Classic Movie Review: Oppenheimer (2023, DVD Release)

J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) first starts studying theoretical physics at Cambridge in 1926.  He doesn’t like England, and acts out on his disdain by trying to poison one of his professors.  With the advice of Nels Bohr, (Kenneth Branaugh) Oppenheimer continues his studies in Germany, and gets his PHD there, and meets Werner Heisenberg (Matthias Schweighöfer) who would later become Oppenheimer’s rival. 

Oppenheimer then begins to teach quantum physics in Berkeley after nuclear fission is discovered.  He marries Kitty (Emily Blunt) who’s a member of the Communist Party USA, and carries on an affair with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) who’s also a member of the American Communist Party.  At a time when McCarthyism was rampant, and J. Edgar Hoover was head of the F.B.I., communist sympathizer guilt by association was commonplace.  But with the onset of WWII, America needs Oppenheimer’s knowledge to beat the Nazi’s in developing an atomic bomb.  General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) recruits Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan Project, to develop a nuclear weapon before the Germans.  Oppenheimer in turn recruits a team of the nation’s top scientists.  Does the U.S, develop the atomic bomb before the Germans, and what happens to Oppenheimer’s reputation after the war?

Can a story about a quantum physicist be compelling to watch?  It can be when written and directed by Christopher Nolan.  Nolan manages to synthesize all of Oppenheimer’s idiosyncrasies and his complicated romantic entanglements and superimpose that onto a story about competing with the Nazis on developing a weapon that no human could fathom years before, and all the moral quandaries brought on by the development of this weapon.   As if that wasn’t enough, there’s a mystery surrounding who leaks nuclear secrets to the Russians, and what the American government tries to do with Oppenheimer after he’s served his purpose.  This might not be some people’s cup of tea, but it was a fascinating mix of science, war story, and political intrigue.

  The acting for the most part was very good.  Cillian Murphy is very good in a very low-key, understated performance.  Even though he is soft-spoken in the role of Oppenheimer, he never lets the viewer forget that he makes the decisions for the Manhattan Project.  That mix of gentleness, and decisiveness is a hard combination to achieve, but Murphy does it.  It would be very surprising if Murphy did not win the Best Actor Oscar.  Not to be outdone, Robert Downey Jr.  is superb as Lewis Strauss, head of the Atomic Energy Commission, Downey Jr. plays Strauss as a ruthless power broker, willing to let others do his dirty work for him.  He wants to be perceived as a good person, but he is really power-hungry.  Downey’s transition turns on a dime, from seemingly inoffensive administrator, to power mad villain.  He should win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  Emily Blunt is very good as Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty.  Kitty is not a very sympathetic character, she is absent as a mother to her child for many years She is firm, and not afraid to give Oppenheimer a kick in the pants when he needs it.  But when she needs him most, she is his most ardent supporter.  She should win an Oscar for Best Actress.  Less good was Matt Damon playing General Groves, he never lost himself in the role, he was just Matt Damon playing a general.  Nolan should have chosen a character actor to play this role and not Damon.  Also confusing was Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock.  Pugh is nude in almost every scene she’s in, and the nudity doesn’t really add anything to the plot, so it was gratuitous.  She could have been just as effective as Oppenheimer’s lover without all the nudity.

There were also many actors in smaller roles that rounded out a fine ensemble cast.

Director Nolan does a fine job of making Oppenheimer a visual feast as well as an intriguing story.  Nolan visualizes the thoughts in Oppenheimer’s head, as well as many other visual tricks that intersperse complex ideas, like the scene where Oppenheimer is congratulating his team for building the bomb, and his thoughts are suddenly interrupted by darker thoughts.  Nolan effortlessly blends Oppenheimer’s work, personal life and political intrigue surrounding him, and makes the race to the bomb seem exciting, even though the result is well-known.  The pacing is fast, and 3 hours flies by, all thanks to Nolan’s ability to keep the audience guessing about what comes next.

There are some choices that Nolan should have resisted, like the casting of Matt Damon as General Groves, he should have chosen a lesser-known character actor to fill that role.  And he misused Florence Pugh badly, as discussed earlier.  But other than that, Nolan should easily win the Best Director Oscar, especially since Greta Gerwig was not nominated.

Oppenheimer:  It’s the bomb!

