4K Review: “Venom: The Last Dance”

 

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock, the iconic anti-hero and host of the symbiote Venom, in the thrilling conclusion to the Venom trilogy. As Eddie and Venom face mounting threats from both human and alien forces, the duo must make a heart-wrenching decision that will mark the end of their chaotic partnership. Available now in a stunning 4K UHD Blu-ray edition from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Venom: The Last Dance delivers the high-octane action and humor fans have come to expect from this beloved Marvel character.

Venom: The Last Dance continues the chaotic saga of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiote counterpart, Venom. While it doesn’t break new ground in the series, it delivers the high-energy action and humor fans love. If you’re a fan of the previous films or just in the mood for an action-packed ride, this movie provides plenty of thrills.

The film’s standout feature is the chemistry between Eddie and Venom. Tom Hardy returns as Eddie and voices Venom, creating a dynamic filled with humor and chaos. Their bickering, dysfunctional relationship remains a highlight, adding both comedy and action as they navigate their wild, unpredictable journey.

The introduction of a new villain is dramatic and theatrical, but the film doesn’t spend too much time on backstory. Instead, Venom: The Last Dance keeps the pace fast and the action intense. The special effects, particularly Venom’s transformations and fight sequences, are top-tier, keeping the focus on spectacle rather than deep storytelling.

While the movie has some pacing issues—sometimes feeling rushed between scenes—it’s clear that fans are more here for the action than a character-driven plot. If you’re looking for a deeper emotional exploration of Eddie, you might be disappointed. But for those craving excitement and humor, the film delivers in spades.

In the end, Venom: The Last Dance is exactly what fans of the franchise want: a fun, wild ride full of action and laughs. Tom Hardy’s performance anchors the film, and while it’s not a life-changing experience, it’s entertaining from start to finish. If you’ve enjoyed the previous films, this one won’t disappoint—sit back and enjoy the symbiote chaos. I found myself loving the film!

 

 

VIDEO

Venom looks absolutely stunning on 4K! Especially with Dolby Vision. The details and colors are top notch. Easily a demo-worthy title.
SOUND

Sony’s Dolby Atmos sound is amazing. The soundtrack is loud, energetic, and totally immersive, adding excitement to every scene with powerful sound effects. Lots of Low end frequencies (Bass). If you’re in an Apartment, you may get a knock on your door from neighbors!

Final Thoughts

Whereas I enjoyed the first Venom film and loathed Let There Be Carnage. I felt that Last Dance wrapped up Venom and Eddie’s story arc in a nice and sloppy bow. The 4K UHD Blu-ray has great video and audio specs. The special features and amazing steelbook design wrap up the the overall package quite nicely. Will we see the big guy ever again? Never say never on this one. I highly recommend Vemon The Last Dance!

FILM ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

VIDEO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SOUND ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXTRAS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blu-ray Review: “Here”

 

 

 

Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, HERE is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, Back to the Future) directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune: Part One, A Star is Born) and him. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, TOM HANKS and ROBIN WRIGHT star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life all of which happen right Here.

Here tells an incredibly simple tale.  The story is centered in literally one spot.  The camera does not move, but time does.  When the film opens, we are in prehistoric times. Dinosaurs are passing by and the big bang occurs.  As time evolves, we see Native Americans living off of their land.  Then colonial times come forth.  Further down the line, we see the gilded age, the past becoming the present as frames place themselves everywhere on-screen showing different things, sometimes from other times.

Here is not told in a linear style.  Something that will make the film a difficult watch for some viewers is that there’s a lot of jumping around. One moment, you’re spending time with Tom Hanks’s Richard Young, or even before that, his parents. They have purchased the house from another couple, an inventor and a housewife.  We see glimpses of the inventor making his invention.  We also see the other inhabitants of the home before and after the Young family.

Interestingly, Richard never does leave his parents.  His father (Paul Bettany) is surly and drinks, while his mother (Kelly Reilly) can at times be forgetful, but this is usually brushed off.  When Richard brings home Margaret (Robin Wright), his parents enthusiastically welcome her into the family.  For the story’s sake, Richard and Margaret get pregnant and then have to get married in the living room.  Before this occurs, we see Benjamin Franklin pass by in a carriage, as we see his New Jersey become more modernized.  Eventually, Richard and Margaret move on from the house, and a new family moves in, only to be devasted by the loss of someone close to them from Covid, and then in turn, moving out of the house, making it possible for Richard and Margaret to have one more moment in that living room, where even after they’ve left, we never have.

Here deals with a lot of things in one space.  Before the house is built, we see things developing and evolving and changing.  As the house comes together, we see the different types of people moving in and out.  The first people living in the house turn their noses up at it, feeling that is isn’t good enough, and hating that Ben Franklin is their neighbor, stating that he lives in a monstrosity.  The next family are more modern and modest, with the husband showing interest in being adventurous with the newly honed skill of flight, and his wife waiting at home for him all the time. The inventor and his wife are next, and they’re the most interesting to me, even more so than Richard and his brood.  They are bohemian, playing jazz music, dancing, having fun… they are lively! After Richard’s family moves out, the last family leading up to 2024 moves in.  This is the only family that seems to be wealthy moves in, and also the only family of color too.

Here is not lost on characters or decent acting.  The premise is interesting in a way also.  It can also be emotional depending on how you feel about tales of love, struggle, loss, and life paths crossing.  It also depends on your patience on films whose scenes take place in much the same space for their duration.  In the case of Here, the camera doesn’t even move.  For some, this could become tedious.  I think it’s safe to say you can put me in the group of the “some” in that respect.

Here comes to the screen with a clear idea of the story it wants to tell, but unfortunately, what was released feels muddled.  The pacing is snail-like, and unfortunately the reliance on CGI, including fully rendered CGI characters, makes the whole experience feel false and cold.  I would have loved to see the film further fleshed out.  I could see the film using the house more and following its characters from every era around the house, and not just sticking to the living room.  I have no doubt those reading this will say that this voids the purpose of the film, but if we stay in the house, it’s still utilizing the point of Here and fleshing it out a bit by moving you and the characters around the home to make it less static.

Since I am a person who reviews films and does not make them, I can share my opinion, but I don’t dare believe I could write a capable film.  As a person in the audience, I do have to say that for me this continues a disappointing downturn in Robert Zemeckis’s career.  You can see his desire to innovate but things feel so stagnant, made worse by a camera that doesn’t move.  I can’t place the blame solely on Zemeckis though.  There Is also Eric Roth, who not only wrote Forrest Gump, but also Dune Pt. 1, Killers of the Flower Moon and a TON of other films.  This doesn’t even feel like something he’d write.  It’s so stalely written, moving in random ways from one bland moment to the next.  Save for the inventor and his wife (Spoiler: He invents the Lay-Z Boy), this movie is not one I can see gaining much of an audience despite the pull of having Tom Hanks starring and reuniting so many people who worked together on Forrest Gump.  It’s a shame too, because I know I’m not alone in my desire to see all of those involved here celebrating the success of their newest cinematic experiment.

SPECIAL FEATURES

How We Got Here (The Making of HERE) – A 20 Minute Documentary talking about the cast, crew and writer reuniting for the film, and the execution of the film.

Deleted Scenes – About 10 minutes in total, nothing essential, but interesting!

Final thoughts:

HERE is a film you’ll either love or despise. Although I enjoyed the 1080p picture and Dolby Surround Sound, I found myself getting a bit frustrated because the camera never moves (until the end). It’s admirable that Zemeckis continues to push the technical envelope each time he makes a film, but a film’s technical aspect is one thing. To move a film watcher with an engrossing story is most important. I would guess the ones who truly love this film are either Zemeckis fans or those who relish in seeing Hanks and Wright again in a film role.

Film ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Video ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extras ⭐️⭐️

Blu-Ray Review: “Nosferatu”

Starring: Bill Skarsard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Rated: R
Running Time: 132 minutes
Focus Features

Our Score: 4 out of 5 Stars
Blu-Ray Score: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

One of the biggest questions for me heading into Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” was how he would handle the undead title character. Would we see a harkening to the quiet evil of the 1922 version or something akin to Werner Herzog’s nuanced version in 1979? Having recently watched both in the past year, I realized as soon as Nosferatu was spotted that Eggers had done his homework, adding a dash and splash from each into Bill Skarsard’s version of Count Orlok. Thankfully, that isn’t the only storytelling blend that Eggers attempts, along with some fresh takes in the story of the undead.

Unlike prior imaginings, the 2024 version opens on Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) who already senses Count Orlok’s impending arrival deep in her soul, and probably her pants. This sense of dread could also be because her darling Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) is to actually meet the cryptic Count Orlok for a real estate deal. Thomas’ story is retread as we watch him travel to Orlok’s castle and experience horrors beyond his imagination. But the film does something curious, it constantly cuts back to Ellen, as she slowly loses sense of reality and has nightmare after nightmare of Orlok. Although at a certain point, as I hinted at earlier, you could make that argument that the nightmares become wet dreams.

