Juliet & Romeo

Posted on May 8, 2025 at 5:23 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some violence, bloody images and suggestive material
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol and drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Sword fight, attempted suicide
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	May 9, 2025

As he did with “Spinning Gold,” based on his father’s career in music, writer/director Timothy Scott Bogart has Temu-ed a great story and it is barely watchable. This time, it is Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which he has renamed “Juliet & Romeo,” made some changes to the characters and storyline, reworked the dialogue so instead of exquisite poetry in iambic pentameter it’s more like college kids exchanging texts.

However, the fabulous production design by the brilliant Dante Ferretti and beautiful cinematography by Byron Werner are top-notch and the sword fights are ably staged. Oh, and this is a musical, with pop torch songs by Evan Kidd Bogart, who is a producer of the film, the composer of Beyonce’s hit, “Halo,” and Timothy Scott Bogart’s brother.

It isn’t as though we don’t already have a straightforward but artistic version in Franco Zeffirellis version with teenagers playing the young lovers and a sublime version with 20th century flair but Shakespeare’s language, in Baz Luhrman’s “Romeo + Juliet,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

This version begins a scene-setting intro that lets us know immediately what’s in store. Not just because we see the tragic couple dead before the story flashes back to three days earlier, but because Shakespeare’s

Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

becomes an “in the last episode”-style update somewhere between Shakespeare and the crawl at the beginning of “The Phantom Menace.”

We get a few Shakespearean crumbs just to remind us of what we’re missing. There are a couple of references to “what’s in a name,” and one to “all’s well that ends well.” But most of the dialogue is at the level of “I’m okay,” “You’re a great kisser,” and the repeated song lyric, “I knew that my heart would never be the same.” At one point Romeo sort of proposes by telling Juliet he wants to “turn our prose into poetry.” This screenplay has done the reverse.

Parents should know that this movie, like the play that inspired it, has fight scenes including sword fights, with characters injured and killed, and an apparent suicide. There are sexual references.

Family discussion: If you were going to update this story, what would you do? Why has this story continued to enthrall audiences for more than 500 years?

If you like this, try: “Rosaline,” a sharp, witty re-telling of the Romeo and Juliet story from the perspective of the young woman Romeo was in love with before he met Juliet, the Oscar-winning “Shakespeare in Love,” and the Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli versions of Shakespeare’s play and

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted

Posted on May 3, 2025 at 12:07 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Sad deaths
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	May 3, 2025

Swamp Dogg is not the typical musician and this is not the typical documentary about a musician. The movie, directed by three people: Isaac Gale, Ryan Olson, and David McMurry, and written by four: Andrew Broder, Isaac Gale, Paul Lovelace, and Ryan Olson. The mosaic quality of film, messy, imaginative, zig-zaggy, fits the subject. The off-beat title — note the passive voice as well as the reference to an activity that we drop in on now and then as we meander through Swamp Dogg’s life and his past, which meanders now and then, too.

A pause for some non-meandering, linear background. Swamp Dogg is the stage name for a musician, songwriter, and producer named Jerry Williams. AllMusic writes: “Raunchy, satirical, political, and profane, Swamp Dogg is one of the great cult figures of American music.” His career spanned Southern soul, “eccentric” electronics, acoustic roots music, and rap (he was an early producer for Dr. Dre). His music was often provocative, with commentary on sensitive social and political issues. He now lives in the San Fernando Valley, sharing a house that has a pool with musicians Guitar Shorty and Moogstar and hanging out with performers and artists like Johnny Knoxville, SpongeBob’s Tom Kenny, and Mike Judge.

Swamp Dogg and his housemates and friends spent a lot of time sitting by the pool, casually chatting. These moments are surrounded by archival footage, including what looks like a bare-bones public access show hosted by a fan and some home movies made on one of the earliest videocameras. Those unfamiliar with Swamp Dogg will begin to understand his influence when we see him wander through a hallway in his home, passing a dozen or more gold records framed on the wall.

Those who then wonder why we are unfamiliar will get a sense of it when we see some of his work, like the album cover with him riding a giant rat. (One of the film’s highlights is when his friend, apparently not understanding how editing photography works or even that it exists, asks him where he found that giant rat.)

