Gideon58's Reviews

Sabrina (1995)
Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack brings his accustomed directorial style and polish to Sabrina, his sumptuously mounted 1995 remake of the 1954 Billy Wilder classic that featured an Oscar-nominated performance by Audrey Hepburn in the title role. Sadly, the actress in the title role in this remake is the one thing that just doesn't work.

This is the story of Sabrina Fairchild, the Plain Jane daughter of the chauffeur to the wealthy Larrabee family, whose mansion is on Long Island. For as long as she can remember, Sabrina has been obsessed with David Larrabee, the irresponsible and womanizing younger son who is second in command at the family business even though he doesn't know where his office is. In an attempt to help Sabrina get over David, her father sends her on a trip to Paris.

As Sabrina leaves for Paris, David finds himself somehow engaged to Dr. Elizabeth Tyson, whose father is about to enter into a business merger with Larrabee Communications, which is run by David's older brother, Linus, and his mother, Maude. Sabrina returns from Paris, a transformed ugly duckling but still in love with David. In order to make sure the merger goes through, Linus pretends to romance Sabrina in order to keep her away from David and save the merger with Tyson industries.

Pollack and the screenwriters display a great deal of respect to the original film by not tampering with the basic story too much. Trying to outshine the iconic Billy Wilder is not something to be taken lightly but Pollack and company do manage to bring the original story back to the screen with respect to the original. The characters are tweaked to the nth degree though...David Larrabee is way sleazier than he was in the original and Linus is a lot more calculating than he was in the original making this story of a romantic triangle where the woman is truly in love with both men more viable. I found the story of David and Sabrina more likable in the 1954 version and the story of Sabrina and Linus more likable in this version.

My problem with this version is what happens to the title character. This new Sabrina seems completely devoid of self-respect or confidence making the character just this side of pathetic, which is something I never got from the Audrey Hepburn character in 1954. Her feelings about the Larrabee brothers might have been a little muddled, but she still had some dignity and knew when she was being used. This version puts more attention on Sabrina's trip to Paris, where she was supposed to blossom, but the minute she returns to Long Island and lays eyes on David, she becomes the same insecure waif she was when she left, rendering her trip to Paris pointless, even though she actually found romance there.

Pollack is en pointe with sparkling production values, especially art direction/set direction and cinematography, and most of his casting is on the money. Harrison Ford brings a complex but charismatic quality to Linus Larrabee that I don't think Humphrey Bogart ever understood and Greg Kinnear brings more smarmy to David than William Holden did while keeping David likable. The fabulous Nancy Marchand steals every scene she's in as Maude Larrabee and Richard Crenna and Angie Dickinson are fun as Elizabeth's parents. Unfortunately, Julia Ormond is no Audrey Hepburn and it is her empty performance in the title role that keeps this remake being what it should be.

Deep Water
Adrian Lyne, director of the surprise box office smash of 1987, Fatal Attraction, returns to the director's chair for the first time in almost 20 years with Deep Water, a poorly lit and overheated erotic thriller that suffers from a swiss cheese screenplay but benefits from an eye opening performance from its leading lady.

The 2022 film stars Oscar winner Ben Affleck as Vic, a wealthy businessman who is married to Melinda (Ana de Armas), a sexual pariah who takes full advantage of the open marriage she seems to have with Vic. Melinda does what she wants because apparently Vic doesn't want to divorce her, but things change once she begins her affair with a young hottie named Joel, who has heard rumors that Vic murdered Melinda's last lover and not long after, the guy turns up missing and Vic is the number one suspect behind his disappearance.

During the time that the police are investigating this guy's disappearance, Joel hits the road, but two more guys who had affairs with Melinda, end up dead and for some reason, Melinda looks the other way while Vic goes into self-preservation mode.

Despite his long respite from the director's chair, Adrian Lyne still proves to have one of the greatest eyes for cinematic erotica that I've seen. This guy knows how to bring sexy to the screen, even though it might not have a lot to do with the story that's being told. The screenplay from the screenwriters for Stranger than Fiction and The Talented Mr. Ripley never really explains why Vic wants to stay married to this woman, despite the fact that she flaunts her affairs in front of him. And before we learn what happened to Melinda's first two lovers, two more lovers are introduced, murdered, and their stories left dangling for the viewer to figure out for themselves. And if this was the intent, why not introduce the characters at all and knock about 45 minutes off of the running time?

