Category Archives: Movies

A Moral Dilemma

11 December 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Juror 2: Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is chosen as one of twelve jurors to decide the fate of a defendant accused of homicide, only to discover that his thumb-up, thumb-down decision transcends the trial itself; like free will, suffering is woven into the fabric of our existence.

Clint Eastwood’s movies typically deliver entertainment with plots that resolve in the great American tradition of truth, justice, and apple pie. This film is different. It’s a story where past mistakes lead to present agony and future pain.

This is a thought-provoking movie, brilliantly portrayed by Hoult. Very little staging or action is needed to polish it into a complete piece. My only quibble is that the moral predicament would resolve itself if the protagonist were fully aware of his actions when they occurred. But then there would be no plot.

Genre: Crime-Drama-Suspense-Legal Thriller-Psychological Thriller

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Screenplay by: Jonathan Abrams

Music by: Mark Mancina

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland

Film Location: Savannah, Georgia and Los Angeles

ElsBob: 6.5/10

IMDb: 7.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 91%

Metacritic Metascore: 72%

Metacritic User Score: 7.4/10

Theaters: 1 November 2024

Runtime: 114 minutes

Budget: ~$35 million

Box Office: $18.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Juror 2 Poster and Trailer, copyright Warner Bros. Pictures.

Contrived

4 December 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Conclave: The Pope has died, and Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must convene a Conclave of the College of Cardinals to choose a new Pope. A Conclave acknowledging not so much the guiding hand of God but the vanities of man.

Conclave features stunning visuals and competent acting, yet it is undermined by a script full of amateurish, contrived plot twists designed, supposedly, to advance the writers’ Robert Harris and Straughan’s feverish dreams of utopian Church doctrine rather than create a compelling narrative of suspense detailing the fallibility of man. After 120 minutes of an unending, stacked series of Deus ex machina plot devices, the fatigue reaches a smothering comatose level. Mercifully, the movie ends not with applause but with a resounding sigh of relief that your cinematic suffering is over.

Trivia: According to John Mulderig, under canon law in pectore appointments end with the pope’s death. Cardinal Benitez would not have been allowed into the Conclave.

Genre: Drama-Mystery-Suspense-Thriller

Directed by: Edward Berger

Screenplay by: Peter Straughan

Music by: Volker Bertelmann

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow

Film Location: Rome

ElsBob: 3.0/10

IMDb: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 79%

Metacritic User Score: 6.8/10

Theaters: 25 October 2024

Runtime: 120 minutes

Budget: $20 million

Box Office: $34.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic.Catholic Review. Graphic: Concave Poster and Trailer, copyright Focus Features

Roman Entertainment

1 December 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Gladiator II: Lucius (Paul Mescal) loses a battle against the Romans in his North African home and is taken to the Roman port of Ostia, where he is tested for gladiator skills. He impresses Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who then enters him into matches in the Roman Colosseum to fight for his life in front of emperors and a bloodthirsty crowd of citizens.

Gladiator II is, first and foremost, an action movie with a touch of drama and minimal historical accuracy for flavor. Except for Washington, the acting is deficient in places, and the dialogue occasionally seems to exist merely as filler between action sequences. However, the visuals and action are spectacular.

Trivia: In Apuleius’s 2nd-century A.D. romance The Golden Ass, the Roman protagonist Lucius grapples with transformation and identity issues. Similarly, in Gladiator II, Lucius is forced to come to terms with his own new, albeit unwanted, identity. Both characters must navigate the consequences of fate to find their own path through the thicket of choices.

Genre: Action-Adventure-Drama-Epic-Historical

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Screenplay by: David Scarpa

Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams

Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen

Film Location: Morocco, Malta, UK

ElsBob: 8.0/10

IMDb: 6.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 71%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 83%

Metacritic Metascore: 64%

Metacritic User Score: 5.3/10

Theaters: 22 November 2024 US

Runtime: 148 minutes

Budget: $210-250 million

Box Office: $320 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Gladiator II Poster and Trailer, copyright Paramount Pictures-Scott Free Productions.