Classic Movie Review: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946. Movies Channel)

Frank Chambers (John Garfield) is a drifter, hitchhiking from town to town.  He gets his last ride from local D.A. Kyle Sackett. (Leon Aames) Kyle drops Frank off at a local diner outside Los Angeles, The Twin Oaks, where Frank agrees to work for the diner’s owner, Nick Smith. (Cecil Kellaway) Frank can’t help noticing Nick’s young and fetching wife Cora. (Lana Turner) The attraction between Frank and Cora is instantaneous, and undeniable.  First, the pair decide to run away together, but Cora doesn’t want to start over from scratch, so they hatch a plan to kill Nick, and have Cora inherit Nick’s diner, but the plan hits a snag, and Nick survives the attempt, and doesn’t remember who tried to kill him.

Soon, Nick is out of the hospital, and he making plans to move with Cora to Santa Barbara to take care of his bedridden sister.   Cora wants nothing to do with Nick or the future he has planned for her.  Can Cora talk Frank into another attempt to kill Nick?  Is Frank willing to take the risk, just because he didn’t get caught the first time?

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a fascinating movie.  It’s a classic noir film, categorized by moral ambiguity and visually dark settings. The story takes many twists and turns, but what makes it interesting is how Frank and Cora, so genuinely in love with each other, or at least in lust with each other, start to turn on each other, and try repeatedly to stab each other in the back, figuratively.  This movie has a cynical view of human nature, as Cora and Frank race to the bottom to try to save their own skin.  In the end, the movie wants the viewer to believe in the power of fate, above all. 

The acting is superb.  Lana Turner is captivating as Cora Smith.  The viewer can’t take his eyes off Turner as femme fatale Cora.  She is beautiful, but tough as nails in her desire to shed herself of her boring middle-aged husband. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and Turner plays both tender lover and tough mistress with equal aplomb. John Garfield is equally captivating as drifter Frank Chambers.  Garfield is known for his tough guy roles, and he’s plenty tough in this film, but shows his sensitive side in scenes with Turner, the chemistry between them is unmistakable, and they make the screen smolder when they are together.  Hume Cronin is also very good as a slick fast-talking defense lawyer, more interested in his own reputation than the guilt or innocence of his client.

Tay Garrett is not a well-known director, but he does an admirable job of navigating the many plot twists in this film and bringing it to a justifiable ending.  He gets great performances from everyone in the cast, and makes the 1 hour 53-minute running time pass quickly.  There are also enough nighttime scenes to classify as classic noir.

The Postman Always Rings Twice:  Cora’s got male.

Classic Movie Review: Bottoms (2023, Prime Video Streaming)

PJ (Rachel Sennot) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are two unpopular, untalented lesbian students looking for a way to gain some popularity, and sleep with their dream girls, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber) who are both cheerleaders. Isabel’s boyfriend, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) is a quarterback, and has some violent tendencies. When PJ and Josie offer Isabel a safety ride home, Jeff blocks the car, and Josie nicks him with her car, which sets off outrage among the football players.

PJ gets the idea to start a women’s version of Fight Club, to teach the women of the school self-defense, but really to get closer to Brittany, Josie embellishes PJ’s wild untrue stories about both of them being in juvenile detention, and suddenly girls, including Brittany and Isabel, are coming to the club, which is sponsored by Mr. G. (Marshawn Lynch) a quirky teacher going through his own personal problems. When Jeff’s teammate Tim (Miles Fowler) finds out that PJ and Josie were never in juvenile detention, he threatens to tell the whole school, and end the female fight club for good.

Bottoms is a very funny combination of Revenge of the Nerds or Square Pegs (if anyone remembers that show) meets Fight Club, It’s about two young women ostracized not because they are gay, but because they are untalented. The plot sometimes sounds like a trite sitcom plot, the women getting caught in a lie about being juvenile roughnecks, but it’s really about rocking the boat of staid suburban America. Is it wise for a movie to advocate for more violence to end violence against women? Probably not, but this is absurdist comedy at its extreme, and even though some of the violence is quite extreme, Bottoms is still funny, and makes several good points about high school and society in general.

Good acting makes up for the holes in the script. Rachel Sennot clearly establishes herself as a comedian to look out for in the future. She didn’t really make an impression in Bodies, Bodies Bodies, but she’s front and center here, and gets a lot of laughs. Sennot also co-wrote the film with director Emma Siegelman. Real life friend of Sennot, Ayo Edebiri is also very good as Josie, PJ’s lifelong friend, the exchanges between her and Sennot feel real because they are good friends, and they act and react the way real friends do. Havana Rose Liu plays a good love interest vulnerable and willing to open up. Nicholas Galitzine is good as jerky football hero Jeff, he can get away with anything and he knows it. Ruby Cruz is good as Hazel, she takes a lot of abuse and faces a weird circumstance with her mother, but she still believes in the fight club. It’s an understated performance central to the film. Miles Fowler is also funny as Jeff’s friend and chief protector, Tim. The nicest surprise of all is Marshawn Lynch as Mr. G. He is consistently funny, and delivers his lines naturally and flawlessly. For those who don’t know, Marshawn Lynch was a football star for the Seattle Seahawks before staring in commercials and now a movie.

