luckily for us, Kate McKenna is played by Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) in a great, unpredictable performance. Condon is a standout, as is Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso) as Pierce's mother, Bernadette. This is old fashioned movie making, elevated by modern technology and a $200 million budget that fills every inch of the IMAX screen. Tiny cameras were inserted in the cars, allowing us to see Pitt and Idris driving the cars on the actual tracks and all the action going on around them. Drone cameras swoop through the action from dizzying heights above the tracks to a couple inches off the ground between the cars. In IMAX, its one of the most stunning visual experiences I've had in a very long time. I was already loving the movie and then we hit a pivotal early scene, with Sonny arriving to test drive the team's car design around the track. As Pitt straps in, Chris Stapleton's song "Bad As I Used To Be" pounds out of the IMAX system and Sonny speeds around the track trying to hit a lap time. It's one of the best, perfectly set up, pure entertainment big screen moments since Kosinski's "Top Gun" Maverick" blew us away in theaters. Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Pitt are just getting started. The characters are funny, good and evil. Competitive passions run high, creating some awesome high drama moments. Pitt is back in Cliff Booth mode here, oozing the same "cool" as he did as the stuntman in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood". He is fantastic from opening scene to final credits. We walked out asking, who of the current young male movie stars are primed to take the place of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as action film leads? We couldn't come up with anyone. There's a quality that Pitt has here that shares widescreen movie star DNA with Steve McQueen. This is his biggest payday as an actor, $30 million for the role. He's worth every penny. This is one of Pitt's best films and continues to establish Kosinski as the go-to creator of mass appeal, traditional summer blockbusters. There's a huge difference here. It's one thing to come in and create a massive hit sequel to a known property like Top Gun. What's even more impressive here is his creation of an entirely new story in the world of F1 racing. He has said they had 5000 hours of racing footage they shot, which he and his team have edited into this stunning experience. I've never watched an F1 race. I've been close to one, checking into The Wynn Las Vegas the morning after the race, but the film MAKES me want to watch F1. Stunning. Speaking of The Wynn, its beautifully featured here in a sequence around the Las Vegas F1 race. The city looks fantastic, as does this stunning resort. It's the best ad for The Wynn I've ever seen. Kudos to their PR team. A rare, absolutely perfect blend of thrilling action and human drama, F1 is the movie of the summer. Find an IMAX screen near you and buckle up, like the sold out, cheering crowd we saw it with, I was blown away. An A+ from this pit crew for the best racing movie ever made. Based on all the folks we saw it with sporting F1 gear from their favorite team, this is going to be a massive hit and deservedly so.

With all the wannabe JAWS docs emerging this 50th year since it hit theaters, it's good to know the true one has finally surfaced, JAWS @50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY . Packed with new interviews with Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss and the crew behind the film, it's a fresh haul of new details and perspective on the creation of the first true summer blockbuster to be released in thousands of theaters. Any film buff who collected Laserdiscs and Criterion discs of all formats knows the name Laurent Bouzereau. He's been creating the best "Making Of" documentaries for films for decades. His five decade relationship with Spielberg gets the director to open up about the stress of making JAWS with a frankness he's never expressed. This truly was the shoot from hell for the young director and his crew. Fresh off making "Duel" for ABC, one of the most impressive Made for TV Movies ever and "Sugarland Express" with Goldie Hawn, Spielberg insisted on filming JAWS off the New England coast on open water. It was a bold move for a young director on his second big screen film, but it clearly paid off on screen. Cameron Crowe, JJ Abrams, James Cameron and Jordan Peele are but a few of the American Directors who offer their perspective on the film and its impact on them. Watching Spielberg maintain control during the five month shoot is impressive. An enjoyable blend of scenes from the film, never-before-seen archive footage and clips from numerous features over the decades, this National Geographic doc is a lot of fun for movie fanatics and Jaws fans. It's also packed with fascinating information on the impact of the classic thriller on the globe since 1975. I remembers seeing the film with my Mom, Sister and best friend at the Round Up Drive-In in Scottsdale opening weekend. Of course, I saw it again many times in the theater that summer and fall, when the world revolved around JAWS on every wavelength. The film brought back great memories of the first season of Saturday Night Live, with Chevy Chase's "Landshark" knocking on doors and biting anyone dumb enough to answer. It's senseless, hilarious and just a taste of the memories I have of JAWS being across the zeitgeist that year. From the poster art to the 1975 marquees, Bouzereau takes you on a high seas adventure across five decades of Jaws lore. I LOVED the stories about Robert Shaw and Roy Scheider that are shared by their children. Janet Maslin talking about when she and Steven went down to the Rvoli theater in NYC to see if anyone was there and finding a line around the block is fantastic. Watching this doc has inspired me to see JAWS again on the big screen when it's re-released in IMAX this August. Can't wait to hear those opening notes of John WIlliams brilliant score as we glide through the ocean.....duuuhhhh-dum, duuuhhh-dum. Yes please. JAWS@50 gets an A.

