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Birds of Prey

First Hit: This movie was absolutely horrible and a waste of time and money.

The original title of this film is “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.” The title alone is a warning enough, and when you read it, it is all you’ll need to know about this story. I do not know what the screenwriter or director was thinking, but it wasn’t about making a movie that had conscious cognizant coherence.

From the get-go, this film is a mess. Using narrative and disjointed clips of film to attempt to put the story in place and time was useless here because there really is no place or time.

I thought “Suicide Squad” was a quirky fun movie. It is where we meet Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) for the first time. She was odd, “out there,” and on the edge of crazy. This film Birds of Prey is supposed to give us the backstory of Ms. Quinn. It is also a way to introduce other characters, the “Birds of Prey,” consisting of Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), “The Huntress,” aka Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and “Black Canary,” aka Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell).

There’s little character development, Instead, narration and snippets of past stories are used to fill in the backstory of these characters.

This group of women come together because of and over the improbability of a young pickpocketing girl, Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), swallowing a large, I mean colossally large, diamond stolen from a thieving, conniving, and self-named lord of Gotham, Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor).

Lots of fighting ensues, and we always know who wins. The fighting scenes are not well-choreographed and felt staged. The logic stream of the story was virtually non-existent. It seems as though the director Cathy Yan threw together a bunch of film scraps she shot with this cast doing stuff and called it a day.

Robbie is an excellent actress. She’ has proven her abilities in many films. Therefore, I’m surprised she co-produced and acted in this hot mess. Despite her talents, this was not good work. Perez, who has been missed in recent years, did what she could with this limiting role. Winstead was the best of the lot. Her quiet demeanor and her story of how she came up with “The Huntress” when everyone else like called her “Crossbow” was amusing. Smollett-Bell tried to make her character mean something but, again, the script and direction let her down. McGregor was okay as the foil for the Birds of Prey. Christina Hodson created a disjointed and lackluster screenplay with little substance. Yan has no business directing a film with this film as proof.

Overall: This movie was a total waste of time.

The Rhythm Section

First Hit: This is Blake Lively’s (as Stephanie Patrick) movie from beginning to end.

Blake Lively can act, and here we see how good she can be.

The story opens by letting us know that Patrick is a lost soul. She is slowly destroying herself by using heroin and supporting this habit through prostitution. We learn that Stephanie has turned to this life of self-destruction because she lost her entire family in a suspicious plane crash three years earlier. She was supposed to be on that plane.

A reporter named Keith Proctor (Raza Jaffrey) comes to the brothel and buys time with Stephanie so that he can speak with her about what he’s working on. Proctor is investigating who are the people who planted the bomb on the plane that killed her parents. Patrick, unsure of Procter’s real intention, dashes out of the room and gets the house bouncer to physically throw Proctor out. She doesn’t want to be reminded of her pain.

However, Proctor left his business card, and as Patrick gets ready to hit up with another dose of smack, she decides to bolt out of the brothel ending up at Proctor’s London apartment. The verbal sparring here is wonderfully done because Proctor holds his ground of just wanting to get more information and to give Patrick information about what really happened to the plane. Patrick, on the other hand, is utterly scared about having to face her own demons and re-live the emotional loss of her family.

Proctor has a room where there is a photo of each of the plane crash victims along with piles of folders containing information and evidence about what really happened on that plane. It includes information about who ordered the bombing, who made the bomb, and who set it off.

Getting the name of the person who built the bomb, Raza (Tawfeek Barhom), Patrick sets out to find him and get payback. But as she confronts Rasa face to face, in a moment of panic she cannot pull the trigger. However, because he’s now been discovered, Raza finds and takes it out on Proctor.

With Proctor no longer being able to help, Patrick uses one more bit of information from the files she took from Proctor’s apartment, a location on a map. Traveling to this location in a remote norther area of Scotland, she finds Iain Boyd “B” (Jude Law), a former MI6 agent.

She convinces B that she is going to kill the bomb maker and all the people associated with the bombing of the plane and asks him to train her. Skeptical of Stephanie’s abilities, B relents and teaches her how to shoot, fight, and keep fit while also giving her information on where she might find Raza and the unknown mastermind.

The thing that is most compelling in this story is how slowly we see Patrick’s incremental change from strung-out addict (pale, thin, haunting eyes, and bruised up) to someone who is not a fighting machine but a healthier person. We see her dive to right the wrong to her family and assuage her underlying guilt for not being on the plane with them.

Like an everyday person, Patrick never overwhelms anyone when she’s fighting, she’s authentically fighting for her life. She’s appropriately scared and clearly driven. And this is what makes this story engaging as Stephanie makes her way to find and resolve her family’s death.

All the scenes are well shot from the car chase scene to her training with B to the bus explosion. However, it is the time with Marc Serra (Sterling K. Brown), especially their last scene, where we see that Stephanie Patrick has learned what she needs to learn about herself and her abilities. She has freed herself from her past.