Director Emma Siegelman keeps the action going with good pacing, gets great performances from a mostly young, largely unknown cast. There aren’t a lot of visual flourishes, like weird camera angles, but there is a manic set piece for this film, and Siegelman builds nicely to it. Also of note, one of the producers on this film is Elizabeth Banks, who directed Pitch Perfect 2, which centered on a women’s acapella group. She seems to be involved in many movies where woman are central to the film.

Bottoms: The quarterback is the butt of most of the jokes.

Movie Review: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023, Amazon Streaming)

After losing her mother and her brother Chris (Edem Atsu-Swanzy) to drug and gun related violence, seventeen-year-old Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) adamantly believes that she can cure death.  She is sure that she can bring Chris back to life with a lot of electric current from the neighborhood.  She steals dead bodies to reconstruct Chris, and one day, miraculously, Chris comes back to life.  But now that he’s alive, is Chris the same person that Vicaria remembers?

There is so much good in this script, a bright, energetic girl who loves science, her strong but flawed father, but somewhere on the road of women’s empowerment and community empowerment, Bomani Story, writer and director of the film, loses the high ideals set out by the script and turns this film into a violent, bloody, and very conventional monster movie.  With a small number of changes, this could have been a revolutionary film, about the importance of learning science in the black community, a women’s empowerment film, and a fitting tribute to Mary Shelly.  Instead, the script leaves the viewer with more questions than answers. One can only lament what could have been.  

The acting is very good.  Laya DeLeon Hayes is fantastic as Vicaria, she conveys the fear and angst of growing up in a community flooded by drugs and guns.  DeLeon Hayes also conveys the promise that exists in the young women of the black community.  Chad Coleman is very good as Vicaria’s strong willed father, who stands up against the soft racism of low expectations. Denzel Whitaker is also very good as the local drug kingpin.  He’s not the stereotypical bad guy, like in most movies, and that allows Whitaker to give the character some depth. Reilly Brooke Stith is also excellent as Aiesha, Chris’ girlfriend, Aiesha is a strong proponent of women’s empowerment and black history.

Bomani Story the director, uses a lot of quick edits, and an early montage scene to tell the story of Vicaria’s losses, and considering the small budget, she does very well to make this movie as visually stimulating as it is, but she should have resisted the temptation to make it just another bloody, gory horror flick.

The Angry Back Girl and Her Monster. Frank-ly could have been better.

Book Review: Frankenstein: The Original 1818 Text (By Mary Shelly 155 Pages, Kindle Edition)

A sailor named Robert Walden is sailing towards England, after an excursion to Archangel.  Walden and crew see a sled on the ice and pick up a man in ill-health, named Victor Frankenstein.  Victor starts to tell his tale to Robert.  Victor grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, he quickly became bored with the sciences and philosophies of the day, and started dabbling in theories that were dismissed long ago as lunacy, such as the reanimation of dead flesh.  Victor Frankenstein was convinced that he could bring a dead man to life.

He works tirelessly towards this goal, avoiding his friends, like Henry Clerval, and his cousin Elizabeth, who he longed to marry someday.  Victor actually succeeds in reanimating a dead man, but the creature is so hideous, standing around 9 feet tall, with yellow skin stringy black hair, that he could not even face his creator.  The monster runs away from Victor, and Victor, feeling like a failure, continues to stay away from friends and family.  Only Henry Clerval attends to Victor in his failing health.

Victor is brought out of his doldrums by the shocking news that his younger brother William is dead, and the suspect is Victor’s friend, Justine Moritz.  Victor suspects that the monster he created has killed his brother William, but can he find the creature, and prove that the creature murdered his brother, before his friend Justine is put to death?

Mary Shelly uses one incredible device in this version of Frankenstein.  She makes the creature, the monster a sentient human being, always thinking and expressing his feelings.  She could have made the monster a sympathetic symbol of the downtrodden, the oppressed, the ostracized, in a class-based society that values looks and breeding above all.  But Shelly doesn’t develop the monster at all, but instead focusses the book on Victor, his guilt, his shame, his inadequacies, and so this book, long praised as a masterpiece, becomes a long, difficult, slog of a read.

There is very little discussion of how the creature gains life, I didn’t expect much, given the scientific exploits of 1818, but some pseudo-science would have been nice. There’s a lot of talk about this philosophy or that reading, but there’s very little to show that Victor can make an intellectually and physically agile monster out of lifeless tissue.  In this regard, the 1931 movie was better.  Is it an anti-science book?  It certainly takes the most nightmarish thought from science, reanimating the dead, and brings that idea to the forefront, at a time when science was badly misunderstood.