If you haven’t sensed by now, the biggest change in Eggers’ vision is just how horny this film is. The sexual tension has always been there, but it’s never been this overt. The film notes that Nosferatu not only has a thirst for blood, but innocent virginal nude blood, although I doubt he’s too picky when he’s hankering for a midnight snack. The film also serves us a reminder that women weren’t generally believed, on anything, for centuries. Ellen’s treated with whichever weird medicinal practices of the time and when Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) shows up he, he actually believes Ellen, but tends to view her as a pawn in his chess battle with Count Orlok.

The film follows the originally closely enough that if you aren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t notice the subtle, yet profound differences in how the story unfolds. Fans of the originals will surely spot and mark the changes. Obviously, based on the trailer and Eggers’ other films, we weren’t about to see a more colorful and visually vibrant vampire film like the 1979 film. However, he really takes a few pages out of the Herzog vision of plague arriving in Europe. While “Nosferatu” doubles down on the darkness and the haunting shadows of Germany and Transylvania, Eggers vision is filled with evil in every nook and cranny.

It’s hard not to heap copious amounts of praise on Eggers, who has solidified himself as a modern voice in horror. While being quite longer than its predecessors, Eggers makes use of every frame, finding ways to crawl under our skin, suffocating us in Gothic horror imagery. The biggest weakness, which isn’t necessarily a flaw in the film, but is just enough for me to mention it as a reason this isn’t rated higher, is that the acting doesn’t leap off the screen as much as Count Orlok’s claw-like fingers. That’s not a huge knock against the film because so much of the film is told through visuals.

“Nosferatu” is surely going to be talked about for years, but in a year with lots of fantastic horror, it simply has to take a spot on the 2024 Mount Rushmore of horror films instead of standing tall like a monument to scary cinema. However, “Nosferatu” is Eggers best film, so far, as he takes the best components of his prior films, like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse,” to craft a menacing film that Bram Stoker himself would surely be inspired by.

Special Features:

  • EXTENDED AND THEATRICAL CUTS OF THE FILM
  • NOSFERATU: A MODERN MASTERPIECE – A look behind-the-scenes
  • BREATHING LIFE INTO A DREAM – A talk with Robert Eggers about bringing his vision to the screen
  • BECOMING COUNT ORLOK – A look at nailing Count Orlok’s look in the film
  • CAPTURING THE MOOD – A look at the Oscar-nominated cinematography of the film
  • RECREATING 1838 – A look at how the film captures the look of 1838.
  • DRESSING THE PART – A look at the film’s wardrobe
  • THE END IS JUST THE BEGINNING – A look at the film’s visual effects
  • DELETED SCENES
  • FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR ROBERT EGGERS

Blu-ray Review: “Saturday Night”

 

Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno), Saturday Night fictionalizes what happened behind the scenes during the 1975 series premiere of NBC’s long-running comedy series Saturday Night Live. It’s a well-made tribute that comes from the heart, but never really creates its own identity.  

Presented as a real time, ticking clock thriller, the film depicts the 90 or so minutes leading up to the famous moment when Chevy Chase bellowed the very first “Live from New York! It’s Saturday night!” With the camera constantly cruising the claustrophobic halls of Studio 8H, all the players who would become household names by 1976 are introduced. Lorne Michaels (played by The Fabelmans’ Gabriel LaBelle) is frantically trying to keep things together as he tries to revolutionize late night TV, while the NBC executives (Cooper Hoffman and Willem Dafoe) still aren’t convinced the show will work. The Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players — Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), and Jane Curtain (Kim Matula) — rehearse, goof around, and butt heads as they prepare to make TV history. Head writer Michael O’Donaghue (Tommy Dewey), and producer Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), who was also Michaels’ estranged wife at the time, both contribute to and attempt to shape the chaos around them. Musical director Paul Shaffer (Paul Rust), and host George Carlin(Matthew Rhys) both receive one dimensional screen time. Old guard comic Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons) makes fun of it all, and Succession’s Nicholas Braun pulls double-duty as both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman.

Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan (who collaborated on the recent Ghostbusters films) did meticulous research, interviewing everyone who was in the building on the day of the show’s premiere. As the disc’s special features reveal, some of those stories conflicted, and others took place on different days but were folded into the movie anyway, making for a jam-packed 109 minutes. Not all of it works, but there is some undeniably great craftsmanship at hand, from the luminous 16mm cinematography to the overwhelmingly impressive two-story set replicating SNL‘s famous Studio 8H — built in Atlanta for the film. Another highlight is the free-wheeling, jazzy score that was recorded live on the set by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Jon Batiste, who also doubles as Billy Preston, the very first SNL musical guest ever. Likewise, the cast was carefully selected in order to inhabit famous faces of 1975, and even the extras were auditioned in order to realistically play crew members. The performances range from effective mimicry to genuinely funny, but too much screen time is given to re-enacting famous bits (albeit in rehearsal mode), like Chase’s Weekend Update segment, Kaufman’s lip sync rendition of the Mighty Mouse theme song, and Morris’ raucous “Get Me a Shotgun” song. The originals were all really funny on SNL in 1975, but the cover versions fall flat in the context of the film. Batiste doesn’t look much like Preston, but he looks like he’s having fun. Which pretty much goes for the whole movie. Ultimately, as entertaining as some moments are, Saturday Night’s main issue is that it’s a fairly conventional, even predictable look at what was a very unconventional and unpredictable time.

The special features include an audio commentary, and two worthwhile featurettes that go behind the scenes, explaining the film’s genesis, the casting process, the incredible production design, complicated choreography, and more. There’s also some fun Super 8 footage of the cast on set, and a handful of too-brief promotional clips called Creating Comedy Icons. Strangely, there’s a separate doc about Batiste’s score, but it’s just over a minute long. What’s the point of that?

The commentary is the disc’s highlight. Reitman takes us through all aspects of the film’s origins and production process, and is joined by cinematographer Eric Steelberg, production designer Jess Gonchor, and costumer designer Danny Glicker. With Reitman acting as a de facto moderator, each contributor speaks about their particular involvement when the film presents opportunities, instead of just all talking at once. The track is conversational, insightful, well paced and well organized.

Lastly, I would recommend this film to die hard fans of the beloved SNL show. New onlookers who are not familiar (and not too many would fall in this category) with SNL would probably still enjoy the film (as I personally did) because of its hilarity. Picture and sound are great as they should be since this is a new release. 

Picture ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extras ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Out of 5 stars 

4K Review: “Twisters”

 

Those pesky cyclones of destruction return for Lee Isaac Chung’s sequel-in-spirit Twisters. An indirect followup to the ‘90s fan-favorite disaster flick, we find a new generation of tornado chasers with Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos on the hunt to tame the most destructive force on the planet. On 4K UHD Twisters wins with an excellent Dolby Vision / Atmos combo and plenty of extra features.

 

If Hollywood loves to do one thing it’s make the same movie again with twice the budget. If there’s a thing most sequels lack it is originality. It’s easier to play it safe, do a version of the same thing again, shell out a gargantuan amount of cash, and hope audiences go for it. They do that because most often it works… unless they turn it into a jukebox musical. Now with Jan de Bont’s Twister, the film was a modest albeit not HUGE hit at the box office. It made money, but the film also wrapped things up well enough that a sequel wasn’t altogether needed or necessary. Attempts were made, but indy-darling Lee Isaac Chung got Twisters to the big screen without any returning original characters. In our sort-of pseudo-sequel, we have intrepid would-be tornado-tamer Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) living in New York. Years earlier she was part of a team of chasers with the dream of being able to stop a tornado, but tragedy destroyed their group. Now fellow survivor Javi (Anthony Ramos) turns up with new tech and an opportunity for redemption if Kate comes back to Oklahoma. But the chasing game has changed. On the scene are any number of amateur storm chasers including the YouTube famous Tornado Wrangler Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) ready to chase down the biggest twisters.

 

It’s weird to think of Twister as a franchise now, but it is. A long time coming, there were several attempts over the last 28 years to get a new film up the funnel. As he effectively edged into writing and directing, Bill Paxton had his own idea based on the notorious 1925 tri-state tornado that killed nearly 700 people. The plot would have been similar to this sequel where Paxton would be back behind the wheel of the red Dodge Ram with a space-aged material designed to stop tornadoes. But that pitch sadly didn’t get far before his untimely death. Then as of a few years ago Helen Hunt had her own plan to write and direct a sequel – but I’m not entirely sure of the plot, but obviously that didn’t get picked up. And now we have this spiritual sequel from director Lee Isaac Chung and writers Mark L. Smith and Joseph Kosinski (Maverick). I call this a spiritual sequel because it doesn’t pick up where the last one left off. It doesn’t feature any of the original characters, but this one doesn’t entirely ignore the first film either. During the very exciting opening sequence, we see a “field-tested” Dorthy 5 hooked up to Kate’s barrels of absorbent polymer to get important data. And that’s all the acknowledgment this film offers of the original. Unlike so damn many recent legacy sequels, this one isn’t saturated with constant callbacks or nostalgia bombs. It’s certainly not entirely original, but it wisely doesn’t try to do the exact same plot twice. I mean both films are about people trying to give tornados a scientific instrument suppository, but how they achieve that mission is very different.

