There are moments in LUCKY STRIKE in which Scott Eastwood looks so much like Clint, it's like watching outtakes from "Where Eagles Dare". But this is no Eagles. Dull and boring, it strands the younger Eastwood in a survival story only occasionally lifted by the WW2 action around it. After a poorly acted opening war set sequence distinguished only by some decent drone photography, the film lumbers into its clumsy story framing device. We meet a post war US Army Captain John Castle (Eastwood) working for an insurance company (I guess, its all muddled at first) and meeting with the Mom of a fallen soldier. This allows the film to then flashback to Castle's experience in the Battle of the Bulge. We're told he stayed when he could have gone home, but the dramatics of that are barely explored. He and his team are sent off by Colonel Neals (Colin Hanks making a cameo to bolster the cast list) on a mission to fell trees on a forest road to block a line of Nazi Panzer tanks attempting to escape their position. Everything goes off the rails and Eastwood has some good moments in the chaotic action sequences. We all love a good WW2 flick with our Yanks taking out Nazis, and these scenes are no exception. Director Rod Lurie, whose made at least one great film with 2000's "The Contender" seems to be phoning it in for most of the film, but he knows how to stage an action sequence. For the majority of the film, Castle is trapped behind enemy lines, 30 miles into German held territory, with an extraction point that seems to grow further away every time he is shot, beat up and damn near frozen in the winter landscape. If it sounds exciting, it only rises once in awhile to that level. Screenwriter Marc Frydman wrote "The Contender" and a far superior WW2 flick, "Flyboys". He's talented, but he seems stuck here, cribbing from Tarantino's WW2 masterpiece "Inglorious Basterds" liberally. A scene with our hero hiding in the basement and peeking through the floorboards as evil Nazi SS Officers interrogate a farmer's family? CHECK. Flamboyant SS Officers killing at will in front of our hero? CHECK. Eastwood is actually pretty good throughout, carrying the film through its long "Sole Survivor" style tale that drags out a bit too long. You feel Eastwood's pain as the bullets tear into him and he pulls off a solid American hero, if you can stay awake that long. What the film does get right is a real sense of time and place. The vehicles, tanks and weapons all look absolutely on point, even as some of the dialogue feels decades out of place in its slang and patter. The best scene in the film is a one shot wonder with Castle approaching a half demolished building and encountering some very lethal Nazi's inside. It's a tribute to incredible choreography and camerawork, with every actor, special effects team member and stuntman being 100% on point. I also liked the scene where Castle takes a tank off a cliff Thelma & Louise style. Seems far fetched, but it's a blast to watch. If only the rest of the film had that level of interest. I love a great WW2 film, but LUCKY STRIKE never quite engages, crawling along at tank speed to a C-.

Revisiting THE GRADUATE after many years, it's easy to imagine the absolute nuke it delivered to mainstream audiences of the day. Director Mike Nichols (The Birdcage, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) shows little interest in traditional storytelling, reveling in long visual interludes to Simon & Garfunkel songs with no interest for momentum. Dustin Hoffman is the anti-leading man, fumbling his way sexually and wallowing in worry for his post college future. Characters pop in and out of the story, spouting dialogue that seems to come from another time or planet. For Hoffman's Benjamin, their generation may as well be an alien species. The screenplay by the brilliant Buck Henry (What's Up, Doc?), from an earlier version by Calder Winningham (Paths of Glory, Little Big Man) delivers one classic line after another, winding a deliberate path toward a raucous ending that must have been hard to understand to older audiences in 1967. Benjamin Braddock is graduating college and is beyond worried about what comes next. While his wealthy parents throw a posh cocktail party to honor him, he hides in his bedroom staring at his fish tank. I loved how no one at the party was his age. Hoffman is hilarious as he does his damndest to escape back to his room. Only Mrs. Robinson (a stunning & perfect Anne Bancroft) finds a way to attract his attention, eventually asking him to drive her home. It's a ride that will change both their lives. "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!" has become part of American film legend, teeing up a taboo and absolutely hilarious affair that keeps spiraling out of control long after you think the ripples have stopped. When Benjamin goes on a date with Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine, things really take a turn. Katherine Ross is jaw dropping as Elaine, showing the same screen presence she would opposite Newman and Redford two years later in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Classic moments abound and Hoffman carries the core of the film effortlessly in his breakout role as Benjamin. He was 30 at the time, only six years younger than Bancroft, but the two definitely make you feel like you're watching a much larger age difference. Murray Hamilton (Jaws) is terrific as Mr. Robinson and I had forgot his and Benji's scene late in the film. Nichols moves from comedy to drama fluently, and his cast never falters. William Daniels (1776) is hilarious as Hoffman's Dad, going from proud socialite to befuddled father and delivering memorable lines along with way. His goading of his son to come out in a full wet suit is flawless. The best small part of all goes to the skilled comic timing of writer Buck Henry as the desk clerk at the posh hotel in which Benjamin has decided to carry on his affair with Mrs. Robinson. Henry's reactions and facial expressions are legendary. Watch closely for Richard Dreyfuss in the scene where Norman Fell and a bunch of college age kids come to Benjamin's door after Elaine screams at the top of her lungs. Back in 1967, the film made over $104 million at the box office, only the third film in history at the time to do so, following "Gone with the Wind" and "The Sound of Music". Roger Ebert laughed often about his take at the time of the film's release that the Simon & Garfunkel songs were "largely unmemorable". LOL You can't always get it right, eh Roger? Watching the film again, almost 60 years after it's release, the work of everyone in front of and behind the camera is astonishing, creating a modern film masterpiece that's as funny and interesting as it was its opening weekend in theaters. The finale is so improbable that it's somehow perfect. At the time, I remember my parents deriding the fact that Benjamin holds his arms out, crucifixion style, against the glass walls of the church. Nichols has explained many times that the position was never calculated in that way, it was just meant to be dramatic and cause less noise in the filming, after Hoffman's first take pounding on the glass was so violent that the film crew was almost thrown out of the location. But long before that wild finale, the opening credits let you know immediately that you're in for something different, as a camera tracks Benjamin landing in LAX, with famed cinematographer Robert Surtees's camera right next to him from plane to taxi as credits roll. Surtees (Ben-Hur, The Sting, The Last Picture Show) shows off for the entire film, with split focus and tracking shots that were stunningly new at the time. Like most classics, THE GRADUATE will be analyzed, picked apart and examined for decades to come. Henry, Nichols and cast captured lightning in a bottle, a counter culture blockbuster that captured the rebellion against the establishment and older generation of the late sixties. To do so with such style, humor and panache has rarely been equaled. THE GRADUATE gets an A+.