As a result, the reader is “treated” to a seemingly endless chase between Frankenstein and his creation, where Victor’s problems only seem to multiply, with no end in sight. The monster becomes Victor’s increasingly elusive menace, torturing Victor’s mind and damning his soul.  This woeful tale could have been changed from a never-ending tale of woe, to one of joy and even hopefulness with a few simple changes in the narrative, but Shelly never experiments with her creation, and has foresworn herself to a preordained ending.

The book is so filled with melancholy, that one wonders, how much sorrow one man, one family, one reader can take.  No one character seems to have one second of joy or peace before yet another calamity rains down from on high.  Frankenstein is an unabashedly, unrepentantly depressing tale, and Shelly seems to wallow in the dark tidings.

The book limps to a rather unimpressive ending, and the reader is left to ponder how much better the book could have been with a touch more imagination.

Frankenstein:  A monstrously underdeveloped creation.

Classic Movie Review: Barbie (2023, Max Streaming)

Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) is living another perfect day in her Dream House in Barbie World. Everything in Barbie World is run by women, the president is a woman, the whole Supreme Court is made up of women, and the men are perfectly content in their shallow, unobtrusive roles. Ken (Ryan Gosling) just wants to stand on the beach, and look good doing it. He also wants Barbie’s love, or is it her undivided adoration?

The seeming bliss is disturbed when Barbie is distressed by thoughts of her own mortality, and, perish the thought, cellulite. She also develops human feet. This is serious, Barbie must visit Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) who is a Barbie who’s been played with too long, but who all the other Barbies go to when they’re not feeling like themselves. Weird Babie says, there’s a human who’s dismay is causing a rupture in the membrane between the real world and Barbie World. Weird Barbie tells Stereotypical Barbie that she must find the human in distress and fix the rupture, before everything can return to normal is Barbie World.

Barbie finds the female in distress, but is it tween Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) or her mother, Gloria (America Ferrera) who needs the help? Ken tags along with Barbie to the real world, but does he learn the wrong lessons about masculinity when he gets back to Barbie World before Barbie? Can Barbie fix the rupture between the real world and Barbie World, and return to her carefree world? Can she help Sasha and Gloria bond?

Barbie is a surprisingly well-written movie which is sneakily subversive at first before becoming explicitly subversive later on. Barbie begins with a spot-on satire of the opening scene from 2001 a Space Odyssey, and that sets the tone for a very funny movie. But it slyly tackles weightier issues as it goes along.
Plain and simple, it takes stereotypically perfect Barbie and exposes her to what women face in the real world, and the doll realizes what it means to be a real woman in the real world and wonders if even she can measure up. There is a lesson about toxic masculinity. There is also criticism of Barbie’s image, her perfect face, her unattainable figure, and yet the film remains very funny, and satirical. It’s a blend of the Lego Movie, Peter Pan, and Pacific Rim. (Pacific Rim also has a membrane issue)

Barbie, the movie, unlike the doll, isn’t flawless. The resolution of the situation in Barbie Land felt like a corporate compromise, because Americans aren’t the least bit comfortable with an all-female anything, (the WNBA, for example) and this film was produced by Mattel, the toy conglomerate who doesn’t want to make any potential customer unhappy, even men. And sometimes parts of the movie felt like a marketing ploy for Mattel. But Barbie, the film, despite some flaws, is an instant classic. Above all, Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach challenged the patriarchy that permeates American society, and made audiences laugh while doing it.

The acting makes an already good movie even better. Margot Robbie turns in another stellar performance as Stereotypical Barbie, a radiantly happy piece of plastic, who suddenly realizes the burdens of being a woman in 21st century America. The transition from happy go lucky doll to sullen real-world woman is pitch perfect. Equally good is Ryan Gosling as Ken who starts the film as a vapid, self-centered satire of a man, becomes more of a satire of an alpha male, but manages to show Ken’s sensitive side by the end of the film. It’s a well-rounded, underappreciated performance. Perhaps the key character in in the film is everyday mom Gloria, played beautifully by America Ferrera. Ferrera delivers a mike drop soliloquy that encapsulates all the contradictions of being a woman in the 21st century. It is a speech so well-written and so artfully delivered with a mix of pain and hope, that it is truly stunning. America Ferrera stole this film with that soliloquy, this became her film after that moment.