In addition to his erotic eye, Lyne's direction also provides some first rate camerawork that puts the viewer right in the middle of the erotic mess. Affleck is a little one-note as Vic, but Ana de Armas, who lit up the screen as the sweet-natured caregiver in Knives Out lights up the screen in her sexually charged performance as Melinda, a character nothing like the character she played in Knives Out. Unfortunately, Lyne's skills as a director were unable to make sense of this convoluted story.

North Dallas Forty
A realistic story and strong direction are the primary forces behind North Dallas Forty. a gritty and bold look at the world of professional football where most of the action takes place off the field and looks at one particular player facing his professional mortality.

The 1979 comedy drama stars Nick Nolte as Phil Elliott, a hard-drinking, womanizing wide receiver who is in denial about the fact that his body is falling apart, but it doesn't matter because he scored five touchdowns in his last game and was then benched because he's not playing as a team member.

There are a few dramas that are revolved around Phil's story, including a look at how players' bodies are being held together by tape and medication. We watch Phil keeping himself viable by pumping multiple medications into his knee while another player is destroying his career because he needs the needles, but refuses them.

We watch friendships challenged throughout the drama, including Phil's relationship with Seth Maxwell (country singer Mac Davis, in his film debut) the slightly more principled team quarterback who has taken it upon himself to keep his teammates in line, but even he crosses a moral line or two on the football field.

The film is based on a novel by Peter Gent, though the story is allegedly based on the Dallas Cowboys, thus the similarities in the team name and the uniforms. The screenplay is uncompromising in looking at what a professional football player sacrifices to continue riding the gravy train and the constant pressure they are under and how things are not always as they seem. Love the opening scene during the credits where Phil is observed getting out of bed and can barely movie...Nolte convincingly conveys the fact that every bone in Phil's body is in pain but he can't let anyone know about it. We also learn that just like Hollywood celebrities, ballplayers have no privacy.

Nick Nolte turns in one of the strongest performances of his career as Phil Elliott...angry and vulnerable and unabashedly human and is matched note for note by Davis, who makes an impressive film debut as Seth. Charles Durning, GD Spradlin, Bo Svenson, Dabney Coleman, Steve Forrest, and John Matusznak shine in supporting roles in one of the best football movies made, even though only about 15 minutes of screentime is spent during an actual football game. Director Ted Kotcheff did the strongest work of his career here as well.

I don't know if you realized this when you watched The Last Five Years, but there are two separate storylines going in opposite directions. Jamie's songs are going forward in time, from when they first met until he leaves her, but Cathy's songs are going backwards in time, from when he leaves her back through when they first met.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

No I didn't catch that, it would explain why so much of it didn't make sense to me, but not enough to make me wanna go back and watch it again.

Jockey
A veteran supporting actor gets his first chance center screen in 2021's Jockey, a somber and sad tale of another professional athlete facing his own mortality as well as other issues.

Jackson Silva is an aging jockey who is facing serious health issues while also looking at a chance at one final championship ride. He is also confronted by a young jockey-in-training who is claiming to be his son.

It's quite the coincidence that I watched this movie right after watching North Dallas Forty because the Jackson Silva character in this film is facing a lot of the same issues that Nick Nolte's character is facing in the 1979 football drama. His body is literally shutting down on him to the point where we learn that he is unable to feel the entire right side of his body. And like Nolte's character, Silva is trying to fight through it and in serious denial about the fact that he really needs to just hang it up for good. This combined with the revelation that he might have a son he knew nothing about. Though Jackson initially denies paternity (and the look on the kid's face when he does is heartbreaking), he doesn't shut him out of is life either.

Clifton Collins Jr, who plays Jackson, has been working steadily in the business since the 1990's. A solid resume that includes films like Capote, Menace II Society, and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, but always in minor supporting roles. Collins has finally been given the shot at leading man status in this indie gem and he proves to be more than up to the challenge.

Collins gets steady guidance from a relatively inexperienced writer and director named Clint Bentley who noit only gives this story a real documentary feel thanks to his inobtrusive camerawork, but a real intimacy as well that makes the viewer feel very close to Jackson Silva, wanting to offer him some hope. If you liked the Sam Elliott drama The Hero, you'll probably like this too.