Taylor Sheridan strikes gold again with season 2 of LANDMAN, a modern Western drama packed with great characters and superb actors that create nuanced, hilarious and dramatic people we care about, laugh with and love. The oil boomtowns of West Texas have never been this entertaining and Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris is a character for the ages. The writing this sophomore season is off the charts great, with Sheridan penning every one of the ten episodes. This second year also benefits from a much larger role for Demi Moore as Cami Miller, the new widow of her oil company founder husband, thrust into the driver's seat and quickly finding her path. Moore is a perfect balance of grief, vulnerability and power as Cami. Sam Elliott joins the cast as Tommy's estranged Dad, TL, who enters the scene after Tommy's unseen Mother dies. The family dynamics around Tommy's youth and his mother's mental illness is a powerful subplot and Elliott is fantastic as a tired, wounded man trying to come to terms with the past. It's rare to see two characters develop in their communication and emotions like TL & Tommy do over these ten episdoes. It's beyond moving AND at times, laugh out loud funny. Andy Garcia (Ocean's 11, The Godfather Part III) is also a valuable addition in his expanded role as wealthy Texas businessman Gallino, whose business dealing cover every bit of Texas dirt from skyscrapers to drug dealers. Garcia is excellent as a man with a hair trigger that always seems a moment away from exploding at one of Tommy's one liners. Watching the relationship between Tommy, Cami and Gallino morph across the episodes is fascinating. I understand where both Tommy and Gallino are in their positions, but I wish Tommy would be more open to the man's advice! Key subplots for all our favorite characters abound. Tommy's ex Angela (Ali Larter) is back on screen, devouring anyone in the way of her unquenchable lust for life in all it's richest decadence. The nightly dinners are all hilarious, the exact polar opposite of those prayer led dinners at The Reagans house in "Blue Bloods". My face hurt from laughing. Can't Tommy just get a taco? Daughter Ainsley is getting ready to attend TSU and her face off with a stuffy academic counselor is a major highlight, as are her and Angela's trips with the old folks at a nearby nursing home. Michelle Randolph is stunning, pulling off quite a trick creating an air-headed, spoiled young woman that you'll care about. Her opposite in the series is Ariana (Paulina Chavez) the young recent widow of an oil worker who's fallen for Tommy's son Cooper, played by Jacob Lofland. Their relationship is just starting, but what an arc they have. When Cooper's oil wildcatting instincts seem to be just as keen as his Father's, new opportunities explode. Seriously intense lawyer Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) is back, tearing her adversaries to shreds, but occasionally in over head as she needs to learn very quickly about the politics, power plays and tiny details about the oil business. We get to see a lot more nuances of Falcone this year, diving behind the personal curtain of one of the most serious, driven people on the planet. It turns out she does have a heart, but finding it is a lot of fun and some big laughs along with the heart. There are so many great characters across the season. Colm Feore's Nathan, watching the new generation nip at his heels in the form of Rebecca. James Jordan is a blast as Dale, Tommy's right hand man in the field. Nathan and Dale's loyalty is unquestioned, but the fact they live in the same house as Tommy, Angela, Ainsley and TL delivers one great comedic scene after another. Sheridan's writing is amazing and his conservative take on the world is refreshing. He creates wild characters that feel real, sometime wildly over-the-top but always entertaining. I don't remember a series that feels this dusty, lived in and stunning all at the same time. As the series jets from $60 million private jets and the greatest wealth in Texas to the dusty flat plains and oil rigs teams, Sheridan guides it with an unwavering hand that promises entertainment first. And delivers. This is one of the best streaming series I've ever enjoyed and I already can't wait for Season 3, launching in November of 2026. LANDMAN strikes liquid gold once again, earning an A+. The finale is absolute perfection.

