The Ballad of Wallis Island

Posted on April 3, 2025 at 5:40 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Preschool
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some language and smoking
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Reference to sad death
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	March 28, 2025

Come on, admit it. Somewhere secretly stored away in your heart, you know what you would do if you won the lottery. “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is a wonderfully warm and touching film about a male nurse who won the lottery twice. The first time, he and his wife travelled all over the world. The second time, now a widower, he decided to spend it all on a concert for an audience of one, reuniting his all-time favorite musical duo for a performance on a very remote island.

That duo is McGwyer & Mortimer, who last performed together 15 years earlier. Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden, also co-screenwriter and composer of the songs) is cynical and detached. He has no idea what he is getting into, even when it turns out he has to disembark from the small boat bringing him to the island by wading to the shore. He assumes that Charles Heath (co-screenwriter Tim Key) is something like a bell boy come to carry his bags. And Charles’ natural awkwardness, compounded by five years of near-complete solitude and being overwhelmed by the presence of his idol, is no help in clarifying the situation.

Furthermore, Charles has not told Herb that Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) is coming and the performance will be the songs they recorded together. Also, she is married and living in America, where she now sells chutney at the farmer’s market.

Herb needs the £500,000 Charles is paying to make his next solo record. So, even though each new piece of information he learns about the gig is increasingly distressing, he agrees to stick it out, with the exception of the time he tries to leave and finds out that the one boat that takes people to the mainland does not come in bad weather. He is stuck. And then Nell arrives, with her husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), an easygoing American who spends just long enough at Charles’ house to unsettle Herb and then departs for a birding tour.

This gives Herb and Nell a chance to practice for the upcoming performance. And it gives Charles a chance to go from extremely annoying to less annoying to endearingly annoying.

That’s a tricky challenge for any actor, but Key and Basden created these characters to play to their strengths as performers and it works beautifully. Key shows us that Charles is shy, lonely, sad, and vulnerable. He is not good at showing how much he cares. Basden shows us that Herb is lonely, too, and his songs are everything a character with Herb’s level of success should have in his set list. Mulligan harmonizes beautifully and we see what her experience after the break-up has been when she says what she misses is the music, allowing Herb and us to fill in what she leaves out: she does not miss him. Seeing each other does, though, allow them both to go forward with a better sense of what they have and what they want.

Sian Clifford is terrific as the proprietor of the tiny local store on the island, which never has anything the mainlanders want, like rice to cure a phone that fell in the water (“We have pasta?” she asks hopefully) or a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. We may all wish for a visit to Wallis Island when the movie ends.

Parents should know that this movie has strong language, smoking and drinking, and some mild sexual references.

Family discussion: If you won the lottery, what would you spend the money on? Why is the music so important to Charles? Herb left two things for Charles — what was the reason for each of them? What will Herb do next?

If you like this, try: “Once” and “Sing Street”

A Minecraft Movie

Posted on April 2, 2025 at 4:11 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for violence/action, language, suggestive/rude humor and some scary images
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Fantasy peril and violence, some scary creatures
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	April 4, 2025

“A Minecraft Movie” is a lot of fun. Fans of the game will enjoy a lot of touchstones and to its dedication to giving players “where anything you imagine you can create.” Those who don’t know anything about the game will appreciate its good spirits, off-beat humor, and appealing characters.

“Napoleon Dynamite” directors Jared Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess (working together under his name) brings their love for off-beat small-town America and the “Velvet Mischief” signature scent. They reunite with his “Nacho Libre” star Jack Black. There’s also an appearance by their “Gentlemen Broncos” star Jemaine Clement and a “tater tot pizza” reminiscent of the “tots” in “Napoleon Dynamite.”

Black plays Steve, whose dream as a child was to be a miner. When he grew up, he left his humdrum job selling doorknobs and was transported vis “this thingy and that cool thingy” into the world of the game, where he met his beloved dog, Dennis. The chance to create and explore with his devoted companion was everything he ever wanted until he entered the Nether and was captured by its witchy evil queen Malgosha (Rachel House) and put in prison by her pig-soldiers.