Kate McKinnon is funny as Weird Barbie, but was she really that weird? Will Ferrell plays a version of his President Business character from the Lego movie. Here he is the CEO of Mattel, not his best performance, but good enough. Rhea Perlman plays a sweet, soft-spoken grandmother who is also the creator of the Barbie. Seeing Perlman play Ruth Handler makes one almost forget that Perlman also played acid-tongued Carla Tortelli in Cheers. Michael Cera is funny as Allan, Ken’s forgotten friend. There are too many other good performances to mention, but they all helped create Barbie World, separate and distinct from the real world.

The direction by Greta Gerwig was extremely good. The pacing was pretty good, some of the musical numbers in Barbie World seemed unnecessary, but she did a good job of building two separate and distinct worlds and switching back and forth. Some of the sequences of Ken and Barbie travelling between the two worlds were reminiscent of Jon Favreau’s work on Elf, those sequences added to the whimsy of the Barbie movie. She got great performances from a very large cast, and deserves all the acclaim she is getting.

Should there be a sequel? No. Will there be a sequel? Yes.

Barbie: Doll yourself up, and watch!

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny (2023, Disney + Streaming)

In 1944, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is still looking for antiquities on a Nazi train filled with stolen war booty.  The Nazis think they have found the Lance of Longinus, the sword that pierced Jesus’ side.  The Nazis also believe that the sword has special powers, but Indiana Jones knows the sword is a fake.  Nazi Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) has found half of Archimedes Antikythera, and can use it as a time machine.  Jones’ partner, Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) claim to know where the other half of Archimedes time machine is.

Twenty-five years later, Shaw’s daughter and Indy’s goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller Bridge) wants to find the other half of the time machine, and auction it off to pay off gambling debts.  But Jugen Voller complete with a new alias, is now working with the Americans on the space program. He wants the other half of Archimedes machine as well.  Who will get it first?

Dial of Destiny is a bloated exercise in nostalgia.  It tries very hard to make the audience reminisce about the first Indiana Jones movie, with its Nazi villains, and youthful CGI aided Harrison Ford. There are also appearances by Indy’s wife Marion, and sidekick Sallah.  But writer James Mangold fills this movie with historical fiction, as was done in the X-men series, but historical fiction has its limits.  The writers also make Helena more than just a sidekick, at times she seems to take the hero mantle away from Indiana Jones, and that reeks of ageism, that’s no way to treat an iconic movie character.  Marion is also treated in an ageist manner, too old to participate in the action sequences, Marion is brought in as a sentimental afterthought near the end of the film.  Not only that, the writers mess with the well-established rules of movie time travel.   

The acting is good, better than this script deserves.  Harrison Ford gets the most mileage he can out of an older Indiana Jones, playing him as a cranky curmudgeon, something Ford is very good at.  The best scenes he has feature Indiana Jones talking about the dissolution of his marriage to Marion and the death of his son.  There is sincere sadness in Ford’s voice.  Phoebe Waller Bridge hams it up as Indy’s goddaughter Helena, but there’s no chemistry between Ford and Waller Bridge, because she is too busy playing the smart aleck with all the answers.  Mads Mikkelsen is very good playing Nazi Jurgen Voller, playing him with the necessary evil, but with a glint in his eye, meaning that Voller is totally committed to his mission and might be a bit crazed in his obsession with Archimedes tool.  Kaen Allen, John Rhys Davies and Antonio Banderas make cameo appearances, but their characters aren’t on screen long enough to make an impact.

Director James Mangold’s take on the Indiana Jones franchise seeks to be a rollicking action movie, in the Spielberg tradition, but the action seems slow and disjointed, and not as spontaneous as the Spielberg films.  The 2 ½ hour running time is too long, and should have been edited to a more manageable runtime.  Mangold seems to want to make an epic, but the length also hurts the pacing.

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny: Keeping up with the Jonses is no longer fun.

Movie Review: Past Lives (2023, Amazon Prime, Streaming)

Nora (Moon Seung-Ah, Greta Lee) leaves South Korea at age 12, and emigrates to America to pursue a writing career.  She leaves behind her childhood sweetheart, Hae Sung (Leem Sung-Min, Teo Yoo) and sets off to start a new life.  Hae Sung continues to carry a torch for Nora, and 12 years after Nora emigrates. contacts her through social media, and the two begin talking through Skype.  Nora abruptly ends the Skype chat, and says she must concentrate more on her writing career.

Shortly after Nora stops speaking to Hae Sung, she meets Arthur (John Magaro) at a writer’s retreat. They sleep together, get married to get Nora a green card, and settle down in the East Village.  Meanwhile, Hae Sung, knowing that Nora is married, finally comes to visit Nora in New York City?  Does anything happen between the former childhood sweethearts?