The Solid Gold Cadillac
The creative forces behind Guys and Dolls, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Bell Book and Candle provide the amazing Judy Holliday with another winning comedy vehicle called The Solid Gold Cadillac that provides non-stop laughs from opening to closing credits.

Holliday lights up the screen as Laura Partridge, a struggling actress who inherits 10 shares of stock in a large company called International Projects, LTD and immediately starts attending the annual stockholder meetings. Her constant questions to the board force the board to try and silence her by giving her a fake job at the company. Unfortunately, Laura finds out simultaneously what the board is doing at the same time she finds out that International Projects was responsible for a stockholder's husband losing his job at a company International owns.

After my recent viewing of It Should Happen to You, I became curious about the rest of Holliday's resume. The screenplay by Abe Burrows, George S Kaufmann, and Howard Teichmann is a razor sharp satire of big business and Washington Politics and how the lines between the same can blur as a woman whose initial pursuit of self-preservation not only gets her caught in the middle a huge scandal that waffles through New York and DC, but finds our heroine in a romance with the much older former chairman of the board, played with the perfect combination of bluster, befuddlement, and sincerity by Paul Douglas.

Once again, Holliday is allowed to create a character who appears to be a dumb blonde on the surface, but she really isn't. Laura Patridge is not dumb, but she knows when she's being lied to and has no qualms about saying what she has to say to learn what she wants to know. I've talked in other reviews about movie characters whose brains are removed in order to make the story work, but in this case, Laura's brain is slowly revealed in bits and pieces in order to make the story work, including the surprising chemistry between Holliday and Douglas, making a romantic relationship we never see coming totally viable.

Richard Quine's sparkling direction is respectful to a story that managed to keep a grin on my face for the entire running time, even if it is a bit far-fetched. Holliday and Douglas receive solid support from John Williams, Fred Clark, Ray Collins, Arthur O'Connell, Neva Patterson in supporting roles. And if you pay attention, you'll catch Richard Deacon from The Dick Van Dyke Show in a small role as Douglas' assistant and George Burns as the narrator. Sweet-natured comedy romance that will induce cheers.

Red Rocket
The creative force behind 2017's The Florida Project tackles some equally edgy subject matter in 2021's Red Rocket, an uncompromising and often ugly blue collar drama anchored by a ferocious, Oscar-worthy performance from its leading man, playing a character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

This is the story of Mikey, who we are introduced to riding a bus, with bruises on his face and nothing but the clothes on his back, enroute to the sleepy Texas hamlet where he grew up. Mikey is returning home from Los Angeles where he spent the last two decades working in the porn industry. Upon his return, it's obvious that everyone in town knows him, but aren't thrilled about his return. After talking his wife and mother-in-law into letting him move back in with them, he begins supporting them by selling weed and simultaneously drifts into an affair with a 17 year old girl named Strawberry who works in a donut shop.

Director and co-screenwriter Sean Baker has crafted a squirm-worthy morality tale around a character with no moral barometer at all. Mikey's slime factor is revealed almost immediately as we see him talk his way back into his wife's house. It's clear that his wife, Lexi, was severely burned durinig their marriage (though we don't get any backstory there). Sadly, she seems to forget all about it when he puts a wad of cash he made selling weed in her hand to pay the rent.

We really want to like Mikey but it becomes more and more impossible as the story progresses, as we see him use and abuse just about everyone in his orbit. Not to mention, because of the way he arrived in town, we expect his past in LA to catch up with him, but that doesn't happen. What does happen is a dark turn in his life from which there can be no redemption, and in a refreshing change of pace in films like this, Mikey gets exactly what's coming to him, even if it takes a little longer than it should. I will admit the final shot of the film took me out of the undeniable reality of the story and I have to admit I don't really understand the title either. It should also be mentioned considering the subject matter, that we do get full frontal Mikey here, so be forewarned if that sort of thing is offensive to you.

Simon Rex, who I haven't seen onscreen since Scary Movie 3, blazes across the screen in a frighteningly unhinged performance that recalls some of the strongest work of Jack Nicholson, making this undeniably greasy character completely riveting. The eye opening performances from Bree Elrod as Lexi and Suzanna Son as Strawberry are equally captivating. It's Baker's in-your-face direction and Rex's blazing performance that are the main reasons the viewer does become enveloped in this mean-spirited story.

