Movie Review: Fresh (R – 114 Minutes)

 

From time to time you stumble across a movie you have heard very little about. This is very rare, as most trailers today show nearly the entire movie.  Fresh was something I was glad I knew next to nothing about.

Fresh begins by following Noa, a young woman who is struggling with modern dating. We see her using an app and going out with a guy who reminds her three times the restaurant they are going to only takes cash.  While on the date, he comments about her appearance multiple times and then is a jerk when she tells him no, thanks to a second date.  After venting to her best friend, she randomly meets a guy while grocery shopping. He seems really nice, is a doctor, and looks just like the Winter Soldier, so she gives him her number.

They head out for dinner, have a lovely time, and after a few dates, she decides to be adventurous and go away for the weekend with him.  Mollie, the aforementioned best friend, cautions against this idea and does some surface digital stalking, but learns very little about this Steve.  Steve takes Noa to his gorgeous home with the promise of heading out on the next day and things take a turn from there. 

Some Spoilers from this point on – seriously – it is worth watching this horror-thriller-dark comedy as cold as possible.  You can stream it on Hulu.

Written by Lauryn Kahn and directed by Mimi Cave, this movie was surprising, funny, and deeply dark and twisted.  It takes the horrors of modern dating to a new level, and definitely made me tell my best friends we needed a code phrase so that if someone else takes my phone and is texting from it, they would know it wasn’t me and would immediately send help!  The movie is short and quick with a dark and moody look and the cast all help elevate the story.

Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa with a relatability that was key for the role. Noa feels like everybody’s friend, either you or someone you know.  You begin the movie feeling for her as she struggles through terrible dates and end the movie cheering for her as she takes control of her situation – and maybe decides that being single is the very best thing ever.

Sebastian Stan continues to be weird and excellent in everything he does. Steve comes off as so charming and trustworthy at first, but if you pay attention, he is throwing little red flags in there all over the place. “Who have you told about me?”  Come on Noa – read between the lines!

As with any dark comedy, the best friend does get the scene-stealing moments and Jojo Gibbs as Mollie certainly steals some here. She figures out very quickly that Steve is not what he appears to be and is the one who discovers his plans, but then also falls prey to them, allowing Noa to be the hero of the story.

Dayo Okeniyi plays Paul, Mollie’s former hook-up who is a bartender at one of the places Steve and Noa had a date.  I really appreciated how the movie set up the potential for him to be the hero to save the day, but really it was the women who rescued themselves at the end.

Andrea Bang from Kim’s Convenience (watch all of that on Netflix if you have not already) plays Penny, who helps Noa figure out what is going on and how to deal with it. 

Charlotte le Bon plays Ann, who is Brendan’s wife and accomplice.  She does such a good job that you almost want to know a little more about her character - but it works just fine knowing almost nothing. 

Overall, I highly recommend checking this out, it is weird and funny and upsetting and dark.  Definitely a hard R, with a few really gross moments, but a great ending.  It is always good to see the bad guys get what is coming to them! 

8 out of 10

And not to worry - if Steve creeps you out too much in this, you can always re-watch Falcon & Winter Soldier on Disney+ for some Bucky palate cleansing. 

Movie Review: CODA (PG13 – 111 minutes)

 

As I attempt to make my way through the Best Picture Oscar nominees, I watched CODA on Apple + TV. 

The movie tells the story of Ruby, a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults), who is the only hearing member of her family. Her mom, dad, and brother are all deaf. She helps her father and brother on their fishing boat and functions as an interpreter when bringing in and selling the fish to a distributor.  She is finishing up high school, which proves to be even more difficult for her due to the bullying she receives – high school is the worst.  While signing up for extra curriculars, she follows her crush, Miles, to choir. She figures since she loves to sing on the boat while working, why not give it a try.

After getting over her fear with the assistance of her amazing choir instructor Bernardo Villalobos, she works towards embracing her love for singing, and the terrifying possibility of a life away from her family. 