Lighter Fare

13 November 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Monster Summer: Martha’s Vineyard of the 90s, a summer haven for kids of all ages having fun until a zombie virus begins to infect Noah’s (Thames) friends, draining their spirits down to their souls. Noah, suspecting foul play, recruits the town’s curmudgeon, Gene (Gibson), a retired detective, to help solve the mystery.

Monster Summer, not far removed from the 2006 animated Monster House, shows that facing one’s fears are better than hiding from the unknown and, in the process, discovering friendships that will last a lifetime.

The movie is a children’s film that requires a kid’s heart and a warm spot for Mel Gibson’s irreverent humor and unfortunate script to fully enjoy, even for the old and grey.

Genre: Adventure—Kids–Suspense

Directed by: David Henri

Screenplay by: Cornelius Uliano, Bryan Schulz

Music by: Frederik Wiedmann

Cast: Mason Thames, Mel Gibson

Film Location: North Carolina, USA

ElsBob: 6.5/10

IMDb: 5.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 59%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 84%

Metacritic Metascore: 53%

Metacritic User Score: -/10

Theaters: 4 October 2024

Runtime: 97 minutes  

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic.Graphic: Monster Summer Movie Poster, copyright Pastime Pictures.

No Art–No Merit

6 November 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Substance: Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), an ageing actor seeking to revive her career and her looks, along with reclaiming her fans, chooses poorly. Excessive gore and asininities ensue.

The movie explores themes of lost youth, the loneliness of fan forgetfulness, and mortality. The film attempts to find something new to say in re-imaging the 1992 movie: ‘Death Becomes Her’ starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis; but comes up with naught—nothing approaching sense or sensibility—just blood and guts substituting for substance.

Genre: Black Humor–Horror

Directed by: Corallie Fargeat

Screenplay by: Corallie Fargeat

Music by: Raffertie

Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

Film Location: France

ElsBob: 3.0/10

IMDb: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 90%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 74%

Metacritic Metascore: 78%

Metacritic User Score: 7.4/10

Theaters: 20 September 2024

Runtime: 141 minutes

Budget: $17.5 million

Box Office: $43.3 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic.Graphic: The Substance Movie Poster, copyright Mubi.

A Twisted and Twisty Tale:

30 October 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Strange Darling: A film portraying a one-night stand of innocent fun and desire in the same bloody vein as craving a joyride in a van full of Stephen King clowns. Misdirection, mayhem, and murder—oh my.

The movie’s story unravels in a non-linear manner, much the same as Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’, creating mystery and suspense by concealing the true nature of the characters and the plot until later in the film.

It has been noted that the Coen’s ‘No Country for Old Men’ came the closest to featuring the personality of a true psychopath: the irredeemable Anton Chigurh as played by Javier Badem. The antagonist in ‘Strange Darling’ easily moves Chigurh to a distant second place.

Trivia: The opening credits and Mollner hint, during interviews, that the movie may be based on actual events but there are no known serial killer incidents to support this. Mollner also comments that “…to me, it’s all real—inside my head and inside my heart.” Yikes.

Trivia II: The song ‘Love Hurts’ by Bryant and Bryant, is prominently played in the movie and was also featured in Rob Zombie’s remake of ‘Halloween’ and ‘Halloween II’.

Genre: Horror—Mystery–Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: JT Mollner

Screenplay by: JT Mollner

Music by: Craig DeLeon

Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner

Film Locations: Oregon, USA

ElsBob: 7.0/10

IMDb: 7.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 95%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 80%

Metacritic User Score: 6.9/10

Theaters: 23 August 2024

Runtime: 96 minutes  

Budget: $4-10 million

Box Office: $3.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: ‘Strange Darling’ Poster and Trailer, Miramax

Epistemic Humility

24 October 2024 By in History, Movies, Philosophy, Philosophy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Donald Rumsfeld, expanding on Socrates’ statement, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing,” pedantically states in the year 2002 that, “There are known knowns—things we know that we know. There are known unknowns—things we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns—things we don’t know we don’t know.“

Which suggests that we all are pre-ordained to a life of study to shorten the list of unknowns and the embarrassment of being unprepared.