Past Lives is supposed to be this revelatory film about romance, but the problem with this film is that it reveals nothing.  The marriage between Nora and Arthur seems to be a loveless marriage of convenience for Nora, she seems thoroughly bored by him.  There are no intellectual or physical sparks to speak of.  The only time Nora shows any emotion at all is when she is thinking about or talking to Hae Sung, but instead of admitting their feelings, both Nora and Hae Sung sublimate their feelings, and pretend not to care for each other.  And why is Arthur so agreeable throughout this film?  He should be angry or jealous, or both, he is neither.  Arthur is a jellyfish.  He seems to be saying, ‘Sure, Hae Sung escort my wife all around New York and I won’t even come along.’ For this to be a truly powerful film, it must be emotionally honest with the audience about these characters.  Past Lives does not do that.  Instead, it wraps itself in Korean religious doubletalk to hide its lack of honesty about relationships. If writer Celine Song meant this to be autobiographical, why would she paint herself in such a poor light?  There are better movies than this about heartbreak and unrequited love than this one.  Any of Wong Kar Wai’s films are much better than Past Lives, even some Bollywood films delve into self-sacrifice as an act of love.  Unfortunately, Past Lives does none of this.

The acting is very good.  Greta Lee is good as the ambitious Nora, but the script makes her not so ambitious romantically.  She seems to settle for milquetoast Arthur, and seems to shut down any romantic feelings she has for Hae Sung, which doesn’t make Nora a likeable character, but Lee does her best to make Nora sympathetic.  Teo Yoo is even better as the stoic Hae Sung, who never lets his feelings show, because he’s a Korean man, and they aren’t supposed to show their feelings, according to Celine Song.  John Magaro is ok as Nora’s bland husband.  He’s a little too accepting of things that are going on around him, again, the fault of the script, not the actor.

Director Celine Song tries to throw some visual flourishes into the film, like an actual fork in the road when the 12-year-olds separate.  That’s clever, but the rest of the movie is a slog.  The pacing is slow, and the narrative drags, and it drags the audience along, whether they want to go along or not. Finaly, the cinematography is grainy.  This is an unappealing aesthetic for a romantic film, it looks more like a crime drama viewed through an gritty lens.

Past Lives:  Should be passed over.

Movie Review: Scrooged (1988, Amazon Prime, Streaming)

Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is the youngest president of a network in history.  He plans to air a live broadcast of Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, and airs an edgy promo for the special.  When a low-level employee, Eliot Loudermilk, (Bobcat Goldthwait) objects to the promo, Frank fires him.  When Frank’s secretary, Grace Cooley (Alfre Woodard) objects to working late, Frank throws a fit.  Will the Ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen) the Ghost of Christmas Present (Carole Kane) and the Ghost of Christmas Future give Frank a much-needed attitude adjustment, and get him to reunite with his caring ex-girlfriend Claire? (Karen Allen)

After a funny few minutes satirizing bad television Christmas specials, Scrooged descends into a terrible miasma of sexist, racist, and possibly anti-Semitic humor.  Not only that, there are recurring jokes that aren’t funny, and attempts at humor that are downright embarrassing.  The writers try to save the awful script by writing a cloyingly sweet ending, with a romance that doesn’t work, but it’s too late, this move is too far gone by then.  Scrooged is not just a bad holiday film, it’s a bad film period.  It’s not funny, it’s not endearing, it’s not even good for its time period.  It’s just a waste of time.

Believe it or not, there are good performances in this film, unfortunately none of those performances belong to Bill Murray, who phones in his obnoxious television exec, it’s yet another iteration of the obnoxious jerk he played in Meatballs or Stripes, with a slightly heavier Chicago accent.  He even gets in another trademark, what should be a rousing speech about the importance of Christmas spirit, turns out to be a rambling speech about nothing in particular.  And the transition from jerk to nice guy is not convincing, unlike Groundhog Day.  Alfre Woodard does a nice turn as Murray’s put-upon secretary.  Karen Allen is very good as Murray’s sweet girlfriend, who shows off her acting skills, with a scene as a quite nasty version of her character.  David Johansen is quite good as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Carol Kane steals the film as the sweet sugar plum fairy with an attitude, The Ghost of Christmas Present.  There are many cameos, including one by gymnast Mary Lou Retton.  They all deserved a better movie than this.

Director Richard Donner seems to want to make Scrooged a big budget blockbuster, with scary special effects, but what Donner doesn’t seem to realize is that a Christmas Carol is an intimate story, it doesn’t need any big, loud, special effects.  While Donner tries to pull off a grand finale, the pacing throughout suffers, and the film seems much longer than it is.  Donner tries to make this into a Ghostbusters type film, but that’s not really necessary here.  A better script, and much more sincerity from Murray was needed, but sadly missing from this Yuletide misfire.