Where goes the neighborhood.... There's a lot of fun to be had at THE END OF OAK STREET! With serious "Poltergeist" and "Gremlins" vibes, this one dropped me right back into the Spielberg produced classics of the early 80's. The most mainstream flick yet from crazy talented Writer/Director David Robert Mitchell, this one is an absolute blast loaded with fun, some serious surprises and powerful dramatic moments. But it's mostly just pure FUN. It's July 11th, 1982 and The Platt family is enjoying a classic neighborhood get together. Mom Denise (Anne Hathaway) seems to be having a good time, but you sense brewing tension with her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) that doesn't go unnoticed by their two teen kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). If you want to see how great casting can elevate a film, check out these four actors, each of whom carve out characters with secrets, deep emotions and a sense of survival that's about to be tested. Echoing the Freeling family in "Poltergeist", they live in a sprawling suburbia in a picture perfect neighborhood primed to experience some seriously crazy events. In the middle of the night, bright lights and a strong wind blow into Brian's room. Bizarre things begin to pop around the neighborhood that I won't divulge here. The following night, that light stays longer and the sounds emerging from it are wild. They wake up in the middle of a prehistoric landscape. It's a great concept and it's beautifully executed, making you think about all the plumbing, phone and power lines that would no longer work if your entire neighborhood suddenly relocated wayyyyyyyy back in time. Don't look for any detailed analysis of what's happened, Mitchell is here for fast paced fun and he doesn't have time to hold your hand Michael Crichton style and explain the science to you when a couple references to Carl Sagan and wormholes will suffice just fine, thank you very much. What happens to a family on the brink of collapse when their world is turning upside down? Hathaway is terrific. Her anger is palpable, her disappointment looking down into that basement is tangible, as are her action skills running from some big, bad-ass dinosaurs. McGregor matches her as a man committed to doing what's right, even if it might not be in the exact method that his strong willed wife desires. Stella and Convery are excellent as the two teen kids, delivering solid performances in the face of jaw dropping events. Convery's so good he even escaped my "you idiot, why are you doing that to save a dog" curse. He's got to save his pup Starbuck at all cost. No it's not a coffee shop reference, as that "Battlestar Galactica' poster glimpsed on his bedroom wall will attest. The special effects are terrific and the sound design by Paula Fairfield (Game of Thrones) is fantastic. She and her team fill the theater with some seriously scary surround sound as rampaging dinos of every variety rampage into suburbia. The music score by Michael Giacchino is wall-to-wall and one of his absolute best, heightening the thrills, the shocks and the suspense. The man wrote the music for everything from "The Batman" and "Star Trek" to last week's "SpiderMan: Brand New Day" and he's at the top of his game here. The production design by Maya Shimoguchi (The Batman, Minority Report) is excellent, dropping you deep into both 1982 and a Jurassic rain forest that suddenly share the same zip code. If you've seen Mitchell's brilliant 2014 debut, "It Follows", you already know that the man can build some incredible celluloid suspense. He takes it to another level here, showing a Spielberg touch in several of the scenes, especially when a giant prehistoric sea snake of incredible size and girth pours itself into the Pratt's home during the finale. You could cut the audience tension with a knife in our preview showing. It's a fantastic sequence that will likely become one of Mitchell's trademarks. Just when you think this is all fun, a tragic and horrifyingly real death-by-dinosaur rocks you and the film. From that moment through the film's satisfying ending, you know that Mitchell is playing for keeps. Producer JJ Abrams delivers another winner that kept me smiling and on the edge of my seat once that wormhole fires up its magic. What a ride! THE END OF OAK STREET delivers plenty of end of summer fireworks, dino thrills and mystery, earning a very enjoyable A. What an absolute blast.

Disney's HERCULES never reaches the heights of its creator's previous films, "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid", but it still serves up plenty of family fun, some great songs and one of James Woods' best roles. Grossing a quarter of a billion dollars back in 1997 is no small feat and the film retains a great following, even becoming a theatrical musical that's still playing (but about to close) on London's West End. Through music and animation, we learn that baby Hercules, the son of Zeus, was stripped of his immortality as a baby and he must become a true hero to reclaim his status. It's a fun bit, well told. Charlton Heston starts with some powerful narration and then introduces the girl group The Muses to sing the legend's tale. Hearing Heston barrel "You Go Girls" sets the right comic tone and The Muses, led by LaChanze & Lillias White are excellent. These films live and die by their villains and HERCULES features one of the best, Hades, played to the hilt by a superb James Woods. Hades is the one who has turned our hero into a half mortal/half-god, plotting to take control. Hercules transformation from youth to a young man seeking the path to heroism is a lot of fun and serves up an all-time Disney classic song, "Go The Distance", sung by Roger Bart of "The Producers" on Broadway fame. Once he's grown, he's voiced by Tate Donovan, who's frankly my one major complaint about the film, he's lackluster and pretty vanilla in the role, especially comped to the teenage Herc voiced by Bart. He's got some great sidekicks along the way, including Pegasus and his personal trainer Phil, a tiny, funny creature well voiced by Danny DeVito. DeVito delivers the one liners and songs with hilarious energy, especially "One Last Hope". Keith David is another standout at Apollo The Sun God. I'd know that voice anywhere, he's terrific. The filmmakers have said that they originally envisioned Hades as a slow moving, menacing character until Woods blew them away with his fast paced patter and ad libs. Woods has never been better. Bobcat Goldthwait brings his instantly recognizable voice to evil sidekick Pain, alongside Matt Frewer's Panic. The adults in the audience will find plenty to enjoy in Hades' constant one liner asides, like his reference to half time at the film's midway point and references to everything from "Midnight Cowboy" to "The Lion King". The music and songs by Alan Menken and David Zippel are a great blend of show tunes and gospel that really pop throughout the film. While it never quite reaches the heights of "Mermaid" or "Aladdin", it's another great film from the brilliant animated Disney renaissance of the 1990's. When it comes to family entertainment, HERCULES definitely goes the distance, all the way to a B.