I loved The Florida Project, so I'll definitely keep an eye out for that one.

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I liked The Florida Project too.

Gang Related
Despite overheated direction and a spotty screenplay, the 1997 crime drama Gang Related is still worth a look thanks to a solid cast, including the final movie for the late Tupac Shakur.

Davinci (Jim Belushi) and Rodrigues (Shakur) are a pair of dirty cops trying to make some money out of a big time drug drug dealer and end up murdering him. The murder case falls in their laps and they learn that the guy was really an undercover DEA agent. Davinci and Rodrigues decide the only way to protect themselves is to set upsomeone else for the crime. After lame attempts to entrap thugs with proven records don't work, they decide to pin the murder on a homeless man named Joe.

Director and screenwriter Jim Kouf (Stakeout) has provided a difficult assignment for the audience here, trying to make us like a couple of central characteres who really don't deserve to be liked. It does become a little clearer as the film progresses that though they are both on the take, there are differences between these two guys and there are lines that one of them are not willing to cross, creating a break betweem an initial allegiance betwee Davinic and Rodrigues which initally appears unbreakble.

The plot thickens about midway when we learn Davinci has thrown his stripper girlfriend under the bus to get out of this and we learn exactly who this homeless guy really is, taking the story to a direction we didn't see coming. i did love the early scenes of the partners trying to set up known criminals for the crime and the way they seduced the homeless guy into believing he did what they said was really kind of stomach turning.

Belusi and Shakur are first rate, with surprisingly solid work from Belushi, channeling Willis and DeNiro in his bringing this character to life. Shakur lights up the screen in his final film and Gary Cole, David Paymer, and James Earl Jones also score in supporting roles. LOVED Dennis Quaid in a gut-wrenching turn as homeless Joe, but Wendy Crewson was a bit much channeling Marsha Clark as the DA. Nothing special here, but some solid entertainment provided and a treat for Tupac fans.

The Batman
Not since The Dark Knight Rises have I found myself more completely enveloped in a comic book movie as I was by 2022's The Batman, the ultimate re-imagining of a cinematic legacy that seems to push all other visions of this character aside in favor of recreating a new character trapped by his personal demons. though the film is almost damaged by its severe overlength.

In this new take on classic characters we've come to know and love, The Riddler begins methodically murdering important political figures in Gotham City, including the Mayor and as Batman is approached for assistance by Jim Gordon, he finds himself getting an up close and personal look into government corruption and how his family might have played a key role in its genesis.

I was initially hesitant about watching this film, despite its 8.3 IMDB rating, because it seemed that no one on this site who watched it seemed to like it, but decided to give it a go anyway. Director and co-screenwriter Matt Reeves (War of the Planet of the Apes) has scrapped everything we've been told about these characters down to skeletal remains and started from scratch. The early moment in the film where he dispatches some subway street toughs who ask who he is, instead of the famous, "I'm Batman", he whispers "I'm vengeance." From that moment on, I knew I wasn't in store for just another rehash of the franchise.

The story structure is impressive, despite some really cliched dialogue. The story sets up the title character as some sort of evil vigilante who is an enemy of Gotham City, with Jim Gordon his only ally. We never get a transition where the people of Gotham City start trusting our tortured hero. And that's another thing that's different here. The Batman character seems to have some serious demons going on in his head, partially from the death of his parents, but there seems to be a lot more going on here. This hero has been so seriously shredded by his past that he seems more comfortable as the dangerous vigilante Batman than he is as Bruce Wayne. If memory serves, the character doesn't have more than five minutes of screentime as Bruce Wayne and his time as Batman displays little or no socialization skills, which had a stomach-churning effect on the story.

The Riddler becomes equally squirm-worthy as his demons reveal a possible childhood connection to Bruce Wayne. The final act confrontation betweem Batman and the Riddler was a little over the top, but bone-chilling nonetheless. We are also introduced to Selena Kyle, in her pre-Catwoman days and her relationship with Batman in this story is a little on the ambiguous side, but there is a sexual tension between the pair that both are fighting.

Reeves mounts some spectacular action sequences in this film, especially a car chase on the wrong side of a highway and the spectacular water finale at Gotham Square Garden. Production values are first rate, with standout cinematography, music, makeup, and sound. The weird thing is this film was definitely too long, but I'm not sure what I would have taken out.