Scrooged:  Bah humbug!

Classic TV Review: Only Murders In The Building Season 3 (Hulu Streaming)

Episode 1:  The Show Must Go On

Oliver finally has a chance to hit it big on Broadway, with his new show, Death Rattle.  He has also discovered a new actress named Loretta, to play the role of a nanny.  Loretta doesn’t seem to care for Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) and Ben wants Loretta fired after a less than inspiring table read. Four months later, when Glenroy collapses on stage, everyone in the cast thinks Ben is dead.  Is he dead?  Will this mean the podcast is up and running again?

This is a very funny episode, especially Paul Rudd, as smarmy Hollywood megastar, Ben Glenroy, seemingly slumming on Broadway.  The actress who plays Loretta is also very good, showing off her considerable acting talent.  The actresses name is a spoiler in itself, which I won’t share until the end of the season.  This season is off to a strong comedic start, hopefully it won’t fizzle, like season 2 did.

Episode 2:  The Beat Goes On

Oliver and Charles go to Ben’s funeral and see Gregg (Adrian Martinez) who pretends to be a security guard, but is really an obsessed superfan of Ben’s.  Gregg kidnaps Charles and Mabel.  Do they survive?  After his show implodes, Oliver has a mild heart attack, and that makes him reimagine Death Rattle in a more creative way.

This episode is quite a step down from episode 1, there’s a lot of exposition, and the writers seem to want to humanize Charles and Oliver.  Charles has a humbling exchange in a flashback with Ben.  The heart attack is also a satire of choreographer Bob Fosse. Selina Gomez is much better this season, her interplay with Martin and Short seem crisper and her comedic timing seems better. Loretta’s missing from this episode, but I’m sure she will turn up later in the season.

Episode 3:  Grab Your Hankies

Mabel teams up with Tobert (Jesse Williams) Ben’s documentarian, to look for clues to find out who killed Ben.  Oliver pitches his new idea, first to the cast, where it gets a lukewarm reception, and then to the producers.  Charles seems to think Ben grabbed a hankie from the killer, but has mixed results when trying to get the cast to produce their hankies.

This is another funny episode, especially Loretta, humor seemed to be missing from a large part of season two.  The songs are also good, Broadway quality good, and that’s another appealing aspect of this season.  On the downside, the writers tend to push certain suspects early in the season and certain love interests also early in the season to push suspicions in that direction, before going in a completely different direction later in the season.

Episode 4:  The White Room

Mabel is the only one of the three crime podcasters that seems to be focused on solving the murder of Ben Glenroy.  Mabel is surprised to get a text from Cinda Canning, who has an offer for her.  Oliver is still focused on the play, and Charles embarrasses himself singing a patter song and spends time in “The White Room” as a result.  Charles is also worried that his relationship with Joy (Andrea Martin) is moving too fast.  One suspect appears to lose favor with Mabel, even as a new suspect emerges.

The writing seems much sharper this season, much funnier.  The idea of the White Room is comedic gold, and bringing Cinda back as a rival was also great writing.  Having Andrea Martin in the cast doesn’t hurt the comedy, but Martin and Short seem funnier this season as well.  Ashley Park plays the role of stuck-up influencer Kimber, and she sings extremely well. Everything seems to be clicking this season.

Episode 5:  Ah Love

Mabel’s relationship with Tobert is suddenly serious.  Charles doesn’t know what to make of his relationship with Joy. But a meeting with stunt double, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) may give Charles a fresh perspective, but does Joy share that perspective?  Oliver has a simple dinner with Loretta, but do the sparks fly?

The writers are overdoing the romance, and it has echoes season 1, where Jan was the killer of Tim Kono.  So why would the writers want to revisit that trajectory in season 3?  The romance angle is the only weak link in season 3, maybe it’s a decoy, but it doesn’t seem so.  The Mabel Tober relationship seems especially forced.  Wasn’t Mabel involved with Alice in season 2?

Episode 6:  Ghost Lights

Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) has a new theory about who killed Ben.  Oliver finds incriminating evidence pointing to someone close to him.  Is he trying to hide evidence from Charles and Mabel?  Why is Charles trying to hide the fact that he hit Ben during rehearsals?  Mabel is sick of both Charles and Oliver, and tells them about Cinda’s offer.

This episode should have probably aired closer to Halloween, instead of when it did.  Oliver is covering up for someone, Charles is covering for himself and Mabel is hanging out with Tobert, and getting increasingly frustrated with Oliver and Charles’ self-serving ways. This is an average episode, more filler than revelatory or creative.