The movie is fantastic, positive and uplifting – which I feel is always far too rare among award-season films.  It is based on a French movie called The Belier Family which was met with some criticism when it was released because two of the main deaf characters were played by hearing actors. Here – the family is all played by deaf actors, and star Emilia Jones spent months learning ASL to act with them.  As the story proceeds, it is not just a coming of age movie for Ruby as she learns to embrace her own existence, it functions a bit as a coming-of-age for the family as well as they learn they are able to operate without Ruby’s constant presence to translate and help them function. There have been other stories about parents struggling to let their kids go off to college, but this story adds the layer of the parents viewing their kid as their lifeline and connection to the world.  Eventually, they begin to trust and join the community around them.  

Emilia Jones absolutely shines as Ruby, somehow able to simultaneously show love and devotion to her family while feeling stifled and overwhelmed by the sense of duty and obligation she feels towards them.

Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as her parents Jackie and Frank are unsurprisingly fantastic – equal parts hilarious, embarrassing, and genuinely heartbreaking.  Matlin has been exceptional for a long time, but Kotsur was a bit of a surprise for me. He has more emotional heavy lifting to do, and steals the scenes he is in.  Daniel Durant plays their son, Leo, and he gets some comic relief bits but also gets to be frustrated that his parents depend so much on Ruby when he keeps telling them he can help.

I really enjoyed Amy Forsyth as Gertie, Ruby’s best friend. She is straightforward and clear about her intentions – mainly getting with Leo – but provides some really fun moments.  Between her and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Miles, Ruby’s crush, then friend, then singing partner, then boyfriend – Ruby has at least a couple of good folks around her.

Eugenio Derbez is wonderful as he always is as Mr. V, the choir teacher. He helps Ruby face her fear and be strong enough to go after what she wants.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I think you should make the time to watch this one. Currently it’s on Apple+, but I believe you can rent it in other places as well, Amazon and such. It has been wining quite a few awards to date, and I think Kotsur might be a lock for best supporting actor.  Give it a shot, it is beautiful, painful, and joyful.

8 out of 10.

Movie Review: The Adam Project (PG13 – 106 minutes)

 

Ryan Reynolds continues his dependable relationship with Netflix with this new family flick – The Adam Project.

The story begins with Adam, a pilot in the future, narrowly escaping capture by jumping through a wormhole.  We then join the story of younger Adam in middle school, still attempting to recover from the death of his father and getting into fights in school, much to the frustration of his mother.  Future Adam pops in on current Adam to bandage himself up and get some help fixing up his ship.  He’s lost his wife and is bound and determined to fix the future where time travel is a thing, but a not-quite-as-great-as-you-think thing.  In order to do that, he needs to have a confrontation with his father’s business partner, Maya, years ago before his father died and Maya took over the company – steering the time travel business in the wrong direction. Together, both Adams head back to meet up with their dad, save the future, and do some emotional healing.

The movie is directed by Shawn Levy who did the excellent Free Guy (which is now on Disney+, so be sure to check that out if you haven’t seen it).  Levy has just been announced as the director for Deadpool 3 and if this is any indication of he and Reynolds’ partnership, I am really looking forward to it.  The story is a little confusing and thrown at you just fast enough that you don’t really think about it too hard – the action is fun, the time travel effects are good enough, but the absolute winner of this movie is Reynolds, his charm, and the rest of the cast.  

Ryan Reynolds continues his snarky good humor. He is a little one note, but again – if it is one note that works well and he keeps picking projects that suit that note, I do not have an issue with it. Here, he manages to add layers of heart and emotion to the snark of a man willing to go back in time to fix the hurt he feels. Walker Scobell takes on the daunting task of being young Ryan Reynolds and does a great job. He’s equal parts charming and irritating and I enjoyed him interacting with his older self as they help each other realize they have both done a terrible job dealing with their losses.

I loved the movie 13 going on 30 from 2004, so it is a true treat to see Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner as the Adam parents in this movie.  Ruffalo feels very Bruce Banner (which is fine by me) as a scientist who is well aware he has created time travel. Garner plays a woman who loves her husband even though his work dominates his experience. Once he is gone, she deals with his loss as best she can.  The two of them are great in their individual scenes but even better in the scenes they have together.