The wild west LIVES. A perfect blend of great ensemble acting, a star turn by Billy Bob Thornton and superb writing by Taylor Sheridan, LANDMAN (SEASON 1) is pure binging pleasure. I can't think of a better character than Tommy Norris, the weathered, stubborn, in-your-face cowboy in charge of the West Texas oil fields of M-TEX. Thornton has always been one of my favorite actors and this might be his greatest role. He IS Tommy. The treasure hunt of modern day oil rigs, combined with all the employees Tommy oversees and one hell of a wild home life combine for hour after hour of drama, big laughs and real suspense on the big stage that only Texas can provide. Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Yellowstone) is a prolific genius, reinventing the classic westerns of decades past, stirring in a dash of "Dallas" and populating his original world building with an amazing cast of actors. Season One features 10 episodes that drop us into a wide ranging collection of story lines that weave effortlessly in and out of each other like the oil rigs that dot the flat landscape of Texas. There's not a weak character or subplot amongst them and Sheridan takes his time, surprising me with the long minutes he'll spend with a quiet scene with his characters, pulling us into their most private moments. Jon Hamm is terrific as Tommy's boss and President of M-TEX, Monty Miller. Every day is driving him toward a fifth heart attack and we're along for the ride. Demi Moore (The Substance, Disclosure) plays his wife Cami, whose role in the story becomes more important as we go. Moore is perfectly cast, oozing total commitment and class as Cami. Ali Larter (Heroes) damn near steals the series as Tommy's ex-wife Angela Norris. As my wife says, Angela "is just the right amount of crazy". I'd say she's nuts (Angela, not my wife), but Larter creates a full blooded, nuanced woman that beats wholly to her own drum, hilariously so. Michelle Randolph (Scream 7) is stunning as Tommy's daughter Ainsley. She's enough trouble on her own, but when Angela comes back into their lives, Ainsley finds a partner in crime. It's a tribute to Sheridan's superb writing that these two women's roles, reactions and actions went nowhere I suspected. Billy Bob's facial reactions to Larter and Randolph are worth their weight in gold. Jacob Lofland (Dirt) is an offbeat and superb choice to play Tommy's son Cooper, he's a quiet core of the story alongside Tommy. Paulina Chavez is terrific as Ariana, the widow of one of Tommy's crewmen killed at a pump site. Chavez and Lofland carve out a fascinating subplot together. Kayla Wallace shines as attorney Rebecca Falcone, a Gen Z lawyer that Monty hires for an escalating series of events. She is brutal, fast, sharp and she and Tommy are oil & water, which makes for great storytelling. Wallace nails every angle of Kayla and you can't take your eyes of her. She'll tear you to shreds. She seems to be replacing Monty's long time lawyer, Nathan, perfectly played by Colm Feore (Chicago, Face Off, Thor). Nathan and Tommy are a different breed, loyal to a fault and that loyalty is fascinating and inspiring to watch. Sheridan knows it, giving the two actors moments to truly shine. He also writes Wallace a long dialogue scene in which she verbally eviscerates opposing counsel who's made the one-time error of condescending to her. It's a scene that stands comfortably next to Alec Baldwin's Mamet"Glengarry Glenn Ross" take down in the verbal fireworks department. Tommy's natural reaction at the end of her speech is the type of flawless, natural moment that Thornton has delivered for years. His favorite role for me has always been the mysterious Lorne Malvo in FX's Season 1 of "Fargo", but he tops that here with Tommy. He's a WOW. These West Texas locations serve up everything from drug cartels, rig disasters, world class local lawmen like Sheriff Joe Waltberg (Mark Collie), Friday Night Lights quarterbacks named Ryder (a perfectly cast and hilarious Mitchell Slaggert) and a few big star cameos that I won't divulge here. I could go on for another ten paragraphs about all the great characters and the perfectly cast actors playing them, but I need to wrap this up and go dive into Season 2. Sheridan and Thornton have created something truly special, a funny, dramatic, suspenseful adult entertainment that apologizes to no one for what it is and who these people are. I didn't realize how refreshing that could be until I met the Norris clan and the world around them. There aren't enough superlatives to describe the Billy Bob brilliance on display here. Tommy Norris just wants a cigarette, a Dr. Pepper and a quiet meat & potatoes dinner. The last one seems definitively out of reach. Sheridan has struck oil with LANDMAN (SEASON 1), one of the best binges I've ever experienced, it gets an A+.