Back in the real world, more specifically the small town of Chaglass, Idaho, the Potato Chip Capital, we meet some characters who are struggling. One-time world video game champion Garrett Garrison (Jason Momoa, also a producer and clearly having a blast) is having a hard time accepting that he is no longer successful. His business, Game Over World, is failing and no one is impressed by the high scores he had in the 90s that inspired his GAMR 89 license plates. Natalie (Emma Myers) and her younger brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen) have just moved to Idaho after the death of their mother. Their warm-hearted realtor, Dawn (Danielle Brooks) welcomes them, but explains that she has had to take on several other jobs, including a traveling zoo. Natalie takes a job doing social media for the local potato chip company while Henry is bullied on the first day at his new school.

Then they find themselves transported into Minecraft where they meet up with Steve. Like Dorothy in Oz and Alice in Wonderland, Garrett, Natalie, Henry, and Dawn spend the rest of the story trying to get back home but learning some lessons and developing some friendships along the way.

There are a lot of adventures along the way, too, as the group travels throughout the world of Minecraft to get to the MacGuffin, which in this case is the glowing thingy and the cool thingy that will allow the humans to return to their world. By the way, in this square-ified voxel-built world, a glowing cube thingy is referred to as an orb.

It’s a looser, lower-key, goofier version of “Jumanji,” with Momoa substituting for Dwayne Johnson, with Iron Golems, a chicken jockey, some great eyebrow action, zombie skeletons riding giant spiders and shooting flaming arrows, a talent show, a tot launcher, and surprise! instead of an English accent, the villain has a New Zealand accent! Plus Jennifer Coolidge as the school principal who has her own adventure with a Minecraft creature, briefly but hilariously voiced by Matt Berry.

It’s called “A Minecraft Movie” instead of “The Minecraft Movie” to pay tribute to the game’s possibilities, with every player creating a unique experience. The movie does not have that luxury; it is the same for every viewer. But its appreciation for the endless potential of imagination should be more likely to inspire viewers to try to play the game or even create their own.

NOTE: Stay all the way through the credits for a mid-credit scene AND a post-credit scene.

Parents should know that there are some scary monster and characters are in extended peril, but there are no serious injuries, mostly slapstick including a crotch hit and a scene of two men tightly strapped together. Characters use some schoolyard language.

Family discussion: How does Garrett change and why? If you play Minecraft, what makes it different from other games? What’s your favorite place in the Minecraft world and your favorite way to play?

If you like this, try the “Jumanji” movies, also with Jack Black

The Penguin Lessons

Posted on March 27, 2025 at 5:55 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong language, some sexual references and thematic elements
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol
Violence/ Scariness:	Mostly off-screen depiction of a military coup, characters captured and beaten
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	March 28, 2025

“I had you as a head down sort of fellow. Anything for a quiet life.” Jonathan Pryce as the headmaster of a posh private school in Buenos Aires is disappointed to discover that the English professor he thought wanted to hide from the world and, especially, from his feelings, might have started out that way but due to an outside influence, had become a head up sort of fellow who was increasingly less quiet.

That professor is Tom Michell (Steve Coogan), who is joking-not-joking when he tells the headmaster his career has been “steadily working my way down,” and then adds, “geographically speaking.” Both are Brits who have ended up in Argentina just as it is on the brink of a military coup in 1976. The headmaster explains that there is “trouble in the streets and the economy is in free fall,” but their school is a haven where wealthy families send their sons. He tells the faculty it is also a haven from any conversation about politics. “Whatever strong opinions you may have, keep them to yourselves and don’t bore the rest of us.”

The coup happens and the school sends the students home for a week until the country calms down. All this means to Michell is a chance to go to Uruguay for a chance to drink and perhaps find some ladies. A lonely colleague from Finland (Björn Gustafsson) comes along, telling Michell, “I like you.” Michell responds, more wry than bitter, “Do you? I don’t.”

They go to a bar and Michell meets a beautiful woman who takes him for a walk on the beach. They come across a Magellanic penguin drenched in oil from a spill. Only because he wants to impress (meaning, have sex with) the lady, Michell agrees to clean off the penguin. The lady then leaves and Michell is about to discover that penguins are very loyal and this one will not leave him.