Zoe Saldana plays Laura, the wife that future Adam found and lost and went back to not necessarily save, but preserve her legacy.  She doesn’t have much to do, but makes the most of what she has. 

I don’t recall if I have ever seen Catherine Keener play the heavy before, but after this – I am thinking she should be the bad guy more often. She is perfect as the slick corporate villain putting her success and money above all else – including those that used to be her friends.

Overall, the movie is fun and sweet, fast-paced, and at just over an hour and a half - the perfect running time for a fantastic streaming family flick for a Friday night in.

7 out of 10 - Time travel doesn't have to be confusing or depressing - just push through it quickly and use it for family therapy!

Movie Review: Death on the Nile (PG13 – 127 minutes)

 

Agatha Christie originally wrote Death on the Nile in 1937.  Peter Ustinov played Christie’s famous detective and mustache enthusiast Hercule Poirot (one of six times) in the 1978 movie version of the story.  Here – it is Director Kenneth Branagh’s second appearance as Poirot in his follow-up to the 2017 Murder on the Orient Express.

As with many Poirot mysteries, this story begins with a fairly simple set-up: Poirot is on semi-vacation in Egypt when he meets up with his friend Bouc and Bouc’s mother, in town for the wedding celebration holiday for socialite Linnet Ridgeway and her new Husband Simon Doyle.  Linnet approaches Poirot and asks him to join due to some worries about her former friend Jacqueline de Bellefort.  As Simon’s former fiancée, she is slightly unhinged and has begun stalking the couple.  From there, things get more complicated as each of the guests seems to have shady reasons for being there and legitimate reasons for disliking Linnet.  Her former fiancée, Linus Windlesham, is also aboard, along with her cousin and business trustee Andres Katchadourian.  Linnet’s personal maid seems to have some suspicious intentions, as well as Salome Otterbourne, a famous jazz singer and Salome’s manager/niece, Rosalie.  There’s also Linnet’s godmother, Marie Van Schuyler, who recently became a communist, and her nurse, Mrs. Bowers – who may or may not just be along to watch Marie’s health.

As the trip goes along, sure enough, Linnet ends up dead on a boat, and Poirot has to prove – in very dramatic fashion - which of the very suspicious guests committed the murder. 

Once again directed by Branagh, the movie looks lovely for the most part, but does seem to drag a bit more than its predecessor.  This is not entirely unexpected. With this many suspects, it does take time to explain them all and provide reasons they are on the boat and their relationship to the victim. Branagh does well with that, but adds a backstory for Poirot and his mustache that was never in the Christie books.  That feels both self-indulgent and oddly necessary to cement Poirot as the lead and central character in a movie that spends a lot of time on everyone else.  The cast is all good, but there are so many of them, it did feel like I needed one of the papers from my Clue: Master Detective game to keep everyone straight. 

Tom Bateman returns as Bouc from the Orient Express – he functions both as guest and Poirot’s assistance and friend.  Annette Bening joins as Euphemia, Bouc’s mother. She is a very serious painter and has no interest in allowing Bouc to fraternize with Rosalie, who he has fallen in love with.  Letitia Wright brings just the right level of energy to Rosalie and Sophie Okonedo is very fun as Salome, who is less interested in Rosalie and Bouc’s relationship, but more interested in flirting with Poirot.

Gal Gadot seems perfectly cast as the aloof socialite Linnet and Armie Hammer fits well as her new husband.  It’s pretty easy to see why so many have an issue with her, and the marriage. Although, step one for them may have been to not invite so many former fiancees on the trip. Rose Leslie plays Linnet’s personal maid, Louise Bourget, and of course, Linnet doesn’t treat her all that well, so she certainly looks like a suspect.

Emma Mackey was interesting as Jacqueline – she is very up front about her intentions to simply cause havoc.  She knows Simon is still in love with her and lets Poirot know she intends to keep stalking the couple until he admits it.  Nothing like being up front about your intentions.

Russell Brand plays Dr. Windlesham and again, seems very unhappy about being on board for his former fiancee’s wedding celebration.  Ali Fazal plays her cousin and he is just a little too concerned about bringing up business decisions at random times.