G.K. Chesterton anticipating that a lifetime, or something less than a lifetime of study has its dangers, warned in his 1908 collection of essays, “All Things Considered,” “Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” Implying that a myopic education may allow for mastering a single subject but is ill-equipped to understand anything broader; unable to see the forest for the trees.

Which leads us to the 1973 “Magnum Force” with Clint Eastwood, wielding a Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 magnum in a Dirty Harry hand, explaining to an unfortunate soul that “A man’s got to know his limitations,” highlighting the concept of epistemic humility: the recognition that one’s knowledge and understanding is always limited and to proceed accordingly.

Source: Socrates. G.K. Chesterton. Socratic-Method.com.  Graphic: Magnum Force poster, copyright Warner Bros.

Stasis and Change

23 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Alien Romulus: A group of young adults indentured for life on the cloud-shrouded mining planet of Yvaga discovers a derelict spacecraft orbiting above. They plan to rendezvous with the craft and steal the ship’s cryostasis suits to travel to another planet. Once inside the spacecraft they soon detect they are not alone.

Romulus enters the Alien franchise as the seventh film, situated between Alien and Aliens, attempting to walk the path between Ridley Scott and James Cameron-two giants that Alvarez fails to surpass with this entry.

The story plays homage to its predecessors in the first acts, delivering plenty of frights and gore, enhanced by great graphics, visuals, and adequate acting. However, it then drifts off course into territory best left unexplored. But I guess that’s called setting up the sequel or more likely a spin-off.

Genre:  Horror—Sci-Fi–Suspense–Thriller

Directed by: Fede Alvarez

Screenplay by: Fede Alvarez Rodo Sayagues

Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux

Film Locations: Budapest, Hungry and Various Studios

ElsBob: 6.5/10

IMDb: 7.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 80%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 64%

Metacritic User Score: 7.1%

Theaters: 16 August 2024

Runtime: 119 minutes

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic. Graphic: Alien Romulus Poster and Trailer, 20 Century Studios

Sign

16 October 2024 By in Movies Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Silent Hour:

Boston homicide cop Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman) suffers permanent and progressive hearing loss while pursuing a murder suspect through shipping docks of Boston. After returning to duty, his ex-homicide partner volunteers him to interview a deaf witness, Ava (Sandra Mae Frank) who has information about two recent murders near her 10-story apartment building. Frank and Ava soon find themselves frantically running through her building trying to avoid the killers who are determined to silence Ava.

“The Silent Hour” is a low-budget movie with nothing new under the sun plot that doesn’t allow for many surprises, or I should say no surprises. When the story does make a few detours from the tried and true, it feels more like filler rather than substantive elements enhancing the narrative. However, it is competently directed and well-acted, and its brevity ensures it remains engaging enough to be watchable.

Genre:  Action—Crime—Mystery–Thriller

Directed by: Brad Anderson

Screenplay by: Dan Hall

Music by: Anton Sanko

Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Sandra Mae Frank, Mekhi Phifer, Mark Strong

Film Locations: Malta and Ontario, Canada

ElsBob: 5.0/10

IMDb: 5.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 64%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: –%

Metacritic Metascore: –%

Metacritic User Score: –%

Theaters: 11 October 2024

Runtime: 99 minutes

Source: IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic. Graphic: The Silent Hour poster, copyright Republic Pictures and AGC Studios.

Knox Goes Away:

10 October 2024 By in Movies, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Theaters: 10 September 2023

Streaming: 15 March 2024

Runtime: 114 minutes

Genre:  Crime – Thriller

ElsBob:  7.0/10

IMDB:  6.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics:  62/100

Rotten Tomatoes Audience:  84/100

Metacritic Metascore:  54/100

Metacritic User Score:  5.3/10

Directed by: Michael Keaton

Screenplay by: Gregory Poirier

Music by:  Alex Heffes

Cast: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Al Pacino

Film Locations:  California

A contract killer discovers he has a quick moving form of dementia, and his estranged son needs help. Keaton and Pacino team up to save Keaton’s family from financial ruin, and his son from life in prison.

This film was Keaton’s directorial debut, and he delivered a smashing success. A future as an actor-director may just be in the cards for Keaton.

Source:  IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic. Graphic: Knox Goes Away Movie Poster, copyright Saban Films 2024.