 

Best of all, it’s just as cornball, it’s just as silly, and just as much fun as the first. What I really enjoyed about Twisters was how it ramped up the amount of death and property destruction. Each tornado gets bigger and more deadly with people caught in the path and sucked up to meet their makers. With the big budget and advancements in visual effects, they could afford to do more destructive chaos right through to a thrilling climax at a small-town movie theater. That said, what holds this one back is we’ve seen CGI tornadoes before. There’s already a sense of familiarity going into this film and even with bigger more deadly and more flammable tornadoes, Twisters just can’t quite muster up the same sense of dread and primal terror of the 1996 original. To be fair, this film has its share of great and memorable sequences, the best hits a rodeo (with a cameo from Bill Paxton’s son). Also working in this film’s favor is it avoids trying to ape the romance/drama of the Paxton/Hunt dynamic. There’s an obvious chemistry between Powell and Edgar-Jones, but this film wisely avoids going down that road again. However I personally found it more interesting regarding the plot.

 

So sure, not an incredible film, not as great as the first, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was great seeing this on IMAX with my fiancée, who actually was more excited to see it than me. And while I enjoyed the hell out of Twisters in the theater, it’s just as much fun at home with my 4K screen and Atmos rig. The action is big and loud. The characters are colorful and fun. The titular cyclones are plenty windy and destructive. About all you need for a tornado flick.

 

 PICTURE

 Smashing onto 4K disc, Twisters devours 2160p with an excellent Dolby Vision transfer. From frame one all the way through to the end, this is a crisp, clean, detailed image. Shot on 35mm and finished with a 4K Digital Intermediate, the image maintains a film-like appearance with a naturally cinematic grain structure. Fine lines, facial features, and production design details are razor-sharp. I was really impressed with how well the CGI effects appear here. Time and technology have worked in this sequel’s favor for creating some big-scale tornado destruction. A lot of effort was used to combine practical effects with digital counterparts so a lot of the time the big wow moments have true weight to them. A few pieces here and there can look a tad cartoonish – Powell running from the disabled tram car always looked janky and still does on disc. The rest of the time the film looks great. Colors are right where they need to be, big bold with great saturation. Thanks to Dolby Vision those reds, blues, and yellows really pop nicely. Whites are well-balanced against the dark ominous shadows. Again that rodeo sequence is a highlight moment that hits all those marks. All around a damn near-perfect transfer.

 

SOUND

On the audio front, Universal delivers a rousing wall-to-wall Atmos mix to match their impressive Dolby Vision transfer. I mean, it’s a disaster movie with massive tornados, it’d be a huge failing on Universal’s part to crap the bed here. I really enjoyed the mix for this one because it really played with the creepy silence that happens during a big storm where you think everything is going to be fine before all hell breaks loose. And when hell comes it hits on all channels. Shipping wind effects beautifully circulate throughout the soundscape rising upwards into the heights. Heights are thankfully not only reserved for wind or rain, any time a hapless NPC gets sucked up their screams fly into the heights. Likewise, the bursts of fireworks are a fun highlight. Dialog isn’t lost, but like any disaster movie, we’re not here for the quality of the flowery speeches, we want to enjoy the chaos on screen rattling our walls, ceilings, and floorboards! The big El Reno finale delivers all of that. As each tornado escalates in intensity, so does the mix. By the end, the LFE is rattling away while the front/center, side, rear, and height channels do their work. Crank the volume and let ‘er rip!

 

SPECIAL FEATURES

What’s particularly nice to see is Universal didn’t skimp on the extra features. You get a great director’s commentary track, some fun gag reels, some deleted scenes, and plenty of featurettes to gnaw through once the main feature is done. The commentary is probably the most informative piece you can enjoy if you’re really into “how it was done, what it took to do this, yadda yadda” but the featurettes are still enjoyable even if they lean a little more EPK fodder. The Deleted Scenes aren’t all that extensive and feel likewise pacing cuts rather than missing subplots or character development. Bonus features are on both discs.

 

FINAL WORD

I went to the theater for big tornado destruction fun and got exactly what I wanted. It helps that Lee Isaac Chung, the writers, and the solid cast actually made a solid pseudo-sequel to the 1996 original. It might not be better (but it’s more interesting), but it thankfully doesn’t repeat itself or saturate it with numbing nostalgia callbacks. Twisters has its own wildly entertaining fun to have on the big screen letting it stand alongside the original without feeling like a complete repeat. On 4K UHD, Twisters storms (pun intended) onto disc with an excellent Dolby Vision transfer with a fantastic Atmos mix to match. Tag in about an hour of genuinely interesting extra features on top of a commentary track and you’ve got a damn good home release. Highly Recommended!

 

Film ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Picture ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extras ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

(out of five stars)

4K Review: “Despicable Me 4”

 

The Despicable Me franchise has kind of had a rough ride. After the success of a pair of movies, Illumination decided to spin-off the series with a movie centered entirely around those lovable, mischievous yellow, blue-coveralled minions. While the movie performed well at the box office, it wasn’t received quite as well, and ended up being kind of a mixed bag in the end. A third Despicable Me followed, which ended up being pretty fun (although unnecessary), and then 2022 saw the return of the minions in the COVID-delayed sequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru — which actually ended up being pretty good. This takes us to 2024 where we have Despicable Me 4… and while I love these characters, I’m starting to get that Shrek Forever After vibe that the franchise may be running out of steam. I can’t even quite put my finger on what it is about Despicable Me 4 that lacks so much. Is it just more of the same? Too different? All the best parts shown in the trailer? Maybe it’s a little of all the above. In the previous movies, it was largely Gru’s show, and maybe part of the problem is there are so many characters to follow now, the focus is divided too much. Probably the best sequence of the movie is when Gru is part of a heist, and he ends up having to use the contents of a diaper bag in a clever way to get the job done. The minions are still funny, fun and lovable, but so much of their hijinks were spoiled in the trailers, that it often feels like “This? We saw this already, give us something new!” I didn’t revisit the previous movies before watching this one, so doing that may have given me more insight, but with Gru having a family now – and one that is growing, it’s starting to feel a lot like The Incredibles, and you can definitely sit down and draw more than a couple comparisons between the two movies.

This time around, we have another villain who wants revenge on Gru, and this one is voiced by comedy legend Will Ferrell. However, it really could have been anyone providing the voice of Maxime, because it sounds absolutely nothing like Ferrell. 

Clearly, he had fun with the character, but it was so hard to recognize it was him that after seeing his name in the opening credits, I was never able to pick out which character he was playing. (For example, picking out Stephen Colbert and Sofia 

Vergara was pretty easy to do.) For a kids movie, too, Maxime is a pretty intense villain. For one, it’s kind of silly to have a French villain who wants to turn people into cockroaches – including himself – and when he reveals his own physique has been mutated into a cockroach form, it’s kind of intense (and maybe a little disturbing for kids?). Another scene shows him turning a gas station attendant 

into a cockroach-human mutant, and we see his face twisted and twitching. Later, another character is transformed and threatens to kill a main character, and it’s also pretty intense for young viewers (then again, I suppose a lot of The Incredibles was too?). Not too much of the content is crude necessarily, but there’s a gag where Agnes commands her pet baby goat to sit. It then expels 

little poops, to which Agnes says, “No, I said sit!” Ha, I was a little surprised they went there.  Also, can we address the elephant in the room here? 

While it’s commonplace for shows like The Simpsons to never let the children characters age, it’s especially weird to see Gru’s adopted children not age when clearly he and Lucy have a baby now which would mean at least 2 or so years have gone 

 

Little Agnes should be considerably older – especially after the other movies are also taken into consideration in the timeline. Sure, it might be tough to see these cute characters grow, but it worked for How to Train Your Dragon, and it could possibly work here. I guess it wouldn’t be such an obvious issue if the family hadn’t added a baby to the mix, which clearly shows time has passed and their newborn is aging.

 

I suppose if you’re a diehard fan of the franchise thus far, Despicable Me 4 should scratch the itch for a new story (and a return of lovable characters), however, it just feels like its lost its spark. Steve 

Carell’s performance as Gru is on-point, and everyone else seems to be all-in here, but there wasn’t much to really draw the viewer in. Around the climax of the movie, it begins to show some heart, but it just might be too little too late, as it just isn’t enough to elevate everything that came before it. I suppose, when all is said and done,

 

Despicable Me 4 is a fairly forgettable sequel that isn’t nearly as fun as the previous films, and lacks enough heart to make up for it. If you’re a fan who’s a bit easier to please with these movies, by all means, don’t miss this one. But if you’re a bit pickier, and was maybe a little on the fence about the other Despicable movies, you should probably just pass it by.