French & Saunders reunite to play Bowers and Marie Von Schuyler, which is a treat for those who remember their sketch comedy pairings.  Here, Marie is just a little too loud about how much money her goddaughter has, and Bowers is conveniently ready to help out with spending it.

Overall, the movie in entertaining and it is always fun to try to figure out exactly who the killer is as the story unfolds. I started out right, then changed my mind, then was way wrong, then came back to being right.  That is one of the appeals of a murder mystery.  I will say that I found this one a little slow with too many characters.  That is a bit of an odd complaint on my part as I learned the book had even more characters and suspects!

5 out of 10 – better streaming than in the theater is my recommendation!

Movie Review: Uncharted (PG13 – 116 minutes)

 

The Uncharted games are distributed by Naughty Dog through Sony PlayStation consoles. The first one was released in 2007, followed by three sequels and one spin off.  I loved all the games, they feel like playing an Indiana Jones style adventure treasure-hunting movie.  Nathan Drake, the lead of the games, is fun and relatable with enough skills to get out of tricky situations, puzzle areas, and random gunfights.  He is a descendant of Sir Francis Drake and was raised in an orphanage with his older brother Sam. Over the course of the games, he and his mentor, Victor Sullivan (Sully), go on adventures sometimes with partner/adversary Chloe Frazer, or Elena, the journalist who Nate eventually marries and has a kid with – yes, the stories are that detailed.

The game series has been rumored to become a movie for years with various stars attached. Fans (including Nathan Fillion) wanted Nathan Fillion to play Nate, to the point that he made a fan film short with Stephen Lang.  I really (really) wanted to see that movie, but hey - we have come to the point where we get an Uncharted movie starring the extremely likeable Tom Holland.

This movie picks up (as the games sometimes do) with Nate regaining consciousness while hanging in mid-air out of a plane.  We go through a few flashbacks to the orphanage and his older brother Sam, to his working as a bartender and meeting Sully.  Sully strongly encourages the nimble-fingered and treasure-history savvy Nate to join him on a quest for the lost gold from Magellan’s voyage.  Together, they work with Chole Frazer to compete against Santiago Moncada, who believes his family is due the lost treasure, and Moncada’s own treasure-hunter-mercenary, Braddock.  Treasure-hunting hijinks and double-crosses ensue.

The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer, who directed both Zombielands and the first Venom.  It is swiftly paced and action-packed. The treasure hunting-sequences are engaging and the fight sequences are entertaining.  I enjoyed it more than I expected, and I think it will deliver for those familiar with the games as well as those who have not heard of them.  The scope does not feel as grand or big as some of the games, but admittedly, that is mainly due to the fact that this shot during the pandemic and travel was more limited than a true globe-trotting treasure-hunting adventure deserves.  The cast each bring their own touches to characters that feel familiar both as archetypes and to those that played the games.

Tom Holland continues to be the most charming guy around. As much as I wanted Fillion to play Nate forever, going younger allows them to tell more stories – which I am already looking forward to. Holland is capable of both the action sequences and the guy-with-a-lot-of-historical-knowledge puzzle-solving sequences. You have to believe he is well informed, can solve a riddle, but can also hold his own in a fight.

Mark Whalberg is fine as Sully, but there were so many better choices out there.  He’s easy to buy in the action sequences, but less easy to buy in the riddle-solving scenes, which works because Holland handles most of those. Again, going a bit younger allows them to continue for many years, and he does appear with Sully’s trademark moustache in the post-credits sequence, so who knows. I’m trying to not let my severe dislike of Mark Whalberg color my opinion of his performance.

I love Antonio Banderas as a villain and he certainly oozes his way through Moncada as a guy who believes he is due far more than he is.  I would have loved even a little more of him in this movie – he does more string-pulling than treasure-hunting, and I think I wanted to see him out in the field, mixing it up a bit, throwing some punches and continuing to taunt our heroes.

Chloe has always been one of my favorite characters from the game, she’s the lead of the spin-off and that one is my favorite.  Claudia Black expertly voices her in the games and here Sophia Ali does a wonderful job portraying her. She is essentially the flip side to Nate, equally skilled, but with perhaps a looser moral compass. Looking forward to seeing what else she will get up to.