Robert Pattinson's dark and shredded Caped Crusader is the most frightening interpretation of the character I have ever seen. Also loved Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Peter Skarsgaard as the DA, Colin Farrell, compeltely unrecognizable in an Oscar-worthy makeup job as Oz, and John Turturro as Carmine. The real scene stealer, as he always is though, was Paul Dano as the Riddler, in a dizzying and dazzling turn that made all previous riddlers pale in comparison and even gave Heath Ledger's joker a run for its money. This guy is long overdue for an Oscar nomination. It's a time commitment, but there is solid and disturbing entertainment here.

A Bug's Life
The same year that Disney Dreamworks released Antz, Disney Pixar released the similar, yet superior A Bug's Life, which provided more laughs than the Dreamworks film thanks to a bigger variety of colorful characters, meticulous detail for some amazing set pieces, and a perfect voice cast.

As this 1998 animated adventure opens, we are introduced to a colony of ants, led by Princess Atta (voiced by Julia Louis Dreyfuss) and her mother the Queen (voiced by Phyllis Diller) who work tirelessly as indentured servants gathering food for an evil grasshopper named Hopper (voiced by Kevin Spacey). After a season of gathering concludes, a well-intentioned but inept ant named Flik (voiced by Dave Foley) messes up the food supply and the ants have to do it all over again. After being threatened by Hopper, Princess Atta decides to get Flik out of the way by sending him to search for some bug warriors to keep the ants safe from Hopper and his fellow grasshoppers. Flik's journey for warriors finds him seeking help from a rundown circus, who think they are getting jobs with another circus, but are not too thrilled when they realize exactly what Flik wants from them

Avoided this film for years because, on the surface, it just appeared to be a rehash of Antz, which I had already seen, but it turned out to be anything but. The screenplay by John Lasseter (Toy Story) and Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) is a delicious combination of entertaining bug characters and clever dialogue, manifested from a story that touches on universal themes and even world history that is just so masterfully crafted into an animated fantasy that, as always with Disney Pixar, is a little more complex than necessary, but one of the most entertaining aspects of this film is the canvas established by the animators.

I loved the way this move looked. I loved the way ordinary things in nature and ordinary objects were utilized as set pieces here. Loved the restaurant with bottle caps for tables and a beer bottle substituting for the jumbo tron in Times Square, or the boxes of animal crackers that became circus wagons. Flik's first journey over a rock formation via a dandelion was amazing. The attack of the giant red and yellow parakeet was genuinely frightening and I loved the construction of the "trojan" parakeet. And there must have been a couple of million different ways leaves became props in this story.

Another thing that made this film superior to Antz is that the story didn't whittle away to a romance between Flik and Atta. It's clear from their first scene together that Flik has a crush on Princess Atta, but it didn't become the focus of the entire film. Though I loved that moment when their antennae got tangled, which produced just a spark of sexual tension.

As always with Disney Pixar, I loved the voicework with standout work from Spacey, Dreyfuss, Diller, Richard Kind as Hopper's brother, Denis Leary as a ladybug, Madeline Kahn as Gypsy Moth, and David Hyde Pierce as a stick named Slim. Splashy and fast-paced entertainment from Disney Pixar.

A Happening of Monumental Proportions
Actress Judy Greer made her directorial debut with a 2017 oddity called A Happening of Monumental Proportions, a multiple story black comedy that doesn't live up to its pretentious title, but might be worth a look thanks to a really interesting cast.

The story covers 24 hours at a Los Angeles middle school and the bizarre storylines that interweave with each other. We are introduced to a charming widower who has managed to take time off his job to appear at his daughter's career day. His daughter finds herself romantically pursued by a socially challenged kid named Darius who resents his single dad because his job has them moving constantly. Mr. McRow is the severely depressed music teacher with mother issues and the principal of the school finds herself having to deal with one of the school's janitors being found dead on the school grounds and trying to hide the body in the teacher's lounge.

Gary Lundy is also making his screen debut as a writer, bringing us a confusing hodgepodge of oddball characters. Most of the characters either do a weird 180 or are presented as totally likable and then given a squirm worthy wrinkle after we learn to like them. Right after we fall in love with the single dad psyched for career day, we watch him receive a phone call from the husband of the woman with whom he's having an affair. The story features a lot of physical comedy that really doesn't amuse, especially the knock down drag out fight between the single dad and his boss during the final act.