In 1974, the same year as "The Godfather Part II", Paramount Pictures and producer Robert Evans released another modern classic and one of my all time favorites, CHINATOWN. Dripping with perfect sets, film noir detective work and one of Jerry Goldsmith's greatest music scores, it's complicated and rewarding. Featured in virtually every scene, Jack Nicholson stars as PI Jake Gittes. When he's hired by Evelyn Mullray to keep an eye on her husband, who she thinks is cheating on her, Jake is pulled into a whirlpool of power, conspiracy and many million of dollars in land and water rights. When her husband turns up dead, Jake begins to discover layer after layer of mystery. Robert Towne (Mission Impossible, Shampoo) creates such a perfect screenplay that it's often used in film school to teach film writing. It's incredibly complex in structure and none of his characters are quite who they seem in their first introduction. Nicholson is fantastic as Gettes, Dunaway is at her aloof best as Evelyn, John Huston (The African Queen) is menacing as a wealthy, sinister land man and John Hillerman (Magnum PI) drips sarcasm as a government official. It's now well known that Huston had trouble pronouncing Gittes correctly while filming. Polanski decided to leave his mistakes in, which feel intended and disrespectful toward Jake, just one of the magic pieces around the film that come together into an incredible whole. From top to bottom, the cast is flawless, as is the production design by Richard Sylbert (The Graduate, The Cotton Club). Director Roman Polanski who also makes a memorable impression as the knife wielding thug who does a number on Jake's nose, almost didn't show up to shoot the film, as it was the first time back in the USA after the Manson murders of his wife Sharon Tate just 4 years before. Evelyn and Jake are two people whose relationships typically don't last more than a night. When they start falling for each other, complications abound. The perfect blend of 30's film noir, gumshoe detective work, Nicholson's wit and charm and incredible filmmaking, CHINATOWN is a timeless 70's classic. It's final line of dialogue "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" is now part of film legend. No film buff will every forget CHINATOWN, its gets an A+. It's easily in my Top 100 films of all time and solidly in my Top 10. The film slowly casts a noir spell on the viewer that's never been equaled in the genre. A rare blend of talent in front of and behind the camera at the peak of their careers, it's that rare, perfect movie that you can watch again and again, in awe. Followed nearly 20 years later in 1990 by the Nicholson-directed "The Two Jakes", a terrific and underappreciated sequel.

Bloody, goofy and just plain dumb, THEY WILL KILL YOU wastes a great cast with a "Rosemary's Baby"/ wannabe Tarantino action mashup that manages to feel much longer than its 94 minutes. Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2, Joker) is wasted as Asia Reeves, a young woman who takes a job at one of those giant NYC brownstones that seem to only exist on rain slicked Manhattan streets. Like "The Bramford" where Rosemary's pregnancy served up plenty of scares back in the day, The Virgil is a massive collection of upscale apartments that house a diverse collection of souls. They all have made a pledge to Satan himself, which shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone that notices the satanic symbols on the rooftop. Before Asia has time to set down her bags and accept a job as a maid at the property, she begins to notice strange noises in the vents. Crazy occupants raid her room at night and a battle to the death begins. You won't really care, because the writing is so bad and the story so nonsensical that it's just a parade of actors whose agents have some explaining to do for casting them in this dull retread of better horror films. Patricia Arquette (True Romance, Boyhood) is Lily Woodhouse, who runs the staff and the entire property with an iron fist, a shotgun and a lot of yelling. Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) barely registers, she's given so little to do as Sharon, one of the occupants who are on a mission to kill Asia. Neighbor Kevin (Tom Felton from "Harry Potter) is an idiot who's also on the chase. The fight scenes are a bizarre mix of well staged action and Laurel & Hardy battles with no flow, inconsistent tone and an unwavering ability to not generate intended laughs. Based on the trailer, I expected laughs, but it has far more rhythm than the full length film. I love dark humor and have fallen pray to deep enjoyment of 90 minutes of stylized carnage before, but this one is done with so little clear intent or tone that it just sits in front of you as blood splatters every wall. There is one scene with Beetz wielding a flaming axe that rises above. It's just one in which she shows superb skills and training, but it has enough originality to rise above the rest of the film. Beetz deserved a better film around her. Writer/Director Kirilll Sokolov said he was inspired to make the film after moving into a new apartment and later seeing Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby". He's no Polanksi, bringing little new to the film. The hotel is designed like Dante's Inferno, with each floor a level of hell. There's a lot of meat on that bone. Sokolov manages to nibble very little of it. By the time James Remar shows up voicing the head of a pig, I had to laugh a little. That thing should have been around the whole film, I might have stayed more interested. An aimless, bloody but stupid splatterfest, THEY WILL KILL YOU only slayed my good will, earning a D. The sheer effort of Beetz in the lead role willed me back from an F.