Tati Gabrielle plays Braddock, who starts out as a henchman and levels up to big bad. She provides levity when necessary and cold-bloodedness when necessary as well.

Overall, the movie is certainly fun and the perfect running length (just under two hours) for an action-adventure.  There’s a super fun Nolan North cameo, who voiced Nate in the games.  I especially appreciated the use of the game’s score in the movie when Nate gets his full outfit.  Since that music theme plays anytime the game is loading, you get very familiar with in after a run through. I will say, there weren't enough scenes of Nate randomly accidentally falling off a cliff while whatever character is next to him yells, "Nate, no!" repeatedly - which is a hallmark of my skilled gameplay.  

I definitely enjoyed this movie far more than I expected to and honestly, a lot of that is due to Holland’s chemistry and charm.  He continues to make some great choices and I am now on board with him as Nathan Drake – I hope they make a bunch more of these.

8 out of 10

Fan Film!

Movie Review: Marry Me (PG13 – 112 minutes)

 I have said it before and I will say it again – if there is one genre of movies I want to stick fairly close to a set formula, it is the rom-com.  The tried and true calculus of “Act 1 meet cute + (Act 2 relationship bliss + contrived conflict) = Act 3 reconciliation due to giant romantic gesture” is a proven formula and it works.  Marry Me is no different.

Pop star Kat Valdez is one of the biggest names in the music industry and as she is currently dating superstar Bastian, one half of the hugest power couple. The two have recorded a song called Marry Me and intend to really get married while performing at Madison Square Garden. Just before Kat takes the stage, she learns that Bastian cheated on her with her assistant.  Despondent and frustrated after all her failed relationships, she vows to try something different and in a flash decision, spots math teacher Charlie in the crowd, holding a “Marry Me” sign given to him by his friend Parker who dragged him and his daughter to the concert.  After Kat’s people bring him on stage, Charlie says yes, and the two get married. 

What follows is completely predictable, but undeniably charming.  Kat and Charlie get to know each other over what her team promises will just be a few weeks and then they will let him get back to his normal life. Kat is charmed by his work with kids and his precocious daughter. Charlie is charmed by Kat’s desire to be more true to herself and not give up on love, despite what the rumors about her say.  Inevitably, Bastian shows back up to throw a wrench into things and Charlie worries he’s not enough for Kat.  After a short split, she shows up at his math competition to provide the required big gesture to seal the deal.

The character of Kat is so similar to Jennifer Lopez’s real-life persona that I had to check if she wrote this (she did not).  The tried-and-true story is exactly what you expect, but what makes a successful romcom is never the story or content – it is the cast and how skillful they are at elevating the material. Lopez is a natural in this, mostly because she is playing herself.  It would be easy to find her privileged and out of touch, but there are just enough moments where she seems genuine with the kids and the desire to remain a romantic even in a world that wants to tear that apart that Kat remains a character you can cheer for, I particularly enjoyed the scene where they go bowling, and Charlie assumes she cannot bowl, and she absolutely can and gets a strike - charming and fun.

Owen Wilson is perfect as regular-guy Charlie who is dealing with his own insecurities as a single dad, wondering if he’s doing enough for his daughter and compounded by curiosity about his ex-wife’s new man.  He is great in the scenes with all the kids in the school as he coaches the mathletes.  He has such a pleasant likeability that he is just perfect here, again – someone you can root for. It's also fun to see these two together again after first seeing them in Anaconda, a true gem of a creature-feature.

The surrounding cast helps to add fun moments while never pulling focus from or upstaging the leads.  Maluma is a bit of a non-factor as Bastian – he’s there to be pretty and sing beautifully, which he does perfectly. 

John Bradley shows up as Kat’s manager – who cares so much about her well-being that I wondered if he was in love with her and maybe that was a side plot that was cut?  Michelle Buteau plays Kat’s personal assistant and, as always with Buteau, adds some perfect comic moments.

Sarah Silverman is dependably funny as Charlie’s best friend Parker and Chloe Coleman from My Spy is charming as fun as Charlie’s daughter Lou.