Greer has been in this business for decades and it is probably the respect she has earned in this business over the years that allowed her to assemble the impressive cast she did for this messy black comedy. Common was an offbeat choice of casting for the single dad that totally worked. There is also standout work from Bradley Whitford as Common's boss, Jennifer Garner as the married object of Common's affections, Allison Janney as the school principal, Rob Riggle as the vice principal, Storm Reid as Common's daughter, and though you have to wait until the end of the film for it, there's a fantastic cameo from Keanu Reeves that almost makes the rest of the film worth sitting through. Fortunately, Greer had the foresight to keep the film under 90 minutes.

Gloria (1980)
The late John Cassavetes and his cinematic muse, Gena Rowlands, knocked it out of the park with 1980's Gloria, a crackerjack crime drama that had this reviewer riveted to the screen, primarily due to one of the most kick-ass female movie heroines ever seen.

Written and directed by Cassavetes, this is the story of a mild-mannered mob accountant named Jack Dawn (Buck Henry) who knows his bosses are after him because of a book in his possession that they will kill to get back. Jack finds time to give the book to his six year old son, Phil, telling him to never give the book to anybody and to "be a man." Before the wiseguys come calling, Jack's wife asks her friend and neighbor, Gloria Swenson (Rowlands) to look after Phil for her. Phil's family is brutally murdered trying to find the book and when Gloria realizes that these guys are part of her own past, she realizes she has no choice but to go on the run with the boy.

Cassavetes has crafted a compelling story here that doesn't rely on too much backstory, instead letting pieces of backstory reveal itself as the story continues forward motion. Love the way as the story moves along, it is revealed that most of the guys who are chasing Gloria and this boy already know Gloria, bringing an unexpected complexity to their assignment and actually making things a little easier for Gloria, allowing her to stay a step ahead of them for most of the running time.

Even though he also wrote the screenplay, Cassavetes also found a way to allow his unscripted, free form direction to shine in a couple of scenes. The surprise was that the two scenes that felt truly free form were left in the hand of young John Adames, who made his only film appearance in the role of film. The scene near the beginning where he's screaming that "he's the man" and when he's calling her names as Gloria goes into a bar really felt like Cassavtes out the scenes in the young actor's hands.

It should also be noted that the character of Phil is often hard to connect to because he's all over the place, but in mostly a believable fashion. We get the impression that Phil is never really sure how much danger's he in and one minute he wants nothing to do with Gloria and the next, he won't let her out of his sight. There's a terrific scene where she keeps trying to walk away from him, fed up with his antics, and he runs after her, wrapping his arms around her. He does it like three times and the scene, though done with no dialogue, efficiently documents the relationship between the characters. The scenes on the subway had a similar effect...my heart actually stopped when they got separated on the subway.

Gena Rowlands gives a powerhouse performance in the starring role which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination (she lost to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter). Critics were sharply divided regarding Adames performance as Phil, which does grate on the nerves a bit. He actually won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor that year and never made another film. Also loved Bill Conti's atmospheric music, but it's Rowlands and Cassavetes that keep this one on sizzle. Remade in 1999 with Sharon Stone in the title role.

X (2022)
The 2022 thriller X is a stomach-churning, cringe-worthy melange of sex and violence that originally seems to be a re-thinking of the Friday the 13th franchise, but this film goes to so many dark and ugly places that few films have tread that I wanted to turn this off several times, but morbid curiosity somehow got me through to the closing credits.

It's 1979 and a group of young people are travelling in a van to a small town in Texas where they have rented an isloated farmhouse so that they can make a porno film called "The Farmer's Daughters." The owners of the farmhouse, who are well into their 80's, don't know what these people are planning to do, but when they figure it out, these young filmmakes find themselves amid the most twisted and terrifying battle for their lives.

Director and screenwriter Ti West has taken the classic slasher movie premise and woven into the screenplay a challenging look at sexual mores that doesn't just address the inpropriety of pre-marital sex, but actually seems to be addressing the concept of equating sex with sin, utilizing a black and white religious program as a set piece and sounding board for the story.

West's direction shows definite DePalma, and Craven influence as, once the story gets rolling, he shows a real skill with building suspense and the immediate "Boo" that were quite instrumental in keeping this reviewer invested, despite the fact that there were a lot of images onscreen that just turned my stomach.