VIDEO

Despicable Me 4 is a gorgeous looking animated film. When they show clips from the previous three (especially the first one) during the featurettes, it’s amazing to see just how far the quality of animation has evolved. With that said, the color really pops with this movie in 4K, so it’s pretty much a no-brainer when deciding whether or not to spring for the 4K release or not.

SOUND

The Dolby Atmos track is quite amazing. Even the Dolby Digital track on the Blu Ray is reference quality. Also included are tons of extras including 2 hilarious four minute mini movies. 

MOVIE ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

PICTURE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SOUND ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

(out of five stars)

Blu-Ray Review: “MaXXXine”

Starring: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki and Moses Sumney
Directed by: Ti West
Rated: R
Running Time: 104 minutes
A24

Film: 4 out of 5 Stars
Audio/Video: 5 out of 5 Stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 Stars

“What is Ti West trying to tell me?” That was a thought that kept popping up during the brief and distantly scattered lulls in “MaXXXine.” If you didn’t know, “MaXXXine” is the conclusion to director/writer West’s Mia Goth horror homage trilogy. Just like in “Pearl” and in “X,” Goth plays an antihero that we sympathize with because she’s fierce. She’s an ambitious young woman looking to escape a humdrum confining life. She finds power in violence, but will she finally achieve the infamy and freedom that she so desperately wants?

Maxine (Goth) just landed a role in “Puritan 2,” the upcoming horror sequel currently being protested by…well…modern day puritans. Radicalized individuals picket outside Hollywood studios in the background as Maxine sees a bright future ahead for herself. After years of porn work, she believes she has her big break. She’s so starstruck by her own potential stardom, she seems to care less that the Night Stalker is terrorizing the surrounding hills. Yes, it’s the 80s. Every corner of Hollywood looks like Skid Row, the morality police are in panic mode and slashers populate cinemas across the nation. Maxine blends in with it all, but her dreams of being a star seem too good to be true. A mysterious individual leaves a tape at her front door. What’s on it? Her dark past.

West has already solidified himself in the horror community, but with “MaXXXine,” he may have solidified himself as a household name with the completion of this fascinating and wildly entertaining trilogy. Each film, while fitting neatly in different aspects of the horror genre, manages to feel magnificently different and fresh. However, “MaXXXine” is the most audacious and grandiose of the bunch. While “MaXXXine” features a thick cast, like Kevin Bacon’s old school magnetism, Giancarlo Esposito’s scene chewing, or Elizabeth Debecki’s commanding screen presence, Goth casually remains the focus from her first time on screen to her last.

“MaXXXine” is able to entertain without any knowledge of the other films, just like “Pearl” and “X,” but it is immensely richer if you have seen the other films. Not only does “MaXXXine” love being self-referential, to the point of being meta on its own meta, it builds upon its own mythos in subtle ways. Watching the trilogy will also help you understand Maxine even more during her long stares and daydream fantasies. Also, let’s be blunt, this trilogy is a true horror showcase for Goth’s range and power to maintain viewer’s attention over five hours.

Back to the opening question of this review…West looked to tie his main theme in ”MaXXXine,” simply by going to Hollywood and going big. “MaXXXine” hammers home its nuanced commentary on art imitating life and vice versa. In all these movies, we not only see how the power of cinema impacts Goth’s character, but we see how much the act of making films, both the fictional ones within the movie and the actual films, become the ultimate commentary on the power of storytelling. “MaXXXine” takes place during the 80s when crazed Christians thought the devil had infested pop culture, and lawmakers were considering regulations and bans on art because of that moral panic. It took about 40 years for history to repeat itself. West loves filmmaking, it’s very obvious from not only watching “MaXXXine,” but this trilogy as a whole. Hell, maybe West channeled his life and ambitions into Maxine. Or, maybe West wants us to know Hollywood is not only a fucked up place, but so is everyone in it.

Extras

Belly of the Beast: This feature talks with the actors and crew about the making of “MaXXXine”

XXX Marks The Spot: This feature breaks down the visual aesthetic of the film while discussing it’s influences.

Hollywood Is A Killer: This features goes over the makeup and digital effects of the film.

Q&A With Ti West: This interview is a good 25 minutes of Writer/Director Ti West.

Trailers 

4K Review: “Drive”

 

Every once in a while, a movie comes out that redefines “cool.” It seems to have a ripple effect on every piece of pop culture in its wake–from other movies paying tribute to it, to music, to TV, and everything else under the sun. Think of the waves of parodies to follow movies like The Matrix or Pulp Fiction. They had their own unique look down pat. In 2011, that movie was Drive. The silent antihero. The 80s synth-wave. The slow-mo. Drive was iconic and we’re still feeling its effects to this day – Stranger ThingsThe Guest and every type of vaporwave nostalgia owe Drive a huge debt of gratitude.

 

Drive is totally self-aware and knows how clever it is, but never devolves into a parody of movies that it lovingly homages. If anything, its self-awareness is part of its overall earnestness. Drive is a movie with heart. The reason the movie is thrilling isn’t because of car chases, action or mayhem. It’s thrilling because we care about what happens to its characters.  When the nameless Driver (played by Ryan Gosling) stomps a man’s head in, it’s not a “Whoa, cool!” moment. It’s layered with tragedy, knowing that his quickness to employ gruesome violence is part of his nature and represents a point of no return for him.

 

Driver is a stunt driver for the movies by the day, and at night he’s a getaway driver for robberies. His rules are simple: “You give me a time and a place, I give you a five-minute window. Anything happens in those five minutes and I’m yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute on either side of that and you’re on your own.” In the opening chase sequence (in a movie called Drive, I think it’s awesome that there are only two car chases), Driver, instead of punching the car like Bullitt and swerving through crowded streets, plays a game of cat and mouse with the police. He accelerates to punch out his car to an advantage, waits in the shadows, listens to the police scanner, and keeps ahead of his pursuers by a couple of steps psychologically. And in a moment of too-coolness, he pulls the car into a crowded area, puts on a hat, takes off his jacket, and blends in with the crowd. Job done. Cue the main title sequence.

Irene is his neighbor in an apartment complex you don’t normally see in the movies.  In the movies, if a character doesn’t have a lot of money, they still always live somewhere with a nice view and modern appliances. The apartment complex in Drive is something realistically and quintessentially LA.  It looks lived in. It looks real. Drive is to LA as Star Wars is to its own fantastical sci-fi universe.

When Driver meets Irene, they have an instant attraction. He falls for her, but she has one problem: A husband named Standard (Oscar Isaac, who continues to be one of the best living actors today) is due to be released from prison. Driver agrees to help Standard with some problems he’s having, with gangsters who say he owes them money. Driver arranges a means of pulling off a heist, a one last heist, to get the gangsters the money that they say is owed to them, and then after that, the agreement is that they leave Standard, and his family, alone for good. There’s internal strife between organized crime soldiers Bernie (Ron Perlman) and Nino (Albert Brooks) and the “family” back home. Driver unwittingly gets in the middle of it and becomes a complication that would be better off erased.

Drive remains Winding Refn’s most accessible movie, while still rife with the directorial trademarks and flourishes he’s known for. There are long, hallucinatory stretches of silence. Apparently, huge swaths of dialogue were done away with when he signed on as director, taking a red pen to the script.  Refn loves to tell a story visually, to the point of obsession. There’s an expression sometimes in writing that he seems to have taken to heart: Why tell it when you can show it?

As focused on visuals as it may be, Drive actually seems to be having fun with the actors and performances, watching someone like Bryan Cranston as Driver’s good friend and mentor, Shannon, limp around, chain smoke and espouse life lessons in a gravelly voice.  The ensemble cast is amazing.  Christina Hendricks shows up in a bit role to help with the heist to get Standard out of trouble.  Albert Brooks plays against type as a sympathetic villain.  Ron Perlman plays Ron Perlman, beautifully so.

 

Drive is one of those “love it or hate it” movies. If you’re expecting it to be a movie in the tradition of the Fast and the Furious series, only more serious, and with Ryan Gosling as the lead, you’re probably going to be incredibly disappointed. If you go in to the movie knowing that it’s going to be an offbeat, show-offy work from a European director and is less concerned with cars and more of a contemplation on violence, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect.

 

VIDEO

Drive is gorgeous, bathed-in-neon picture from start to finish. And while it’s always been an attractive movie, from its theatrical release to previous Blu-ray editions, this 4K master, courtesy of Second Sight, takes it to another level. The dark/light levels are incredibly adept, Drive will have scenes take place during the darkest of nights and during the brightest of days in sunny Los Angeles. No matter what extreme, it always looks natural and balanced.

 

AUDIO

Second Sight’s release on 4K features a Dolby Atmos mix that helps elevate and widen the soundstage a bit. It’s not leaps and bounds above its predecessor Blu Ray release, but in certain scenes, the enhancement is noticeable and welcome. In the beginning cat-and-mouse chase scene, the front, height speakers and rear speakers work in a wonderful unison to simulate a circling police helicopter. When the main title sequence blasts to life, “Nightcall” by Kavinsky fires across the entire soundstage, (front, back, and from above) enveloping the listener in a bubble.