This movie is a pleasure on several levels, first as the discovery of a fascinating musician and his role in a remarkable variety of hit songs, second as a emblematically American version of a resolute original with a wildly generative and generous life, and third as a near idyllic story of a life of creation and support of others who want to create. It is also a story of loving family; Swamp Dogg’s neurologist daughter Jeri Williams’ love for her father is wonderfully touching.

And yes, that pool does get painted, and the final image is chef’s kiss.

Parents should know that this movie includes strong language and references to sex, drugs, and alcohol. There are references to sad deaths and family dysfunction.

Family discussion: Which of Swamp Dogg’s productions do you like the best and why? Would you like to live in a house of musicians?

If you like this, try: “Dolemite Is My Name” and “Muscle Shoals”

Thunderbolts*

Posted on May 1, 2025 at 2:06 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Non-stop action-style peril and violence, child is killed, automatic weapons, military weapons, chases, explosions, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters, mental illness sympathetically portrayed
Date Released to Theaters:	May 2, 2025

I liked “Thunderbolts* (note the asterisk) a lot, but it will be divisive. Some people don’t want to delve into the mental health struggles of anyone, including a superhero or supervillain. They’re just there for the punches, powers, explosions, and special effects. But as I watched the film, I thought about how many superheroes experienced devastating trauma before gaining their powers and/or dedication to saving the world. Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed by a mugger when he was a child. Superman lost his family and his whole planet. Spidey was living with his aunt and uncle, so had already lost his parents before Uncle Ben was killed. Tony Stark had dad issues. Black Widow was trained to be a child assassin.

“Thunderbolts*” is a “Suicide Squad”/”Guardians of the Galaxy”-style superhero story about a group of damaged, distrustful loners with superpowers who have to do more than just band together for all the punching and explosions. They have to begin to heal themselves. And I am completely here for it, plus for finding out the meaning of the asterisk, which I enjoyed very much. And yes, you do need to stay all the way through the credits for a final scene that teases what’s coming next.

Before I get to the superheroes, I want to talk about the villain(s). I always say that it is the villains more than the heroes that matter most in a comic book movie (and in some other places as well, as Milton showed us in Paradise Lost). Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the all-time great villains as Valentina, the ultra-wealthy corporate CEO turned Director of the CIA (though with current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s streak of silver hair, just a coincidence, I’m sure). Some villains have great evil smiles. Louis-Dreyfus has a great social smile exuding the supreme confidence and power of the .001% while all-but-hiding the voracious all-consuming drive for power and utter disregard of the rights or value of anyone in her way.

We first see Yelena (Florence Pugh), still in mourning for her sister, Natasha (The Black Widow) and almost by rote working as an operative for Valentina. She is numb and lonely and lacks purpose. She tells Valentina she wants out, but agrees to one last job, in a remote lab where Valentina’s company once performed experiments, trying to find a formula to give superpowers to her subjects.

She ends up fighting Captain America (Wyatt Russell as John Walker), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and another super-character who doesn’t last long, before they figure out that they are all there for the same reason, to die, because they have become problems for Valentina. At this point, a guy who seems to be the opposite of super in any way wanders in wearing pajamas, with no memory of pretty much anything except his name. He is Bob (Lewis Pullman, in his second “just Bob” role after “Top Gun: Maverick”).

Yelena, John, and Ava do not trust each other, but the only way to stay alive is to work together. The escape works well in moving the plot and character development forward as well as being fun to watch. And that’s pretty much the vibe for the rest of the film.

Valentina thought her program to turn humans into supers failed, meaning they all died. But somehow Bob survived and that changes her plan. And the people she describes as “defective losers, anti-social tragedy in human form” may not have the cool powers and (mostly) good manners of the Avengers, but they are all struggling toward being something better. That means dealing with sad and scary feelings like loss and trauma, with the characters catapulted into immersive re-creations of their most painful moments. Will they finally find a way to become, a, what’s the word, team? The good news is that by the end of the film, we hope so.

NOTE: Stay through the credits for a mid-credit scene and a teaser at the end for what’s coming next.

Parents should know that this is a superhero movie with non-stop peril and action-style violence including automatic weapons and fantasy powers. Characters are injured and killed, including a child. Mental health and trauma are themes of the film. Characters use some strong language and there are drug references and alcohol.

Family discussion: What is the best way to discover your purpose? How did the childhood experiences of Yelena and Bob affect the way they saw themselves? How is Valentina different from other villains in superhero movies?

If you like this, try: “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Avengers movies