West gets first rate assistance from his editor and cinematographer and some solid performances from Maritn Davidson, Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth, and an eye-opening turn from Brittany Snow. There's some real skill behind the camera here, but the subject matter is so disgusting, it's hard to tell.

Mulan (1998)
Disney put another strong and independent heroine at the center of a 1998 musical gem called Mulan that provides solid family entertainment, despite the same minor issues that plague other Disney classics like this one.

The title character is a young Chinese woman (speaking voice Ming-Na Wen; singing voice Lea Solonga) who is being trained to be a bride, but fails miserably. The Chinese army is preparing for war against the Huns and announce that one male from every family in China must join the military and fight. Mulan's father agrees to join the army, even though he is lame and elderly. In order to save her father's life, Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man and join the army with the aid of a miniature dragon named Mushu (voiced by Eddie Murphy) who fights her attraction to the recently appointed young military leader Shang (speaking voice BD Wong; singing voice Donny Osmond).

The story is a little mature for the normal demographic Disney reaches for and there is a definite sexist leaning to the story in order to set up Mulan being a woman in a man's world. Exposition showing Mulan's disinterest in being a bride and establishing a cricket as being lucky goes on too long. Like another Disney classic, Pocohontas, the power of this piece is diluted with too much animal comic relief. Mushu is funny but has a little too much screentime and we could have done without the lucky cricket completely.

I did like that during the opening scenes, Mulan was not purposely fighting the kind of lifestyle that she was being set up for and does what she does because she wants to save her father, not because being a soldier is her life's desire. And just like in films like Victor/Victoria and Yentl, it's a little hard to believe that Mulan gets away with being a man as long as she does, but it's easier to accept here because it's animation.

Even though the story is not exactly musical-friendly, the songs do work, especially "Honor of us All", "Reflection", "Ill Make You a Man", and "A Girl Worth Fighting For."

Loved the climactic avalanche that initiates the beginning of the end. Wen, Murphy, and Wong do solid voice work and get solid support from Miguel Ferrer, James Hong, Harvey Fierstein, and Pat Morita in smaller roles. Just like Pocohontas, it would have been nice if the writers trusted the strength of their story without the comic relief.

Ambulance
Michael Bay, the director of some of our most famous action adventure classics, goes a little over the top with 2022's Ambulance, an often heart-stopping adventure that defies logic at every turn, rich with "Aw, come on" moments", that will provide entertainment for action fans as long as they don't think about it too much and just strap themselves in for the ride.

Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a financially strapped war vet fresh home from Afghanistan, who is drowning in bills because his baby had life-saving surgery from cancer. In order to take care of some bills, Will agrees to assist his brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) in robbing a bank. Unfortunately, the robbery goes terribly wrong with Will shooting a cop (Jackson White). In order to escape, Will and Danny hijack an ambulance, taking a tough as nails EMT worker (Eliza Gonzalez) and the wounded cop as hostages, along with $16,000,000.

This film is actually a theatrical version of a 2005 Danish film called Ambulancen and since the last Gyllenhaal film I saw, The Guilty, was also based on a foreign film, I thought there would be some sort of connection, but those who saw The Guilty this is definitrly not the case.

Michael Bay fans willl be heaven here because this is the kind of story the man can produce in his sleep, but I just found myself having difficulty accepting a lot of what happens here in a context of realism. I loved the way the film opened...Will kisses his wife and baby goodbye, lying that he is enroute to a job interview. Once Will and Danny hijack that ambulance, this story just becomes a little hard to believe. I couldn't believe the entire LAPD could not get control of this ambulance because their pursuit of the vehicle was almost immediate, it's not like Danny and Will had this huge head start. I found it hard to believe that this cop somehow stayed alive as long as he did, and I almost checked out when Will and the EMT had to perform surgery, on the cop, while the ambulance was careening down the highway at 60 MPH.

There were some nice touches in the story that I didn't see coming though...the arrival of an FBI agent on the scene who had history with Danny and provided us with his rap sheet bringing the story to another level and especially an extremely effective moment when Will gets a phone call from is wife wanting to know why the interview is taking so long while she is watching the events on TV, blissfully unaware of hubby's involvment.