When we meet Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) in the opening scene of BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER, he's waking from a hell of a night in a suite at the Wynn Macau. Did he win a fortune or lose one? Only the amount of alcohol consumed and the disarray of the upscale room are certain. The TV blares, stacks of room service trays cover every table and it looks like Lord Doyle has been in the room awhile. Farrell dazzles in the opening sequence, carving out a mysterious character who's living life on the edge. We soon learn that he's nearing the ends of his funds. The hotel manager grabs him even though Lord Doyle is doing his damndest to escape the luxurious property. He's told that he has three days to settle his hotel bill, a stunning $300k+ dollars, or the police will be called. The only money that we know he has left is one rolled up stash. Will he turn that into wins? Will he rise triumphant? This isn't a stereotypical film about an underdog beating the odds. It's an intelligent, mysterious and mystical take on addiction, luck, questions about the ability to change your true nature and a man on the absolute brink. Farrell (The Penguin, Minority Report) is truly up to the task and beyond. Behind the camera, Director Edward Berger follows up his massive hit "Conclave" with this spiritual character study that took so many unexpected turns, I stopped trying to predict where it was going. That's a great attribute, as I was absorbed into this world and Lord Doyle's impossible path. Macau looks like another planet, stunningly photographed by James Friend, who also shot Berger's 2022 breakout film "All Quiet on the Western Front". It feels like Las Vegas in the future, captured in all its luxury and decadence. As Lord Doyle runs toward either redemption or complete collapse, he meets Dao Ming (Fala Chen) a floor manager of one of the seedier casinos in town. He loses hand after hand, thousands of dollars escaping his clutches. He can't even pay for his bar tab, something they would have been happy to pick up if he was winning. Lord Doyle and Dao Ming spend the majority of the film circling each other, but across many different arcs. Need, seduction, opportunity, redemption seem to be hanging in the air around these two from the moment they meet on screen. Hot on his trail, Insurance Investigator Blithe (Tilda Swinton) knows far more about Lord Doyle than we do. Swinton and Farrell have a blast bouncing off each other in a cat & mouse game that seems bound to only end in one way. But the film is far more complicated and tricky than that. Lives and characters intertwine. Fortune makes strange dance partners. It often seems that Lord Doyle is just as likely to die from a massive heart attack or a jump out of a high window as he is to get arrested. I'm not going to reveal anything in the film's clever puzzle of a last hour, other than it had me glued to the screen with zero clue of what would happen next. I loved where it went. Farrell is at the absolute peak of his game here, creating a very complex, scared, ballsy man whose back is up against every surrounding wall. It's a great performance that's far more complex in retrospect than it feels in the moment. He's extraordinary. I loved Alan K. Chang as Kai, the doorman who only wants Lord Doyle to succeed, Jason Tobin as Mr. Huang the hotel manager nearly a half million down to Lord Doyle's excesses and Alex Jennings (The Queen) as Adrian, a fellow traveler and confidant of Lord Doyle's who has demons of his own. Is there a key to unlock Lord Doyle's redemption? It's a pleasure to find out in this clever, deliberate and fascinating crime thriller/drama/character study that wraps you in the sweat, beauty and seduction of Macau and never lets go. THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER flips an A.

One of the best Stephen King adaptions I've ever seen, THE LONG WALK is relentlessly dark, cruel and a prime example of a literary adaption that honors and expands the original work. Devotees of the novel may be upset at the changes from the text, KIng's first, but they serve the film well. Taking dystopian to its lowest lows, we are introduced to a smaller scale version of "The Hunger Games", long before that novel was ever published. King wrote THE LONG WALK way back in 1966-1967 in college and it was finally published back in 1979 under his pen name of Richard Bachman. You can feel the influence of the sixties era mistrust of government post-Vietnam throughout. The book was adapted by the terrific JT Mollner, who wrote and directed the twisted & inventive sleeper thriller, "Strange Darling". It was one of my favorites of 2023 and he brings the same tilted perspective to King's story. The USA is in dire straits, the national economy has plunged and the masses are discontented. Once a year, the military stages The Long Walk, in which one young man from each state competes in a winner take all, marathon walk to the death. The rules are simple. Once you start, you never stop. If you fall below 3.0 miles per hour, you get a warning, if you don't pick up the pace, you get a second warning. After a third warning, you are shot in the head. If you leave the road for any reason, you are killed without warning. Military vehicles lumber along in front and on back, with the motivational quote spewing leader, The Major (Mark Hamill) yelling, taunting and encouraging the boys along the way. The dark tone of the film rarely wavers, it's as merciless as the machine guns waiting on the other side of that stopwatch. But just as King's book did when I first read it many years ago, it pulls you into the tale. What would you do? How far could you go? The cast of young men is excellent. Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza, Saturday Night) is heartfelt as local boy Raymond Garrity. His reasons for entering are tortured and revealed layer by layer by Mollner's script. David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) is exceptional as Peter McVries, whose upbeat attitude and spirit inspires Raymond. The bond the two form over the relentless miles feels real. Jonsson stands out in the cast and was just announced as The New Black Panther in the Marvel films. Based on this and his performance in Alien Romulus, he's a hell of a great choice. Garrett Wareing is also very stong as Stebbins, who becomes more important to the contest as it wears on, with Stebbins fighting an illness that drags him down. Wareing was just cast as the young Ed Warren in next year's prequel, "The Conjuring: First Communion", taking the role over from Patrick Wilson. Charlie Plummer (Moonfall) leaves a hell of an impression as Gary Barkovitch, the villain of the walk who seems determined to fell his fellow contestants via barbs and torments. No one writes a despicable a-hole like Stephen King and the character leaps off the pages here. Ben Wang fairs less well here than he did in his debut in "Karate Kid" Legends". He seems too nice to be the foul mouthed Hank Olson, but definitely scores in the more dramatic moments in the film's final half hour. Joshua Odjick (It: Welcome to Derry) has real screen presence as Collie Parker, creating a walk participant you'll cheer hard for from start to finish. Lastly, Roman Griffin Davis (Greenland 2: Migration) breaks your heart as Curly, the race's youngest participant. His fate takes the stakes in the film to a level of reality that never leaves the screen after Curly exits. Director Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) is a great fit for the material and takes what could have been a repetitive tale in lesser hands to some very deep, dark places. The sense of brotherhood that develops during the very long walk is tangible. The cast has said that shooting the film in real settings, sometimes walking up to 15 miles a day, brought a tangible reality to their bonding. We see that on screen. This is not a film that you enjoy. It's bleak, filled with graphic executions and brutally realistic depictions of the conditions of the marathon and how the boys break down, both mentally and physically. The despair and terror faced within is absolutely Stephen King horror of the highest degree. It's also beautifully structured, packed with realistic, profane dialogue that feels accurate for what's happening and well shot. I haven't heard F bombs dropped with this frequency since "Goodfellas". Over the years, everyone from George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) to Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) were attached to create the film, but it feels like it landed in the right, caring hands with Lawrence & Mollner. THE LONG WALK gets a disturbing, powerful and relentless A, but approach the material knowing that you won't watch The Walk, you'll survive it.

I love a good shark movie. I'll usually swim out of my way to enjoy even a mildly enjoyable shark thriller. THE DEVIL'S MOUTH is absolute chum that bores, stinks and generates unintentional laughs in its ineptitude. So, where do I dive into this one? After opening with some beautiful shots of Thailand that made me really want to visit these beaches, we meet a group of early 20-somethings who are so self centered, obnoxious and dull that I couldn't wait to see who was going to get chomped on first. The lone exception is Sara, played by Kathryn Newton (Ready of Not 2, Big Little Lies) who I hope got a big paycheck for appearing in this dreck. By portraying character traits like humility, caution and basic self awareness, Newton's Sara emerges as the one person in the entire film you cheer for...for awhile anyway. Oh, there is the group's tour guide Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong) who almost immediately sees this bunch of airhead idiots for what they were and wishes he'd stayed home and enjoyed the beach. I cheered for him too, knowing no matter what they paid him, it wasn't enough. Max (Lana Condor) is Sara's best friend. She's the one in the group that always wants to push the limits. Why do the stunning diving caves that the tour guide with years of experience suggests, when you can do the red flagged/diamond run/super dangerous path that the tour guide tells you a dozen times not to? Condor is saddled with an obnoxious character who starts the film off by basically betraying her friend, not only with life choices, but then forgets that Sara is swimming in the water after five minutes and tells the boat captain to head out, stranding Sara in a school of jellyfish. At least Max gives you someone to root against. The rest of the young people are more abs than brains and one of the dudes keeps talking about missing his Mommy. WTF? Soon, surprising only the addle-brained in the viewing audience, the group discovers that a recent giant storm has introduced not only salt water into the caves, but some giant sharks into the network of caves. I watched this thing and the CGI was so bad and the photography so dark that I honestly can't tell you if there were multiple sharks or just one really big one. I THINK its supposed to be just one giant bull shark. As in "Jaws:The Revenge" the shark is so poorly rendered that it seems to be HUGE one moment and able to fit through very tight spaces the next. It's lazy, stupid filmmaking from the moment they enter the caves. Let's check the B-movie making boxes shall we? Will Sara, the only one with common sense and a sense of fear, RISE ABOVE? Will Max eventually have to face the consequences of her lame-brained choices? Will one hero emerge who seemed the least likely to survive? Compound the absurd predictability with some really stupid, stupid choices by these characters on the water-logged path and you get some serious groans along the way. At one point, Sara is trying to get the shark's attention, so she goes all Jeff Goldblum in "Jurassic Park" and starts waving a red flare shouting, "Over here!" Insert groan here. Bad movies can be a lot of fun, especially if they have a sense of humor. OOPS, no humor detected. I cheered for the shark to eat them all as quickly as possible, begging for a feeding frenzy to put this poorly shot, way too dark, slop CGI, half-assed effort to an end. Alas, the idiocy goes on for almost two hours. THE DEVILS MOUTH has no bite and gets an F.