Lively is absolutely mesmerizing as this character. It is the grittiest role I’ve seen her in, and she nails it. Law is terrific as the elusive former MI6 Agent put to pasture. His direct approach to helping Patrick was excellent. Brown was engagingly cagey and incredible as the former CIA agent who sells information to bad people. Jaffrey was wonderful as the news reporter wanting to get to the truth. Mark Burnell wrote a powerful and pointedly direct script. Reed Morano got the best out of the actors while engagingly directing scenes keeping the audience fully engaged the entire time.

Overall: I really liked the way this story came together and the acting, all around, was superb.

The Gentlemen

First Hit: A few scenes were to fun watch, but as a film, it was poorly constructed.

I’ve never seen a Guy Ritchie film that I thought was constructed with thoughtfulness and skill. He either attempts to cover too much ground or is more inclined to use pop and dazzle to engage the audience.

In this film, he has to use narration throughout to create, set up, and deliver the story. He hides his inability to write a good screenplay by making the narration of his story part of the storyline his characters say to each other.

Specifically, watch most of the scenes between a dirt-digger detective and reporter Fletcher (Hugh Grant and Ray (Charlie Hunnam). Ray is the right-hand man and consigliere for Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), the weed lord of England. Because Fletcher is attempting to blackmail Mickey and Ray, he explains the whole story to the theater’s audience by reading the screenplay with Ray.

This is the main issue with this film. Having to rely on this narration to provide a lot of the movie’s context is troubling. However, I will say the way it is done here is better than having an unknown voice over-explanation.

The story as I saw it, was that Mickey wants to sell his vast marijuana growing and distribution empire to Matthew (Jeremy Strong). The reason for selling was unclear and unconvincing. Matthew is a wealthy eccentric Englishman who is intrigued with the possibility of buying this empire for $400M. However, it is a lot of money, and to drive the price down, Matthew engages “Dry Eye” (Henry Golding and a term used for Asians). Dry Eye makes an offer that Mickey scoffs at, but because the offer to sell to Matthew was supposed to be secret, Mickey is now on guard.

Then the story adds complexity because we learn that Matthew and Dry Eye are working some sort of side deal to assist each other in reducing the price, but each plans to screw the other as well.

Adding to this is Fletcher, who, through his detective work, documents all the goings-on between all the parties, which led to the script he reads from. His hopes are to sell the screenplay to Mickey and Ray for $20M so that Mickey and Ray will know all the subversive planning that is going on to drive the price down.

The most fun part of the film is when we have scenes with Coach (Colin Farrell). His group of boys is caught raising havoc in one of Mickey’s underground farms, so he owes Mickey and Ray. The payback to Ray and Mickey are amusing and fun to watch.

Confused? One could be, but this convoluted story is kept on track by the narration scenes. This saves the film from being a total disaster and it also makes it a poorly constructed film.

Anyway, there are lots of side plots and stories in this movie, including Mickey’s wife, Rosalind Pearson (Michelle Dockery). She’s supposed to be the most magnificent woman in the world, but it is only in the eyes of the beholder. There is the newspaper owner who hired Fletcher. There is Lord George (Tom Wu), head dragon, heroin distributor who crosses Mickey.

The movie has lots of twists that are used for creating interest and complexity, and in some cases, it works, but mostly it doesn’t.

McConaughey's role in this makes me wonder. At times he selects fantastic parts like in film Dallas Buyer’s Club and other times, he chooses roles like this one. He does it well enough, but it’s really a role of false, blustery, and cool-man behavior. Hunnam is outstanding as Ray, Mickey’s right-hand man. Grant is oddly compelling as a bad guy. I’ve not seen him recently, and seeing him here was fun. Farrell is brilliant as the Coach of a group of guys and honest to his word. Actually, I liked his character and role the best of all. Dockery is okay as Mickey’s wife and auto builder entrepreneur. Strong is mediocre as the wealthy and odd Englishman who wants to buy Mickey’s empire. Golding is formidable as Dry Eye, a youngish Asian who wants to make his mark. Wu was perfect as the wry old heroin distributor. Ritchie wrote and directed this film, and as I’ve indicated, Guy has little to offer in the realm of filmmaking and his background in music videos is where his talent may lay.

Overall:  Although entertaining at times, being so convoluted the required narration means the story and film needs additional work.

Bad Boys for Life

First Hit: Funny at the right times, but confusing gun battles took away from the story.

Will Smith as Detective Mike Lowery and Martin Lawrence as Detective Marcus Burnett can be engagingly funny together. And in many scenes, they hit that sweet spot by bringing outright out-loud laughter from the audience.

The background of this story is that these two have worked together for twenty plus years and, during this time, created havoc in the Miami Police Department by being both hasty in their actions and unconventional in their investigative methods. The directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah put this right up front in the opening scenes when they have the detectives drive through Miami at recklessly high speeds in Lowery’s 911 Porsche.

Burnett wants to retire but gets yanked away from fulfilling this dream when Lowery gets riddled with five bullets from Armando (Jacob Scipio), an assassin riding a motorcycle down one of Miami’s boulevards. In another early scene, we see Armando breaking his mother Isabel Aretas (Kate del Castillo) out of prison.