Once Will leaves for his "job Interview", Bay provides us with heart-stopping action, though I think investing in the realism of the situation could have been aided by a shorter running time. Jake Gyllenhall is electrifying in a performance that reminded me of a demented John McLane and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was so good last year as Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a perfect mix of power and vulnerability as Will. Mention should also be made of Garrett Dillahunt as Captain Monroe, A Martinez as Danny's old friend, Papi, and especially Keir O'Donnell as the FBI agent. Can't believe this was the same guy who played Todd in Wedding Crashers. If action fans put their brain in check, there is fun to be had here.

Speedway
Elvis Presley had one of his most lackluster vehicles with a tiresome musical from 1968 called Speedway.

Elvis plays Steve Jackson, a good-natured race car driver who has put a little too much trust in his womanizing manager, Kenny (Bill Bixby), whose questionable handling of Steve's money has gotten Steve in serious trouble with the IRS. So serious that the government's most feared agency sends a pretty blonde agent (Nancy Sinatra) to track Steve down and personally garnish his wages and you can probably figure it out from there.

The screenplay by television writer Phil Shuken is silly, once again finding Elvis playing something other than a singer, who happens to sing, giving our hero a chance to belt out a tune every ten minutes. Not a lot of knowledge about the IRS on display either. It's doubtful that someone with serious IRS debt would be allowed to deter some of the debt in order to help a former driver who lives in his car with his five daughters.

A lot of the appeal of this film was probably due to the casting of Nancy Sinatra as Elvis' leading lady. Other than Ann-Margret, Sinatra is the only Presley leading lady who was given a solo in the film (which I bet was a term of Sinatra agreeing to do the film) called "Your Own Groovy Self" was written by Lee Hazelwood, who wrote Sinatra's biggest hit "These Boots are Made for Walking". The number, like the rest of Nancy's performance is nothing to write home about. There's also a bizarre number in the office of the IRS called "He's Your Uncle Not Your Dad" that defies description. Elvis also had a couple of nice solos like "Let Yourself Go" and "Who are You Who am I".

Norman Taurog's direction and attention to production values is lazy. The movie moved at a snail's pace and I swear every time a male character, other than Elvis', had to sing, it sounded like they were all dubbed by the same singer. The sound editing in the fight scenes sounded like something out of the 1930's. I expected more from a veteran like Taurog and more from Elvis.

The Devil You Know
Despite a solid acting ensemble at its center, the 2022 film The Devil You Know is an overheated family drama that methodically collapses under its fuzzy screenplay and melodramatic direction.

Omar Epps stars as Marcus Cowans, a recovering alcoholic with a criminal past who is trying to get his life back on track with a new job, AA meetings, and a new girlfriend. Marcus gives his brother, Drew, a ride home one night when he is too drunk to drive. While in his brother's apartment, Marcus sees a collection of baseball cards that he recognizes as having gone missing from a home invasion/double suicide he saw on the news a couple of months ago . He questions Drew about the cards, whose flimsy explanation about their presence motivates Marcus to make a move that affects his entire family.

Director and screenwriter Charles Murray has apparently adapted a fact-based story for the screen, something we really don't learn until the end of the movie. It doesn't change the fact that this screenplay is all over the place as we watch this guy Drew watch his entire family suffer than go on the record on what happened on this invasion, despite the fact that he wasn't directly involved. We not only see Marcus lose his new girlfriend over this, but we see his brother, Anthony, lose his job. We see the family patriarch (Glynn Turman) suffer a heart attack that puts him in the hospital and a dumb as box of rocks detective (Michael Ealy) have this home invasion case practically fall in his lap and still unable to make an arrest.

The secondary story of Marcus and his new girlfriend, Eva, was equally aggravating because during the first 30 minutes of this movie, we watch this girl practically throw herself at Marcus, but the second the police come sniffing around, she goes screaming into the night. Then after Marcus gets thrown the under the bus, she wants to come crawling back.

Murray spoon-feeds this story with lethargic direction that makes this movie seem six hours long. Though this reviewer found himself stifling the occasional yawn, Omar Epps is an actor always worth watching and he's no exception here. Kudos to William Catlett as Drew, Curtiss Cook as Anthony, Vanessa Bell Calloway as the boys' mother and Theo Russell as the psychotic Al. A tighter screenplay and a director more trusting of his story and his audience would have helped here. Epps and Ealy are also credited as executive producers.