 

EXTRAS

Like its previous Blu-ray release, while there aren’t hours and hours of features to keep you entertained, or a booklet with essays like you’d find in a Criterion release, the features that are there will help deepen your understanding of the film and familiarize you with the process of making this modern-day masterpiece.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Drive is an oddity, in that it’s a hypnotic contemplation on violence in reality, and violence in film, with action sequences few and far between, but boasting demo-worthy visuals and audio during those tense, white-knuckle moments. It’s both a thinker and a shower, allowing quiet moments to simmer with seriousness and louder moments to be more impactful and consequential. Second Sight’s work here is, as usual, incredible and their release of Drive on 4K Blu-ray is Highly Recommended!

FILM ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

VIDEO ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SOUND ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXTRAS ⭐️⭐️

(Out of five stars)

4K Review: “The Fall Guy” (EXTENDED CUT)

 

Is there a group of creative filmmakers in Hollywood that barely get recognized for making some of the most memorable and coolest sequences in movies and television? Yes, there is a group of brave individuals called stunt performers (or Tom Cruise) who are responsible for those long falls off buildings, impossible jumps over mountains, and wild car chases in movies. There’s not a major award show that recognizes the genius of these people, but there should be one in the sea of dull acceptance speeches for sound editing or documentary shorts. There should be a segment that honors the coolest parts of cinema. That’s where the new film The Fall Guy blazes its way into the arena, covered in sweat and high wires that will hopefully change every award show in the future with an award for Best Stunt in a movie. Not to mention, The Fall Guy is a blast from start to finish with Gosling once again oozing charm, comedy, and general badassery. 

Director David Leitch is the perfect person for the job here, where he was a former stuntman turned director who gave the world John WickDeadpool 2Bullet Train, and Hobbs and Shaw. He and writer Drew Pearce have perfectly conjured up a wonderful story that takes its cues from the ’80s show of the same name and brings that energy and action to life in the present day with an all-star cast that subtly breaks the fourth wall to showcase the ins and outs of stunt work on movies. But Leitch adds a wonderful love story to the mix along with some hilarious comedy that serves as some insider stunt jokes that also appeal to the masses. And the jabs at the Hollywood industry in the form of wacky producers, and egocentric actors are spot on with how over-the-top they are. But The Fall Guy manages to have it all in one movie, the comedy, the action, the romance, the one-liners, and the thrills all led by Ryan Gosling.

Leitch’s career has driven him to this place where Gosling plays a stuntman for a Tom Cruise-like actor (Aaron Taylor Johnson of Kick-Ass fame), where after an accident on set, puts Colt Seavers (Gosling) out of commission for a year, ghosting his romantic interest and camera-girl Jody (Emily Blunt) without any word of his well-being. A year later, Colt gets called back into action, and he reluctantly accepts to board a brand new big-budget movie when he finds out that Jody is directing her first big gig. Little does anyone know that the producer (Hannah Waddingham) and the ego-centric actor (Johnson) have nefarious plans for Seavers that will put his stunt game to the test in real life. With cheesy ’80s and ’90s romantic quips and stellar action sequences – The Fall Guy never disappoints. 


Each action scene is meticulously planned and real, as the end credits show all of the real stunts that were performed in the movie by either Gosling or a stunt team. From falling down stairs, jumping onto a moving car, being smashed by a truck, or hanging off of a helicopter, this movie shows it all. It executes its narrative of the movie industry, making a movie, and two people falling in love all over again in such a sweet and comical way that Leitch can probably add romantic comedy to his resume. The chemistry between Blunt and Gosling is very infectious, but is there a situation where anyone does NOT have chemistry with Gosling? The man is a gentle comedic god with a penchant for beating people up. The Fall Guy has a ton of surprises and is some of the most fun you can have in a theater with laugh-out-loud moments, inside jokes, top-notch action scenes, and a great romantic tale with Ken. 


The Fall Guy delivers an impressive UHD 4K image with Dolby Vision. The streaming version looks amazing, however, this physical copy allows more room to breathe with its wide gamut of colors and detail. The soundtrack comes with an exquisite Dolby Atmos track that could be the new demo in any media room. Sound effects are loud and boisterous with tons of nuanced noises from the surrounding speakers as well as plenty of subwoofer LFE activity. As for extras, there are about 91 minutes of supplements included in this release which includes the 20 minutes of the extended cut. All of these bonus features are highly entertaining and worth watching. There is also an audio commentary included. 

Lastly The Fall Guy has risen to be one of the biggest and best action flicks in years. The amount of fun, heart, soul, and the ability to finally pay homage to the impressive stunt people throughout the years is fantastic. This 4K image with Dolby Vision looks excellent and is a definitive upgrade from the 1080p version and even the 4K streaming option. The Dolby Atmos track is demo-worthy. The bonus features are a ton of fun to watch as well. Highly recommended!

Movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Picture ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extras ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Out of five stars 

Blu-ray Review: “Tarot”

‘Tarot’ tells the haunting tale of a group of friends who rent out an ancient mansion in order to celebrate a friend’s birthday and in the course of the evening’s festivities uncover a secret room packed with ancient artifacts. After finding an eerily hand-painted deck of tarot cards and convincing their friend to do readings for each of them which violate the sacred tarot rules, the friends start mysteriously dying in gruesome fashion. As the surviving friends attempt to uncover the truth behind the deaths they soon realize that they are being killed off in the manner described in their readings. But stopping the curse will be significantly harder than triggering it, especially if they hope to end it before any more of them perish.

Written and directed by Spenser Cohen & Anna Halberg who each make their feature length directorial debut and do a solid job at the helm of ‘Tarot’ capably guiding along the creepy and violent fun. The film’s cast includes Harriet Slater (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Adain Bradley (Wrong Turn 2021), Avantika (Mean Girls 2024), Wolfgang Novogratz (The Half of It), Humberly González (Slumberland), Larsen Thompson (Bloodline) and Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home) with the majority offering capable or at the very least fitting performances in each of their respective roles.

‘Tarot’ is a fun, over the top and surprisingly bloody teen-centric horror offering that may not be an Oscar contender or a remarkable film by any means, and is often lacking in cleverness and originality but ends up delivering a significantly more enjoyable PG-13 horror film than you might expect. It’s a fairly goofy and silly concept to begin with and it takes the story and twists further than expected, while also delivering some surprisingly violent and bloody deaths that even while they never reach the level of outright gory seem to repeatedly push the boundaries of the rating. Somehow the goofy concept itself helps to make this one as fun as it is by the filmmakers repeatedly going so far with the material while playing it off in a serious manner at the same time; allowing it to almost maintain a tongue-in-cheek style without actually portraying it as such.

The key characters of ‘Tarot’ are fairly basic and it’s difficult to become too attached to most of them, although that only helps to make it even more entertaining when they are killed in one gruesome manner after another, while many of the other characters within seem unable to accept the reality of the situation as others couldn’t be more done with it. It’s a curious approach and I honestly can’t say whether it was intended or not, but it certainly makes for a fairly solid and engaging ride into darkness that genre fans who don’t mind a little bit of cheese (albeit possibly unintentional) should enjoy this one a fair amount, especially if you can go in expecting as much.

Overall, ‘Tarot’ is an entertaining and somewhat over the top supernatural horror film that plays things fairly straight but ends up becoming almost silly at times due to the out there story and reasoning behind the chaos, as well as the bloody and violent ways the characters are eliminated throughout which almost feels reminiscent of a tamed down version of ‘Final Destination’ at times. Even while it may not be intentionally silly and never portrays the events in that way, its serious approach and the almost surprisingly brutal moments end up forming into a slightly above average ride that’s somehow way more enjoyable than it should be. If you’re a fan of similar horror films and are at all interested in ‘Tarot’ then it’s definitely worth giving a chance, although I would encourage first time viewers to rent it before purchasing a copy just to be safe.

The Blu-ray release of ‘Tarot’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks tremendous and offers a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any notable faults or glitches to be uncovered along the way. Detail is sharp and impressive on everything from character faces and clothing to the sprawling mansion and almost everything else appearing onscreen at one point or another, which is all complemented by rewarding black levels that benefit this often very dark film and keep any artifacts or anything else from negatively affecting the darker moments which never disappoint. Overall, this is a great high definition video presentation that holds up wonderfully at all times and shouldn’t disappoint fans or newcomers.

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack makes a splendid complement to the onscreen fun and provides a clean, crisp and frequently aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly utilizes all five available channels in order to send music, creepy and violent sound effects along with nature elements and plenty more whipping throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate, while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements becoming negatively affected or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, this is a fantastic 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that repeatedly benefits the film and should easily excite viewers.