That is how Michell ends up hiding a penguin, later named Juan Salvador, in his room. The flightless bird is quickly discovered by the maid and her granddaughter, Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio) who gives him his name, from the Spanish version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

The setting makes this more than the typical “grumpy or grieving person finds solace, hope, and connection with an animal” movie. Screenwriter Jeff Pope, who worked with Coogan on “Philomena,” “The Lost King,” and “Stan and Ollie,” took the real-life story of a 23-year-old teacher and adapted it to Coogan’s strengths as an actor. This is one of the best performances from someone who is not given a chance to show all he can do often enough. At first he is remote, though not humorless. He tries to reach his “privileged and spoiled” students by explaining sarcasm. Then, as it becomes harder to pretend to ignore the atrocities around him, especially after Sofia is taken, the poetry he shares with his students begins to tend first toward loss, then courage, integrity, even rebellion. There’s a wonderful moment when Michell is on the phone with the local zoo, saying he will kill the bird if they won’t take Juan Salvador, quickly gesturing to the penguin reassuringly.

The combination of horrific national tragedy with the personal story of someone unconnected to the community does not always work. But people do struggle to work through their own losses and sometimes they do find connection in unexpected places that help them reconcile emotions they thought were too painful to acknowledge. There is so much warmth and humor in this story that we cannot help feeling touched by the story and maybe even thinking about a penguin of our own.

Parents should know: This movie occurs during a brutal military coup and while much of the abuse is off-screen, a character is “disappeared” and the end credits acknowledge that thousands were captured and killed during this period. Characters use strong language, drink alcohol, and mention sex

Family discussion: When did Michell’s feelings about the penguin begin to change? Why did everyone want to talk to the penguin?

If you like this, try: The book by the real Tom Michell, My Penguin Friend, and the beloved documentary March of the Penguins

Suze

Posted on February 6, 2025 at 12:53 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Teen drinking, drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Attempted suicide
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	February 7, 2025

Michaela Watkins does not get a chance to show us all she can do nearly often enough, and so it is a special pleasure to see her in the title role of “Suze.” Her name is Susan, and that is what she is called by her colleagues at work and by her ex-husband Alan (Sandy Jobin-Bevans) and his new wife Jacinta (Sorika Wolf). Her daughter, Brooke (Sara Waisglass) calls her Mom, usually when she is trying to wheedle her into giving her something. And Susan has a very hard time saying no to Brooke, who, as the story begins, is about to graduate from high school. Though she promised her mother she would go to college locally and live at home, she is going to leave for McGill in Canada, several hours away.

The person who calls her “Suze” is Gage (Charlie Gillespie), Susan’s boyfriend, who has the personality of a St. Bernard who keeps knocking people over and jumping on the furniture, but who is always sincerely affectionate. Brooke, who is selfish, manipulative, and immature, likes Gage for the same reason she does not like her mother; both devote their whole lives to adoring her.

After Brooke dumps Gage by text, he has a bad fall, either a suicide attempt or a result of poor, high-risk decisions. Gage’s feckless father asks if he can stay with Susan for a few weeks. She says no at first. But she sees he has no other option, and reluctantly agrees.

So, we have one character with no filter and another who has so many filters her authentic self is barely recognizable. Susan gradually begins to understand that Gage is as lost as she is, and that his hearty ebullience is as much of a cover-up as her effort to create a perfect world for Brooke. She ultimately admits that was less for Brooke than for herself. “I thought if I made her really happy and gave her everything she needed she wouldn’t want to leave me.”

I have been a huge Watkins fan since she was on SNL, playing a highly caffeinated blogger and as a perpetually trying to maintain her professionalism Hoda Kotbe opposite Kristen Wiig’s irrepressible Kathy Lee Gifford. She brings enormous depth, complexity, and vulnerability to Susan.