Episode 7: Co Bro

Theo Dimas (James Caverly) shows up out of the blue and gives Mabel a new suspect to look at.  Mabel concludes that the obsessed fan who the police have charged with the crime could not have done it, and she goes public with this allegation in a solo podcast.  Charles tries to win Mabel back by getting a clue to Ben’s murder, but the clue ends up elsewhere.  When Charles quits the play, Oliver needs a replacement, and boy does he get one.

This is a very funny episode, with two outstanding cameos.  The episode moves the plot along, but it seems like the writers have a new suspect every week, and this week is no exception.  It’s getting late in the season to keep throwing out new suspects.  Also, the writers shouldn’t bring back characters from past seasons with no explanation of why they are there.  What the heck is Theo doing in season 3?  Lurking in the background?

Episode 8: Sitzprobe

Ben’s stalker is no longer considered a suspect, so Detective Williams (DaVine Joy Randolph) starts to interrogate the whole cast.  She stops Charles and Oliver from listening in, but do they have a way to get the information to Mabel anyway?  A secret comes out about Loretta, which may explain her behavior. Both Detective Williams and Mabel close in on a suspect, which causes a confession, and a heart attack.  Who had a coronary?  Who confessed?

This may be the best episode of Only Murders ever.  The jokes were funny, the songs were incredible, and they were fully integrated into the plot.  The acting is superb, especially good was the actress who plays Loretta.  Her emotions are heartbreakingly sincere, without being schmaltzy.  A great episode, full of surprises.

Episode 9:  Thirty

With the suspect interviews recorded on Tobert’s Go Pro, Oliver, Charles and Mabel reconstruct the timeline, and deduce who may have poisoned Ben.  There are some flashbacks explaining where Ben was the night before and who he was talking to the night of the poisoning.  They reach a conclusion on one suspect, but do they have the right suspect?

This is a good episode.  It humanizes Ben Glenroy after portraying him as a selfish Prima donna for most of the season.  Great acting by Paul Rudd to make Ben a more sympathetic character.  Pinning the poisoning on a suspect in episode 9 of a 10 episode series is highly dubious, so let’s see what the writers have in store for episode 10.  A twist might me on the way.

Episode 10:  Opening Night

As Oliver’s show gets ready for opening night after being reimagined as a musical, Charles, Mabel and Oliver are sure they know the identity of the person who poisoned Ben, but are they forgetting someone in the process?

This is a fine ending to undoubtedly the best season of Only Murders in The Building.  It takes a little while for the story to unspool, but when it does, everything comes together, the conclusion makes sense.  There was a teaser for season 4, but it doesn’t look nearly as interesting as season 3 was.

My Impressions of Season 3:

This is undoubtedly the best season of Only Murders In The Building.  The acting, the writing, the songs, and a compelling murder mystery made this season of OMITB the most enjoyable season yet.

Let’s start with the acting, headlined by the multi-talented Meryl Steep as Loretta.  Streep was able to showcase her magnificent talent, and show the many facets of her complex character.  Loretta is a struggling actress, hoping for her big break, with strong ties to more than one member of the production.  These different facets allow her to emote like made, and she does indeed.  Streep displays every emotion with heartbreaking sincerity, and joyful love.  She simply makes everyone around her better.  Martin Short had to tone down his constant mugging, and scene chewing, because of his interaction with Streep, which was good for the storyline, and good for the season as a whole. Paul Rudd is also very good as an action star, who’s a bit of a diva, with a proclivity for a certain food.  Rudd plays a jerk for laughs, but he also is effective in showing the character’s sensitive side.

Steve Martin was surprisingly funny, because he played less of a straight man to Short and was able to show off his voluminous comedic talent.  Selena Gomez’ comedic timing was much better this season, her deadpan delivery is perfect, and she finally seems to be comfortable acting alongside two comedy legends.  It was a bit disappointing that the writers didn’t use Ashley Park more, she has a great singing voice and was good at playing a bratty influencer.

The writing was extremely good this season.  Not only did the writers write a murder mystery with plenty of jokes, they also wrote songs that fit into the overall theme of the season.  The fact that they made Ben Glenroy have a weakness for a certain food was imaginative and pivotal to the story.  The White Room is an actual concept on Broadway, and made for a hilarious episode.  On the negative side, the writers seemed to force romantic entanglements where there didn’t need to be, and the writers should have found more for Ashley Park more to do.  The writers lost her after episode 4.

The direction was good, the pacing was fast, the staging of the songs was excellent, the visualization of the white room added to the comedic punch of the episode.

Season 3 will be hard to top, I’m skeptical that it can be better, after the dazzling star power on display in Season 3, but I’m also curious about season 4.

Only Murders In The Building:  Season 3 kills it!