Conclusion 

The Blu-ray release of ‘Tarot’ features a few brief extras. Included on the release are the Behind the Scenes Featurettes ‘A Twist of Fate: Making the Film’ (running approximately 6 minutes in length) and ‘Circle of Friends’ (running approximately 7 minutes) which feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. Also included are ‘Killer Outtakes’ from the film (approximately 2 minutes). I had fun with ‘Tarot’ but as aforementioned, it’s not cleverly executed. But sound and picture are absolutely amazing. Incidentally, ‘Tarot’ is presently a major hit on Netflix! Not surprising since it is a good watch with friends.

 

Film: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Picture: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sound: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (out of five stars)

Blu-ray Review: “Godzilla Minus One”

 

 

Godzilla Minus One has become a genuine phenomenon even in America, where it quickly became the highest-grossing Japanese language film of all time. That’s impressive by any metric, especially for the 30th live action installment in a seventy-year-old franchise. While Godzilla movies can be a little divisive, with everyone having their own favorites, the reaction to Godzilla Minus One has been uniformly positive. It’s been something of a revelation to many people, which is interesting considering that it’s undeniably derivative of all the films that came before it. The genius of writer/director Takashi Yamazaki is that he took all those familiar elements and combined them in a way that manages to feel fresh, even to hardened fans of the franchise. It’s more of a refinement than a revelation, and where Godzilla Minus One really shines is in its execution rather than its conception. Yet the key to making all of that work is still a conceptual choice on the part of Toho and Yamazaki.

When Toho rebooted the entire franchise in 1984 with The Return of Godzilla, it did so by effectively erasing all of the Shōwa era sequels and offering a direct sequel to the 1954 Godzilla instead. The rest of the Heisei era films followed that new continuity. When Toho performed another reboot with Godzilla 2000, they once again reset everything that happened after 1954, and for a time they did that with every Millennium film that followed suit (up until Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., anyway, which was a direct sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.) That offered a bit more freedom for filmmakers to pursue the stories that interested them the most—all under Toho’s watchful eye, of course. Yet when Hideaki Anno launched what would become known as the Reiwa era series with Shin Godzilla, he took the more radical step of not just disregarding all of the previous continuities, but the 1954 original as well. This new Godzilla represented the re-imagined first appearance of the King of Monsters, offering the opportunity to once again show the reaction of the Japanese people to a previously unheard-of threat. Anno also crafted the most radical alteration to Godzilla’s origins since Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Godzilla Minus One does something similar to Shin Godzilla, but by taking the additional step of a giant leap backwards before 1954. It’s another standalone origin story, yet it still honors the films that preceded it in a way that Anno’s film didn’t. In a nutshell, Godzilla Minus One is the 1954 Godzilla mixed with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah mixed with Godzilla vs. Destroyah mixed with Giant Monsters All-Out Attack mixed with an inversion of Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. To elaborate slightly: it’s the basic setting of the original Godzilla mixed with the retconned origin story of King Ghidorah mixed with the pissed-off Godzilla of Destroyah mixed with the “Japan dealing with the ghosts of what it did during WWII” of GMK mixed with an individual dealing with the ghost of what he actually didn’t do during WWII. Whew. (It even throws in a generous dose of Jaws for good measure.)

Appropriately enough, Yamazaki’s script for Godzilla Minus One opens on the fictional Odo Island, although this particular version of it has more in common with the Lagos Island of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a kamikaze pilot who puts his plane down at a repair base on Odo Island in the waning days of World War II, ostensibly because of mechanical issues, but the reality is that he can’t go through with his mission. While he’s there, the island is attacked by a small proto-Godzilla, leaving everyone at the base dead except for Shikishima and the lead mechanic Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki). Both of them end up scarred from the attack in very different ways, with Tachibana resenting Shikishima for once again failing to act. After the war ends, Shikishima ends up working on a civilian minesweeper to clear out both the Axis and the Allied mines that fill the waters around Tokyo. It’s a dangerous job, but he’s suffering from survivor’s guilt, and he feels compelled to work in order to support the woman who he lives with (Minami Hamabe) and the orphaned child that they’ve both unofficially adopted. When the U.S. nuclear testing at the Bikini Atoll reawakens and mutates Godzilla, the larger and much more powerful monster sets course for the mainland. That sets Shikishima and Tachibana on a collision course with each other once again, but this time, Shikishima will finally have to exorcise his own demons once and for all.

The way that everything resolves is predictable enough, with any potential twists being telegraphed well in advance (literally so, in one case). Again, though, it’s all about the execution. While there’s still a bit of humor in Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki chose to eschew most of the sillier and more fantastical elements of past films in order to focus on the horrific nature of the beast (so to speak). The stakes are high, the casualties are enormous, and this particular iteration of Godzilla is playing for keeps. It’s not quite the avenging angel of Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and Godzilla isn’t being driven by the pain of an internal meltdown like in Destroyah, but this is still one mean green mother from inner space. It’s the living embodiment of pure rage.

That appears to be the primary element of Godzilla Minus One that audiences are responding to the most: Yamazaki managed to make Godzilla scary again. That’s no mean feat, but he also muddied up the thematic waters a bit in the process. As ham-handed as Shikishima’s redemption arc may be, Godzilla ends up being a bit more enigmatic. While Operation Crossroads is still at least partly responsible for Godzilla’s (re)birth, the nuclear metaphors from Honda’s Godzilla are missing here. So are the Fukushima metaphors from Shin Godzilla, as well as the ghosts of WWII from Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Godzilla doesn’t really represent anything in Godzilla Minus One other than perhaps a manifestation of Shikishima’s guilt, but that’s a heavy burden for an entire nation to bear on his behalf, so the metaphor becomes a bit strained. The reality is that some monsters just want to watch the world burn.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. Godzilla has proven remarkably resilient over the decades, changing with the times, and no one version of the King of Monsters can truly be considered definitive. Godzilla Minus One’s rendition is memorably malicious, and that’s good enough. Yamazaki staged some remarkable set pieces in support of that, including the Jaws-inspired minesweeper chase that’s already become the stuff of legend—it’s legitimately one of the best sequences in the entire history of the Godzilla franchise. Proving, of course, that it’s all about the execution. Still, that execution is far from perfect in Godzilla Minus One. The digital Godzilla works reasonably well despite the limited means at Yamazaki’s disposal, but there are still a few weak spots like an awkward hitch in the walk cycle and some other animation that doesn’t scale well. There are also a few moments during the finale that strain suspension of disbelief past the breaking point, especially when a logistical nightmare that would have taken all day to execute is dispatched in a split second by a single jump cut (all while Godzilla sits beneath the waves, patiently waiting for everyone to finish). Yamazaki is guilty of exploiting a few too many narrative conveniences in order to keep the story moving, and he does rob some of the suspense by telegraphing the twists too far in advance. Those are minor quibbles, though. Godzilla fans are a tolerant lot (Roland Emmerich’s American remake notwithstanding), and they’ve grudgingly accepted a lot of worse things over the decades. Yet many of them have still longed for a darker, more serious take on the material, and Yamazaki delivered that in spades. There’s a damned good reason why Godzilla Minus One has struck such a chord worldwide: imperfect as it may be, it’s still the best representation of the Godzilla that many fans have wanted but rarely received prior to this.

While Godzilla Minus One was eventually re-released in a black-and-white version (more on that later), it’s important to remember that it was conceived of and shot as a color film, albeit one with a muted color palette. It’s not really desaturated to any significant extent, however; it’s just that the costuming and production design favors grays, browns, and dark blues. The opening shots of Shikishima landing on Odo Island look much richer, with the green grass and the deep blue of the ocean providing more visual variety, but once Godzilla makes his first appearance, greens, reds, and even whites are at a kept at a minimum for the rest of the film. Yet those intentionally drab colors are still offset by the warm hues of the flesh tones—the environmental details of Godzilla Minus One may appear bleak, but the people don’t. Browns may dominate, but there’s a wide variety of shades of brown on display. In other words, there’s still plenty of depth to the colors, just not much breadth, and that look has been replicated perfectly in this HDR grade.

Primary audio is offered in Japanese Dolby Atmos, with optional Japanese barrier-free subtitles (which is the Japanese equivalent of SDH). It’s a wildly aggressive and highly immersive mix, and it’s not shy about advertising the fact that it’s Atmos during the opening shot when Shikishima’s plane passes over the camera and through the overhead channels. There are plenty of subtle environmental effects that also provide envelopment, like the way that rain dripping on the roofs can be heard above the viewer. Yet it’s some of the panning effects that are the most interesting. When Shikishima gets back into his plane and freezes while Godzilla passes by to the left, the sound of the monster’s growling can be heard panning overhead from the front left height channel to the rear left one, as if you’re sitting in the cockpit with him. The death and destruction that follows offers plenty of channel engagement and dynamic impact. Most of that happens in just the first few minutes of Godzilla Minus One, but it sets the stage for what follows for the rest of the film. It’s consistently immersive and exciting from beginning to end. The ambient score by Naoki Satō tends to get buried in the mix sometimes, although it’s still effective, but Akira Ifukube’s legendary fanfare and march are both front and center when they make their inevitable appearances. (There’s even a snippet of the Island theme from King Kong vs. Godzilla at one point.) The only minor disappointment is that the bass doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but there’s still enough of a low end to provide some appropriate rumble whenever Godzilla is on the rampage. That minor caveat aside, this is still a reference-quality Atmos track.