Overall, the movie delivers exactly what it promises, two likeable leads in a well-executed romcom that is perfect for streaming on Peacock on Valentine’s Day between winter Olympic Curling matches. And bonus – some of the new JLo songs are great! 

6 out of 10

 

Movie Review: Moonfall (PG13 – 132 Minutes)

 

No one destroys the planet like Roland Emmerich.  Moonfall is no exception.

This movie begins with a charming and fun spacewalk in which three astronauts debating whether Toto missed the rain or blessed the rain in Africa.  During this exchange something goes wrong, one gets knocked unconscious, one gets eliminated and the one remaining gets court martialed because no one can back him up on seeing something nefarious that caused the issue. 

Years later, that nefarious something is causing the moon to shift out of its orbit and begin creeping toward earth. This, of course, has terrible consequences including earthquakes, insane tides, gravity fluxes, lack of oxygen, you name it.  Oh, and of course, rioting, looting, and government officials making bad decisions.  It is up to the two remaining astronauts from that original mission, a comic-relief scientist, and their respective families and supporting characters to identify the problem, come up with a solution, and save the day. 

Honestly, that storyline is pretty similar to any Emmerich disaster movie, the best of which is Independence Day and the worst of which is 2012 – others are somewhere in between, but all have popcorn, big-screen, nonsense entertainment value.  This one ambles a bit in the beginning.  As opposed to the tight and clearly defined timeline of Independence Day (Day 1: the problem is identified, Day 2: a solution is crafted, Day 3: the solution is enacted and the day saved), in Moonfall the timeline is a little ambiguous – was there three days or three weeks during the story?  The wacky scientist that no one is listening to finds the issue, but NASA also finds it at about the same time.  The disgraced astronaut is having family troubles, but not enough that we care about any of the people involved.  The mission is put together to save the world, but instead of everyone coming together with a strong sense of unity between all humanity, the government is at odds with NASA, plus random folks are attacking other folks.  It is all a little more loose than I would like.  But, that is just the story. 

Getting down to the scenes of actual destruction, my goodness the scenes of the moon rising as it creeps closer and closer are spectacularly menacing.  The moon starts looming on the horizon, getting larger and larger.  When it starts to enter the atmosphere, the visuals combined with the score and music definitely create a sense of panic.  So Emmerich is still in his element in terms of destroying the world.  The cast is mostly game, but in some of his other movies, the thrown-together ensemble of random heroes is charismatic and engaging, here they are mostly forgettable.  

Patrick Wilson does stand out as disgraced astronaut Brian Harper – the side plot of his troubled kid, ex-wife, and her new husband (and apparently two other daughters?) was a bit fuzzy and lost some steam. That is unfortunate, because Michael Pena play the new husband and even his charm wasn’t enough to make me care about their situation. 

Halle Berry plays the other astronaut who accidentally becomes the head of NASA during the course of the story. She is fine in the role, but I did want a little more from her ‘big speech’ moment.  Eme Ikwuakor plays her husband who is over at the DOD and I did want the two organizations to come together a little more and work together on a solution – this movie was missing the “unification of humanity against external threat” that can take a movie like this to the next level.

John Bradley plays the crazy scientist who first discovers the threat.  Typically in this movie, no one is listening to that character until it is too late – but here, NASA has made the same discovery about the moon’s decaying orbit – it is just his theory about it begin a “mega-structure” that adds to his lunacy. Slight spoiler here - the twist ending, which was spoiled in all the trailers, of him being right and that something dragged the moon out of orbit, was interesting, but could have been a little simpler.  He was fun and provided some comic-relief while also doing what he could with a handful of tender moments.

The others are all forgettable, which is a shame, because what pulls you into a disaster movie is relating to the wide cast of characters – and being moved when you inevitably lose some of them. 

Overall, the movie is fine and certainly an entertaining piece of nonsense.  I wish it had been better paced and that the characters were better – but honestly, I can just rewatch Independence Day and be happy about that.  Also, I really want someone to make a movie from Michael Crichton’s book Prey.  And I'm going to continue to be super polite to my Alexa anytime I ask for anything... just in case. 

6 out of 10.