Isabel is intent on revenging an old score which resulted in the death of her husband. She asks Armando to kill all that had to do with her former husband's death. One of the aspects of Isabel that the audience is made aware of early is that she sees herself as a witch of some sort.

Directing the detective’s work over the years was Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano). After Lowery’s shooting, he brings on his newly formed AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations) squad to solve the cases of all the current assassinations by using data and more conventional crime resolution techniques. This team is led by Lowery’s ex-girlfriend Rita (Paola Nunez).

Lowery won’t be held back and goes out to find his assassin and finally convinces Burnett to come out of retirement to help him one last time.

The rest of the film is about the slight conflicts between the AMMO squad and Lowery and Burnett’s tactics on finding and dealing with the assassins.

The AMMO team has some hilarious interactions with Lowery and Burnett, which helped set the stage. However, it is Marcu’s comments to Mike that gets the most laughs. One funny scene is when Mike names the color dye Mike uses to cover the gray in his goatee.

However, what didn’t work was the convoluted shootouts, two specifically, one in a warehouse garage and the other in an old hotel that was confusing. Just too much noise and shooting that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Smith is his typical smart-alecky competent self. As such, he is perfect for this role. Lawrence is terrific as the sidekick attempting to bring some sanity to his partner’s life. Pantoliano is solid as a police captain. Nunez is good as Lowery’s former girlfriend and leader of AMMO. Castillo is okay as the woman looking for revenge. Vanessa Hudgens, as Burnett’s all-knowing supportive wife, is terrific. Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, and Joe Carnahan wrote the screenplay. Directors Arbi and Fallah did a good job of bringing both action and comedy to bear.

Overall: There was nothing memorable about his film or story, but it was a fun experience.

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

First Hit: In the end, it was satisfying and that’s all that mattered.

I was one of those guys standing in line the first day that the original “Star Wars” film, later subtitled “Episode IV – A New Hope,” was released (1977). The moment the words “Star Wars” came on the screen, followed by the storyline scrolling up and fading into deep space, and lastly, the cruiser coming in overhead, I was hooked.

I liked some of the subsequent films. The prequels were a mixed bag, as were the sequels. Yesterday the final movie, number nine, was viewed, and I was happy I saw the ending to the film that started it all some forty-two years ago.

This film brought in many of the old characters in different scenes signaling this saga of stories’ conclusion. Most of these scenes worked well, but some did not.

The highlights included how they intertwined Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) stored archival footage quite effectively into this story. Because of Fisher’s passing, she had a more significant part than I would have imagined. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), was terrific and became the Jedi teacher, just like his teacher Obi-Wan, was to him. Luke gave Rey (Daisy Ridley) her final lessons to become a true Jedi Knight and with that lesson, the sword (OK, lightsaber) was passed to her.

Her rival and representing the dark side, as Darth Vader once did to Luke, was a continuation of the previous film and well played by Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. The story also included small scenes with Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), who once owned the Millennium Falcon before he lost it in a poker match to Hans Solo (Harrison Ford) and his sidekick Chewbacca.

However, it was Harrison Ford’s addition that didn’t work as well. His talk with Kylo seemed odd because of his casual GQ attire look didn’t seem to fit the Hans of the past. Despite this, I appreciated the closure these additions provided.

The goal of this story was the defeat of the dark side still headed up by Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who was secretly managing the demise of the Resistance with the rest of the Siths from their planet Exegol. One of the twists - aren’t there always twists in a Star Wars film, was that Rey was Palpatine’s granddaughter. Palpatine was hoping to turn Rey to the dark side and together with Kylo, they would rule the universe and everything in it.

Heading up the Resistance’s battle against the dark side was Rey, Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), who had inherited the Millennium Falcon and Chewbacca after Hans death in the previous story. Together they pulled all the outliers of the resistance to do one final battle against the dark side.

The scenes were well done, and the photography and special effects were A-1. The first 2/3rds of the film was a mishmash of battles and strategy sessions attempting to set up the final 1/3rd. The last section built up in a predictable yet effective way.

We know who’s going to win this battle of light and dark, but there was enough there to make one wonder along the way. It’s enough to keep you in your seat when the full-screen cinematography throws up images that touch your joy, curiosity, and memories of days gone by.

Ridley is strong in this role. I never warmed to her in the previous two films, but as this one moved along I started to accept her as the Jedi Knight savior and leader of the Resistance. Driver was excellent as Kylo. He had immediately picked up where Vader left off and even with his helmet off, Kylo’s face scar says it all. Isaac isn’t Ford. And to create a new captain of the Falcon is a significant role to jump into. Ford had his way, and eventually, I bought into Isaac’s version of the Millennium Falcon’s captain. Boyega’s part was good but his overall role seemed to be minor in the scope of things. Williams was okay as Lando, and there was one scene in which his charm was at the level it was when we were first introduced to him. Ford’s role seemed just a bit out of place and almost like an add-on. Hamill’s character was well done and I liked the inclusion. Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams wrote a satisfying finale to this nine-film saga. J.J. Abrams also directed this effort and was able to put a final period at the end of this well-intentioned set of stories.

Overall: I’m more glad that sad that this saga is over because at least it ended strong.

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