On of the most underrated Bond films, 1969's ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE was the first to not star Sean Connery in the title role. One-time 007 George Lazenby is a tough, physical James Bond with a half the acting range of Connery, but plenty of attitude. Director Peter Hunt throws some of the most memorable action sequences of the whole series at the screen one after another as Bond pursues Blofeld (played here by TV's Kojak, Telly Savalas in a twisted little turn) to his mountaintop lair in Switzerland. One of the all time top 5 Bond women, Diana Rigg, stars as Tracy, the only woman to ever become Bond's wife. She's tough, beautiful and brings her Emma Peal energy to the entire film from first scene to last. Lazenby famously got very cocky between the filming and the premiere and pretty much alienated the producers from ever doing another Lazenby Bond and it's kind of a shame, because he isn't bad at all in the role. Classic scenes abound: the opening fight on the beach as Bond rescues Tracy for the first time, Bond's 15 minute ski chase against Blofeld and his baddies, Tracy and Bond's car chase right into an ongoing motorcar race, the climactic mountaintop battle and Bond's pursuit of Blofeld by bobsled and the one-of-a-kind in the 007 series sad ending. The new blu-ray 7.1 mix in the Bond 50 series is fantastic and really highlights the best music score of all the Bond films by John Barry. Sean Connery would return in "Diamonds Are Forever" after this one turn by Lazenby. Check out or revisit this vastly underrated entry in the Bond series. For me, it's one of the top 3 OO7 films that continues to get better with age. Two hours of pure cut Fleming Bond, it lands a spot in my all-time Top 100 films. This alternate poster by artist Paul Mann is stunning!

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me." I have vivid memories of seeing Paul Verhoeven's first big American film ROBOCOP in a packed theater on opening day, 1987. It was one of the most violent, over-the-top mainstream films to hit screens in the 80's. Packed with graphic carnage, mayhem and profanity, it carved a new path by being hilariously satirical at the same time. Verhoeven had no interest in taming his European in-your-face style for USA tastes. Brave audiences ate it up, ensuring the director's amazing decade ahead, including his next two blockbusters "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct". As ROBOCOP opens, we see a prescient look at a TV news show that seems as much like Entertainment Tonight (I'm looking at you Leeza Gibbons!) as it does the nightly news. We learn that Detroit has pretty much gone to seed and the huge conglomerate OCP is going to level it and build a brand new, shiny city in its place. They've won a contract to privatize the police force and when their first giant robot attack machine goes horribly (hilariously) wrong in the board room, their old man in charge (Dan O'Herlihy from "Halloween III") looks for a brash,young, new idea. In a star making turn as that a-hole one man wrecking crew, Miguel Ferrer (Twin Peaks) plays Bob Martin, whose idea to create a half human/half robot police super cyborg takes point. He suddenly has his first subject when new OCP cop Alex Murphy is destroyed in a hail of gunfire by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his repulsive gang of murdering misfits. As Murphy, Peter Weller is perfectly cast. A deeply rooted family man with an old fashioned take on right & wrong, he's gunned down his first day on the job. Martin's competition for the old man's seat at the head of the table is Dick Jones, played with mustache twirling relish by Ronny Cox (Beverly Hills Cop). He conspires in the shadows waiting for Martin's project to fail, but damned if Murphy's resurrection as Robocop isn't a big hit. It's a blast watching Verhoeven play with our American patriotic sensibilities. He tees up Robocop's debut across the crumbling city of Detroit as a near replica of Christopher Reeve's first night in Metropolis from Richard Donner's brilliant "Superman" (1978). Of course in Verhoeven's version, the caped crusader isn't flying in to rescue kitties from trees. Robocop unleashes thousands of explosive rounds, blowing away giggling rapists chasing women in alleyways and armed robbers in mid-felony. It's bloody, graphic and hilarious when it isn't pushing the boundaries of mainstream movies. When our machine/patrolman suddenly begins to have flashes of his former life, his programming glitches. He begins to see Boddicker and his gang as they blew his former self, Murphy away. The remainder of the film then soars off into a satisfying blend of revenge flick and self discovery, along with a healthy dose of comeuppance for bad guys on both sides of the law. Weller is excellent, as is Cox. Those two could spar all day for my tastes. Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kill, Carrie, 1941) has one of her best serious roles as Anne, Murphy's old partner who suddenly realizes that OCPs new prototype looks a lot like her old partner. Again, we have to apply the Superman/Lois Lane rule here, as its the same leap of faith that she cant see Murphy even though everything below his eyes is exposed. I guess that metal visor is like Supe's glasses. Boddicker's gang is made up of some great, quirky actors, including Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), Felton Perry (Dirty Harry's partner in "Magnum Force") and the cackling Paul McCrane, whose death by toxic waste in the finale is one of Verhoeven's funniest action punch lines. The audience opening night laughed out loud and I did again, nearly 40 years later! Rob Bottin (Se7en, Total Recall) delivers excellent makeup effects, including a scene when RoboCop's helmet comes off that's so intricate and horrifying looking that he avoids the "Darth Vader taking his helmet off an looking like Humpty Dumpty" issue that plagued "Return of the Jedi". Bottin also designed the RoboCop suit, said to have cost up to $1 million. That's a LOT of 1987 ca$h. The final film was submitted to the ratings board 12 times before it was awarded an R. Verhoeven would test the MPAA board even more with "Basic Instinct" several years later. Long before "The Boys", ROBOCOP brought a grown up hero to blood soaked life, a Frankenstein with a badge that's coming for justice. It plays well today, spilling accurate predictions about urban decay, and the blurring of news & entertainment. That stupid "I'll buy that for a dollar!" sexy comedy everyone is watching on TV the entire movie was also pretty dead on, it just turned out to be TikTok on everyone's phones instead of the TV sets that fill every corner of Verhoeven's 1987 version of the future. Lower the lights, power up the sound and let Basil Poledouris's big orchestra pound you into submission. Ignore the sequels and the remakes and revisit Verhoeven's original blockbuster. ROBOCOP still gets an A. "Nice shootin, son. What's your name?"