Toho’s Region-Free 4K Ultra HD release of Godzilla Minus One is a four-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with a 1080p copy of the original film, a second Blu-ray with the Minus Color re-release version, and a third Blu-ray with the bulk of the extras. They’re packaged in a fold-out case that displays a different spread of Big G on each side, doing what he does best: leveling a city. It also includes two different booklets, the first of which offers production photographs, promotional materials, and multiple essays. The second booklet is a mock vintage “Special Disaster Countermeasures” handout, showing off the various plans for dealing with a potential appearance by Godzilla. (The maps and some of the diagrams are re-creations of the ones that are seen in Godzilla Minus One.) Everything is housed inside an embossed hard keep case that’s genuinely striking—even the most ardent complainers about cover art will be at a loss for words when they get their hands on this one. Depending on which version that you order, there may be a variety of swag items included as well, like stickers, art cards, and other tchotchkes. (In addition, there’s also a Steelbook option.) I had to personally order my copy from China.

Per standard Toho policy, neither the film nor any of the extras offer English subtitles. That’s not necessarily an insurmountable obstacle, however. Some players like the Oppo UDP-203 and UDP-205 offer the ability to load external subtitles. You’ll have to do a little Googling to see if your particular player does so as well. If it can, all you need to do is take the English subtitle file (with an .srt extension), rename it “sub.srt,” create a folder on a USB drive called “sub,” and place the file in that folder. Insert the drive into the USB port on your player, then when playing the disc, use the subtitle button on your remote to select “other,” and Bob’s your uncle. You may have to adjust the sync to get it to line up properly. On the Oppos, that’s accessible using the Option button. However Netflix does indeed stream a copy with English dub!

While there hasn’t been an official announcement regarding a North American release as of my review, it’s always possible that a domestic 4K set could include Godzilla Minus One on UHD as well, but that’s still up to Toho. If they only produced a Blu-ray master for their Japanese release, that may well be what they provide to a domestic licensee. Time will tell. In any event, it’s unlikely that all of these extras will be ported over, so hardcore G-fans will probably still want to pick up this set and then double dip later. It’s a fantastic release that’s worth owning. Not cheap, of course, but still worth the investment for anyone who has a player that can load external subtitles. It’s the best set that Toho has ever produced for any of their Godzilla films, and it gets the highest possible recommendation from me.

 

Movie  ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

 

Extras ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

 

Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

Digital Review: “STING”

 

To compare one horror film with another would often be like comparing a bicycle with a fighter jet. Both have wheels, but they have vastly different capacities and are completely unique experiences. Some are slow burns, crawling towards a climax that makes the journey all the more insidiously alarming. Others spend the totality of their runtimes with gross-out on-screen trauma. Such is why discussing “Sting,” the latest film to make its web in the arachnid category of the horror canon, should be in context with other like-legged creature features.
 
Despite a fear of spiders being a common response to “what are you afraid of?”, there aren’t too terribly many films that venture out in that universe. “Eight-Legged Freaks” was a poorly constructed homage to B-movie horror films of the 50’s and did little to incite fear in the insects. Though we get the thought behind it; the height of the  B-movie horror was filled with insect-led terror. 
 
Amblin-produced “Arachnophobia” is a quality spider-monster film with creepy crawly villains at its heart. It somehow turned little spiders into potential world-destroyers and spider bites into a death sentence. With over 20 years since the last mainstream arachnid film, “Sting” makes spiders scary again, standing as its own breed in the genre, piercing through audiences’ flesh with the right combination of humor, suspense, character development and, of course, horror. Set over the course of four days in one Brooklyn apartment complex snowed in by a winter storm, the film centers around Charlotte (Alyla Browne), a young girl struggling to find her orbit in the family after the birth of her new half-brother. She connects with her empathetic stepfather Ethan (Ryan Corr) but is still lost in grief and confusion from her biological father’s absence. Her prayers seem to be answered by a small ball of fire from outer space that shoots through a window of the building (yes, the spider is from outer space). From it, a spider-like being emerges and has every appearance of a normal house insect. After Charlotte claims this seemingly smart and precocious being as her newest pet, she learns it has incredible (and un-spiderlike) talents like the ability to mimic sounds and an insatiable appetite for much larger prey like rodents and birds. As the alien arachnid makes its way through the HVAC system of the building, the various residents must fight off a growing predator or face a fate worse than quick death. There are intriguing sub-plots, like Charlotte’s grandmother (Noni Hazlehurst), who is suffering from memory issues and fails to remember when the bug exterminator (Jermaine Fowler) makes several house visits to the funhouse of eight-legged nightmares. Or her neighbors in the apartment complex who succumb to the increasingly volatile and murderous bug, like Maria (Silvia Colloca), who’s grieving the devastating loss of her husband and children, or Erik (Danny Kim), the reclusive scientist who initially supports the creature’s evolution. As the threat of more alien spiders becomes a real possibility (our cinematic upbringing with films like “Aliens” has taught us that you never let the off-world life form procreate and/or successfully arrive on Earth), Charlotte must turn against her former ally to save her family and humanity at large. For a smaller film, the CGI mixed with some impressive practical visual effects are what works best about “Sting.” Five-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, overseen by Creative Director Richard Taylor, created the physical effects from their New Zealand workshop, and they really will set your anxiety running. 
 
Sting” is a creepy crawly, squirm-in-your-seat ride. Writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner does a masterful job of creating a charming, detailed, moody scene onto which he can then terrorize his characters. It gives real “Krampus” vibes, isolating its subjects in a singular location forcing the action to take place in said confined space. Yet the character study that ensues and the rich world Roache-Turner builds from very little makes the film feel open to any possible outcome. With thoughtful, visionary guidance, “Sting” never feels claustrophobic, nor does it feel undercooked. The world built around the short span of the film’s action is visually engaging. The film moves quickly — 91 minutes to be exact — but steadily, pacing the action to spin a pretty silk turn and not abandoned cobwebs. The film is indeed creepy as I am personally fascinated with arachnids as well as fearing them (more so fascinated with them). This was a digital copy, as the Blu Ray won’t be available until June. But the digital copy is in high definition, so it’s very much like having a physical Blu Ray copy. But if spiders aren’t your thing, then you may want to avoid this one, as there are scenes of realistic sized spiders that will send shivers up your spine! The fear of perking into dark corners, big spider crawling on the ceiling, it’s all here! But when the spider gets to be an enormous size, then it’s no longer alarming, but a tribute to B-horror creature features. STING was a great time indeed! Unfortunately the digital copy did not come with extras, but perhaps the copy that will come with the Blu Ray in June will have extras. Picture and sound does not disappoint. As I noted, you get everything in a digital copy that you do in physical copies. Plenty of subwoofer activity as well as sound effects thru your surround speakers. But the film is R rated due to bloody images, violence and language. 
Film ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (out of 5)
Picture ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (out of 5)
Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (out of 5)
Extras (none)

 

Blu-ray Review: “Night Swim”

 

Haunted/possessed things movies are a tough sell. It’s harder when the thing in question is a large stationary object that’s easily avoidable like a backyard pool. It gives the audience’s instinctual lizard brain time to kick in and say “Well, don’t go there. Problem solved.” For a haunted, cursed, or possessed object film to work there needs to be a reason basic avoidance tactics wouldn’t work. Bryce McGuire’s Night Swim almost makes it work, great performances abound, but the haunting horrors rest on too many telegraphed jump scares to let real terror rise to the surface.

Our little film opens with the Waller family trying to find a new home. Ray (Wyatt Russell) used to be a rising MLB legend and a hell of a hitter, but illness has taken him out of the game. Now he’s trying to find the right place with his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) and their kids Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren). They need enough room for their growing kids but also the space for Ray to get treatment and hopefully get back into the game. And they find the perfect house, complete with a spring-fed pool at a price they can afford. As the pool seemingly restores Ray’s health setting his illness into remission, it comes at a cost that threatens the lives of his family.