Stories about opposites finding a way to care for each other are immediately compelling, especially those, like this one, where one represents the repressions of the ego and the other the impulses of the id. “Suze” keeps us enthralled with the specifics, authentically messy, of the developing relationship. There’s a touch of Susan’s missing someone to mother, especially someone, unlike Brooke, who appreciates being cared for and about. But most of what develops between them is a friendship. She begins to see that what irritates her the most about Gage is not the result of bad manners or a lack of boundaries but parental neglect. She begins to realize she has missed having someone to talk to. Her doctor tells her she is in perimenopause, meaning “things winding down inside.” That plus Brooke’s absence and news from her ex make her decide to open up to a possible relationship. But the stress of those factors also impair her ability to take that step.

Gillespie also makes a strong impression, especially in a quieter scene where he visits his mother. Both Susan and Gage keep making mistakes but they never lose our sympathy or our hope that they find purpose and connection. “Suze” is bittersweet, funny and sometimes sad but always heartfelt and honest, everything we hope for from an indie.

Parents should know that this movie includes sexual situations and some sexual references, teen drinking, drugs, and a possible attempted suicide.

Family discussion: Is Susan a good mother? Why did she tell Brooke to go back to school?

If you like this, try: “Take Care”

Love Hurts

Posted on February 6, 2025 at 12:52 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong/bloody violence and language throughout
Profanity:	Constant very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Constant peril and violence, many graphic and disturbing images, characters injured and killed, knives, guns, taser, and a lethal straw
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 7, 2025

As the poem goes, in this action/comedy/romance starring two Oscar winners, the character played by Ke Huy Quan is bloody but unbowed. As the old Timex commercial goes, he takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Quan plays mild-mannered realtor Marvin Gable, whose passion is finding homes for his clients. He tells them how much he loved moving into his home and how he wants to create that same feeling of joy, comfort, and safety for them. When he wins the regional realtor of the year award, it brings him to tears. He says that his work as a realtor has given him meaning

And then Marvin receives a handmade valentine that simply says, “I’m back.” Based on this and so many, many other movies, including the recent “Back in Action,” plus “The Family Plan,” “Spy Kids,” and even Viveca A. Fox in “Kill Bill,” you’d think every block in suburbia has a neighbor with a history as an assassin or spy.

As the realty firm’s Valentine’s Day party goes out outside his office door, Marvin is visited by someone from his past, a poetic hitman known as Raven (Mustafa Shakir, making a strong impression in action scenes and more sensitive moments as well). A local gangster named Knuckles (Daniel Wu), who happens to be Marvin’s brother, Alvin, has sent a bunch of tough guys after Marvin. Knuckles thinks Marvin can lead him to Rose (Ariana DeBose). Marvin was ordered to kill her for stealing from Knuckles, but instead he told Knuckles Rose was dead and let her escape. Knuckles has also received a valentine, and he wants Rose captured alive. He does not know that his top henchman, Merlo (Cam Gigandet) wants Rose dead so she cannot reveal that he was the one stealing from Knuckles.

All of this means that we are in for one bone-crunching literal back-stabbing (and other stabbing of body parts, too, including a hand and an eye) after another, plus lots of kicking, punching, bone-crunching, body part slicing, knives, darts, guns, a taser, a giant fork and spoon (production designer Craig Sandells really nails the Pinterest aesthetic staging of homes for sale), and, surprisingly, a lethal boba tea straw. The poster boasts that this film is from the producers of “Nobody” and “Fright Night,” and Quan says this is a tribute to the Hong Kong action films of Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and his other favorites, which means it is bloodier and more graphic than most action comedies. A lovable character is murdered. So is an innocent bystander who tries to help.

Quan and DeBose have endlessly appealing screen presences and the fight scenes are superbly choreographed. There are many touches of humor and even charm, an assassin finding love with Marvin’s depressed assistant (Lio Tipton), Marvin using his karate chop skills to plump the accent pillows in the house he is showing, some clever use of available objects in the fight, especially when Marvin keeps trying to protect his precious award certificate. But the brutality of the fight scenes is so intense and disturbing that it will outweigh the lighter moments for many viewers.

Parents should know that this movie has constant strong language and constant very graphic and bloody fight scenes with characters badly injured and killed.

Family discussion: What did Marvin like about being a realtor? What does it mean to say “hiding isn’t living?” What creates a “beautiful monster?”

If you like this, try: “Bullet Train”