For me, Christopher Nolan films are events, something to be anticipated and savored on the big screen. He's given me some of the biggest IMAX thrills of all time with "Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Oppenheimer"and "Dunkirk". His smaller scale 2006 "The Prestige" is an all-time favorite film. THE ODYSSEY never gets within a mile of those best Nolan films for me. I admire the sheer scale and grandeur of the filmmaking, absolutely. There's real presence and tangible thrills in seeing a full size Trojan Horse or the City of Troy crumbling on the big screen, sans CGI. But I only had one emotional connection to any of these characters. Without the ability to invest in this massive list of people being portrayed, I found myself waiting for the next big action sequence to arrive so I could stop looking at my watch. Important to note that I am a huge fan of long films if they keep me engaged. David Lean's "Bridge of the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia" have massive running times longer than Nolan's latest, but they feel dramatically shorter. Nolan's "Oppenheimer" kept me held in its grasp for its entire running time. So why does THE ODYSSEY feel empty, despite all of its incredibly detailed and carefully crafted pieces? The film feels more like David Lean's 1970 film "Ryan's Daughter", a big budget simple love story blown up into a "Doctor Zhivago" scale production that was all spectacle, no heart. The one character that I connected with was Odysseus, beautifully played by Matt Damon as a very flawed hero whose journey seems mostly to be to find himself. Nolan, as usual, cleverly plays with timelines, popping back and forth within the story as we hear the songs and tales of Odysseus, his conquering of Troy and his long journey home. But its been over a decade and he has not returned to his homeland. His wife, Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son, Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland) still hope and pray for his return, but their lands are unsettled and their castle is filled with endless suitors, a literal rowdy gang of them. The standout among them and the other actor besides Damon to carry the film away on his back, is Robert Pattinson as Antinous. He's conniving, he's sniveling, he's political and only has eyes for the throne. Pattinson is terrific. Rounding out my standout three cast members in the sprawling ensemble is John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, the aging advisor to Odysseus who keeps a close eye on the Queen & Prince. Leguizamo has never been better and he's a sure bet as Best Supporting Actor when Oscar season roles around. The rest of the cast never quite lands for me, some are very good, like Lupita Nyong'o as Helen and her twin sister, Samantha Morton as Circe, who's bed and breakfast you definitely do NOT want to visit as a day trip and Charlize Theron as Calypso, who keeps Odysseus in her beautiful clutches for many years on his way home. Zendaya is fine in a role that only delivers powerful meaning in the film's finale. Others in the cast are an ill fit. I'm a huge Jon Bernthal fan, but he seems to have wondered in from another film as Menelaus. His attitude, his dialogue and delivery feel out of tone for the rest of the film. Elliot Page is badly miscast, looking like a tiny tot on the battlefield next to the surrounding warrior class. The road to that finale is powerful, interesting and monotonous, in nearly equal measure. Several sequences stand out. Odysseus and his men land on an island and venture into a cave that turns out to be inhabited by a giant Cyclops. The entire scene is taut, scary and flat out wild. A combination of puppetry and effects create one hell of a monster, who really is just a shepherd watching his flock. The escape from that cave is a jaw dropper. Several scenes of Odysseus and his crew trying to escape the wrath of Poseidon at sea are stunningly shot by longtime Nolan partner Hoyte van Hoytema (Nope, Dunkirk, Ad Astra). The combination of full size stunt work and brilliant camera work put you right into the action, especially on the IMAX screen. This was famously the first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras. It's visually brilliant, but as a good friend pointed out to me: "If you shoot an entire film with IMAX cameras, why does the color palette have to be so dull and gray?" Great point. The vistas are high, wide and brilliantly focused, but very washed out. Still, kudos for the level of immersion in these scenes on the IMAX screen. Composer Ludwig Goransson's score is as split personality as the film's pace. Sometimes it is immersive, authentic and draws you in, but occasionally it blends into a cacophony of noise, special effects and lost dialogue that pounds your ears within an inch of submission. It uses only authentic Greek instruments. Nolan is one of our greatest filmmakers, but once again, I cannot decipher some of his sound design, with dialogue completely lost within a wall of noise that makes it indecipherable. Ever since I couldn't understand 90% of what Tom Hardy said on screen as Bane in "Dark Knight", I'm convinced Nolan has decided to add mystery to his films by burying large pieces of dialogue. The fact that I love most of his films anyway speaks to the level of his craft. There are moments within the film that delivered true spectacle of the highest order. The Trojan Horse sequence, the attack on Troy, the final showdown come to mind. The forest set battle against the giant armored Laestrygonian warriors is a taut thrill. But there is no emotional connection formed to these characters, its a spectacular history lesson with no personal weight. It's a massive hit, so audiences definitely all agree that it is an event film that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. That I agree with. But did the entire, carefully constructed vessel have to be this soulless at its center? It reminds me of the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton vehicle, "Cleopatra", one of the biggest film spectacles ever shot. Jaw dropping in its sheer scale, there wasn't a lot of heart and soul to be found beyond its incredible veneer. That film nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. No such worries this time out, Nolan's opus has already grossed over $720 million on its sure path to $1 billion+ at the box office. As spectacle, its a grand success. As a story that resonates in your heart, reaching beyond the visuals, the Trojan Horse has shown up empty on the beachhead. THE ODYSSEY gets a B-.