Now Night Swim had modest origins. Writer/Director Bryce McGuire and Rod Blackhurst originally dipped a toe into the creepy pool as a short film in 2014. It was popular enough to get packed into a collection of horror shorts and caught enough attention to get the feature-length expansion. Conceptually, this film has a lot going for it. Haunted or possessed objects or locations have any number of tropes associated with them, but they’re tropes because more often than not they work. An evil Force threatening those who enter its domain is the makings for any number of classics. But how that force exacts its deadly tole is the key. While the personal angle of Ray and his family has some merit, the film, unfortunately, banks on more jump scares rather than real terror. But personally I appreciate the intents of the film, and that is to provide a thriller for the whole family (which is rare these days).
All kudos for the opening and setup. The film’s opening moments is some delicious creepy stuff. You may be ahead of it and know what will befall our first victim, but how it happens and the timing is pitch-perfect. Likewise when Ray takes his first plunge into the pool, genuinely creepy good stuff. After that, the horrors just slowly become more routine. There are some stylish bits and some interesting character beats, but nothing we didn’t see with Jack Torrance at the Overlook Hotel or George Lutz and his modest little house in Amityville albeit those films were notably dryer.
Night Swim may be a pretty thin feature overall, but the cast saves a lot of the effort. Wyatt Russell keeps showing up and giving it all he’s got proving he’s more than the talented genes that spawned him. Kerry Condon delivers another great turn as our emotional anchor. The feature is well-shot and does manage a creepy atmosphere, I just wish there was more to it. The premise is there, it just doesn’t visit new ground or reach to new depths to be a truly standout entry.
Audio/Video
New films often shine in this category. Night Swim’s Blu Ray picture is flawless. With the audio just is great. Lot’s of subwoofer activity especially during the scare scenes. We get four segments in the extras section including “Demons of the Depths”, which is an interesting view on how they provide scares with a swimming pool. The writer/director commentary with Bryce McGuire is the bigger extra. He offers up a nice discussion about the film, he’s very enthusiastic to discuss the project and often pauses to marvel at the opportunity he had to get to make this film. Flying solo he doesn’t let the material linger, only pauses to highlight an upcoming scene. After that, we have a few featurettes, all pretty basic but they do have some background about the making of the film.
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ movie (out of five)
⭐️⭐️ extras (out of five)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ picture (out of five)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ sound (out of five)

Blu-Ray Review: “Lisa Frankenstein”

Starring: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse and Lisa Soberano
Directed by: Zelda Williams
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 101 minutes
Focus Features

Movie Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
Blu-Ray Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

I’m not really one to talk about the qualities of feminist horror. Not because I don’t like it, but mainly because I’m a man and I’m more than likely going to miss the point. For example, I probably dismissed “Jennifer’s Body” in 2009, solely for its similar feel to the “Twilight” films of the time. Now it’s considered a feminist cult classic. I guess I should re-watch and re-evaluate my attitude towards it. So, I approach “Lisa Frankenstein” cautiously, enjoying the elements I liked and questioning whether or not my dislikes are merely a viewpoint that I’ll need to re-evaluate in 15 years.

When we first meet Lisa (Kathryn Newton), she seems like a modern-day Lydia Deetz, with a wardrobe consisting solely of black-on-black and spending her free time at an abandoned cemetery with her nearest, dearest and deadest friends. We’re uncertain if she’s always been the gloomy outcast, but she explains that her more morose attitude is because of the death of her mother, at the hands of a serial killer slasher. Her father quickly remarries Janet (Carla Gugino), a less than caring stepmother who seems to believe Lisa is the embodiment of every cautionary 80s and 90s PSA about teenage drug use, sex and violence. On the flip side is Lisa’s new stepsister, Taffy (Lisa Soberano) with a personality brighter than the sun.

Taffy, always looking to please her stepsister, doesn’t question anything when Lisa joins her at a house party. Lisa’s intention? Hoping to connect with the cute boy at school who may or may not have a thing for Taffy. During the course of the night, Lisa partakes in a spiked drink, gets incredibly loopy, struggles to get a creep off her and ignores the Biblical lightning storm that resurrects a young Victorian man (Cole Sprouse) in her favorite headstone hangout. The man, simply referred to as the Creature in the film’s credits, goes straight to Lisa who has spent who knows how much time opining about love and loss at his gravestone. The rest of “Lisa Frankestein” involves watching Lisa and the Creature, copy and pasted from Tim Burton’s universe, as they stick out and get in trouble in this John Hughes-esque world.

Despite its glorious goth nature, the film never capitalizes on the 80s aesthetic. There are actually more Gen X vibes in the film’s promotional material than there is in the actual film. While it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it makes you wonder how much more visually stylish and eye-catching “Lisa Frankenstein” could have been. What it lacks in, it makes up for in dark humor, high school hijinks, and Newton’s magnetism as the lead. The film is also surprisingly energetic, a course of electricity runs through everyone, living and dead. The audience also has to see how it all plays out as Lisa loathes the living to the point that she begins creating her own reality through the Creature.

While the film’s flaws don’t derail the whole thing, they do eat at the back of your brain. There’s a lot of dangling plot threads, like the masked serial killer who killed Lisa’s mother, Taffy connecting with her stepdad, and the fact that as people begin dying, no one seems to be concerned or curious about it. In that regard, it feels a bit like “Heathers.” The absolute lunacy of these situations seems to be like everyday disturbances and the characters at times struggle to state why these issues are minor inconveniences. I’m not sure if the issue is Diablo Cody’s script, Zelda Williams direction, or a combination of the two. It could also be that the studio kneecapped the film, demanding a PG-13 to better sell tickets. I can only imagine the macabre ideas that could have been with an ‘R’ rating. However, I honestly don’t think any of my issues haunt the film. “Lisa Frankenstein” is a late night, teenage popcorn flick. I imagine the film is best viewed in pajamas at a sleepover.  Maybe 15 years from now, I’ll see if it is a midnight masterpiece.

For big fans of this film, the “Lisa Frankenstein” blu-ray is loaded. First off, it has a fantastic feature commentary with Director Zelda Williams. That being said, I’m not the biggest fan of solo commentaries, but Williams holds her own as she dissects her first film. The blu-ray also comes with deleted scenes and a gag reel that highlights the onset shenanigans. The other features serve as behind-the-scenes peeks that feature interviews with Williams, writer Diablo Cody and others. 

 

Digital Review: “American Fiction”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Fiction was a great time indeed. Without revealing too much, it was often hilarious whilst taking on some serious issues. It’s a different kind of film.

The kind of film which will hook you from its cracking opening dialogue – pre-credits – American Fiction has arguably been done a disservice by trailers and, indeed, reviews, which reveal far too much about a story that unfolds organically and expertly, and really needed no telegraphing, let alone descriptions that explain events that don’t happen until towards the start of the second act.

 

The story follows the character of Thelonious Ellison (everybody just calls him Monk) a struggling writer who has just been given a temporary leave for his blunt approach to racial “issues” in his classes, returning home to his ageing mum only to find her ailing health and requirements for medical care demanding the kind of money that zero book sales simply won’t cover. Taking a different approach to his work, Monk suddenly finds himself in an increasing series of cascading, complicated manoeuvres which offer him potential monetary rewards but only appear to fuel the bitterness in him.

 

Jeffrey Wright’s had some excellent roles, but is also an actor clearly capable of elevating even the less obvious ones – he’s a great Jim Gordon in The Batman; a great Felix Leiter in Bond, and he managed to impressively fill the gaping void left by Anthony Hopkins in later seasons of Westworld. Seldom gifted a leading opportunity, however, American Fiction is the perfect vehicle to showcase his weathered, cynical, but eminently intellectual charms.

 

It’s pure Wright, and whilst he gets a decent roster of chewy supporting cast members (This is Us’ Sterling K. Brown has a ball, Black-ish’s Tracee Ellis Ross steals her scenes, The Lovebirds’ Issa Rae challenges expectations, and a few nice cameos from the likes of Keith David and even Adam Brody sweeten the pot), the film is defined by Wright’s Monk and his fabulous use – and misuse – of language. Though the film throws a whole bunch of heady topics and themes into the melting pot, Wright’s Monk helps you not to get lost in some kind of messy sociopolitical quagmire and instead remain firmly focused on this one man, and his identity, and his ideals.

 

The directorial debut of writer Cord Jefferson (Master of None, The Good Place, Succession, HBO’s Watchmen, Station Eleven), it’s immediately impressive how smoothly Jefferson manages to navigate a potentially more aggressively racially bent landscape without hitting any landmines, all the while working in masterful subversion into a narrative that’s so staunchly satirical that you don’t even stop to question the motivations of its author – because he’s the lead character. Launching headfirst into quick-witted put-downs, but unspooling that almost immediately courtesy of some sibling honesty, American Fiction constantly bats back and forth between the unreal and the real, never so sublimely as a drunken shot at a manuscript that cleverly sees the characters brought to life before Monk’s eyes.

 

There’s a lot under the bonnet of this debut work, subtly dissecting its lead character(s) whilst lightly commenting – again through the veil of that very dissection – on the literary landscape and genre expectations (not just of books, but movies too), it has a lot of fun with the story-within-a-story approach, but mostly holds your attention through its commitment to real characters, given depth and lived-in lives. You’ll be sold (or not, as the case may be) from the opening lines, but you’ll hopefully stay for the underlying resonance, and pleasantly organic food for thought. And for the long overdue standout lead performance of Jeffrey Wright. Absolutely superb film.

Movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️  out of five stars

There are no extras as this is a digital copy

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