How to Make a Killing

Posted on February 20, 2026 at 3:37 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	R for violence, sexual references, pervasive language, and some drug use

I never had the love for Glen Powell’s “Hit Man” that most people did. The set-up and the wit were all wonderfully entertaining and the chemistry between Powell and Adria Arjona was off the charts, but the “happy” ending was too dark to fit the world of the rest of the film. The same issue creates even bigger problems with Powell’s new film, “How to Make a Killing,” inspired by the classic “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” with Alec Guinness playing eight roles, all relatives who were killed off, one by one, by a wily schemer. The multiple roles gimmick is fun, but that film, a Criterion Collection gem, works because it is an outstanding example of a black comedy. This one should have studied it more closely.

Like the original, this one begins with the hero/anti-hero in prison, waiting for his execution. Powell plays Becket Redfellow, whose mother was disowned by her very wealthy family when she became pregnant at age 18 and refused to have an abortion. His father died when he was an infant, so his mother raised him alone for a few years until she died, making him promise he would do whatever it took to have the “right life,” he deserved. By “right” she meant the wealth and prestige of her family. But when Becket, still a child, asked if his mother could be buried in the family mausoleum, the butler handed him a note with a “polite” refusal that wished him well.

As a child, Becket had a crush on Julia (Margaret Qualley as an adult). In Great Expectations fashion, they are separated for years and then meet again. He is still enthralled by her, but she is engaged to a man who shares her social cachet. She turns down his offer to get together to catch up and makes a joke about how Beckett should kill off those ahead of him in line to inherit his grandfather’s multi-billion dollar estate.

And then Beckett starts to kill off those ahead of him in line to inherit the estate. (Conveniently for the plot, the entire estate automatically goes to whoever is next in line.)

This gives us a chance to meet the relatives, who are all arrogant and selfish and not that interesting. There’s a partying finance bro, a pretentious artist, and a woman who brags about adopting 11 children from different countries. Topher Grace brings some vitality to his role as something between a prosperity gospel huckster and a personal empowerment huckster. One of the relatives turns out to be a decent guy, but he conveniently dies of natural causes. Cut to yet another scene in front of the family mausoleum.

A movie that asks us to root for a ruthless (note the name of a key character) serial killer needs a consistent, heightened, satiric tone and very sharp and specific characters. Think of a film like the original British version of “Bedazzled” (the Brendan Fraser remake is pretty good, too). The actors here seem to be coming from different movies. It should also have clever crimes. Like the characters, the crimes here are bland, and like “Hit Man” the end is unsatisfying and sour. Even a very black-humor-based movie has to have some kind of moral core. This one is just empty.

Parents should know that this film involves a series of murders of family members. Characters drink alcohol, smoke tobacco and weed, and use very strong language.

Family discussion: What is the “right life?” Why were the members of this family so selfish?

If you like this, try: “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “Gross Pointe Blank,” and “Mr. Right”

Crime 101

Posted on February 12, 2026 at 5:37 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for anguage throughout, some violence, and sexual material/nudity
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol
Violence/ Scariness:	Violent crime, characters shot and beaten, injuries and death
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	February 13, 2026

Three people under increasing pressure find their stories intersecting in a tense, old-school crime drama that hopes top acting talent will keep you from noticing, or at least caring. And it pretty much succeeds.

Chris Hemsworth, who also produced, stars as Mike, a smooth, methodical thief who specializes in detailed plans where no one is ever hurt. He also specializes in a particular geographic location. The 101 in the title is not a metaphor for an introductory class but a reference to the Los Angeles freeway. Mike lives a very controlled, sterile, isolated life. He tells the man who acts as a fence for the stolen goods (Nick Nolte, rasping his way through a small role as “Money”) that he is going to quit.

Mark Ruffalo is Lou, the police detective trying to persuade his boss that there is one person behind a series of jewel robberies along the 101, as the boss complains about his low closure rate and pushes Lou to make ethical compromises.

And Halle Berry is Sharon, who sells insurance to wealthy collectors and is under-appreciated by her boorish boss. She has repeatedly been promised she would be made partner, but he keeps telling her she has to wait.

Methodical can also mean predictable, and Lou thinks he knows where the next robbery will be. But Money adds chaos to the mix by telling Orman (Barry Keoghan), a trigger-happy motorcyclist to rob the place Mike had identified.

All of these stories come together in a sleek, moody story that shows off the landscape of Los Angeles very effectively. Mike meets Maya (Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown”) and is very drawn to her warmth and empathy, two qualities we suspect he avoided because he was afraid of being vulnerable. Sharon is pushed aside by her boss, who gives a younger associate the chance to close the deal she was working on. (Tate Donovan is very good here as the client Sharon is trying to land, an arrogant billionaire engaged to a much younger woman.) Keoghan has a plausible American accent and an even more plausible combination of fear, anger, brutality, and the need to prove himself.

The plot keeps trying to bring all of these parts together, but they never quite mesh. Each segment, even the rumpled Ruffalo with a marital separation scene, feels as sterile and isolated as Mike’s spare, generic apartment. That separation scene features Jennifer Jason Leigh as Leo’s wife. Like Cory Hawkins, who play’s Leo’s partner, Leigh is immensely talented and unforgivably underused.

And then there is the last half hour, which plot holes that overpower the charisma of the stars and the glossiness of the production. The bigger problem is that what is intended to be rough justice comes across as fatuous and cynical.

Parents should know that this movie includes violence, with characters injured and killed, sexual references and situations including a sex worker, strong language, and alcohol.

Family discussion: Do you agree with Lou’s choice at the end? With Sharon’s decision? What will Mike do next?

If you like this, try: “Tequila Sunrise” and “Heat”

Mercy

Posted on January 22, 2026 at 6:33 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for intense violence, mature thematic elements, some language, and drug/alcohol references
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcoholism, drinking and drunkenness, drug references and brief drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Woman stabbed to death, other characters injured and killed, guns, explosions, chases, young character taken hostage
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	January 23, 2026

Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) wakes up, or maybe comes to, sitting in a chair, his wrists manacled. He is in Mercy Court, presided over by an AI judge who gives him 90 minutes to prove that he did not murder his wife. If he is not successful, he will immediately be executed.

“Mercy” is set in the near future, when civil unrest has led to the development of the AI court, reversing the Constitutional presumption of innocence and right to counsel with a system designed for efficiency. It is “the ultimate deterrent.” Chris is the 19th person to be tried by the AI judge, who appears on screen as a female character named Judge Maddox (Rachel Ferguson).

Chris does not even remember where he was the previous day and learns from the “judge” that his wife has been stabbed to death in the kitchen, her body discovered by their teenage daughter, Britt (Kylie Rogers). The “judge” plays the footage for him, showing him leaving work to return home, insisting on entering despite his wife telling him not to come in. No one else came to the house during that time period. Chris, a cop who was instrumental in developing the AI court system and brought in the first case, now sees what it is like to be on the other side. As the clock ticks down, Chris has access to all of footage, recordings, and records that are automatically stored online and is permitted to make calls to witnesses.

Producer/director Timur Bekmambetov specializes in action with a fantasy element like “Night Watch” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and that makes him a good fit for this film. We might not expect a movie set primarily in one spare room with a screen and a chair to be in IMAX 3D, but it keeps the visuals from feeling claustrophobia-inducing as Chris and the judge call up images of all of footage and data Chris calls up on the screen. Chris has an immersive experience, and the effects make us feel a part of it.

The set-up is strong, raising questions (though not spending much time exploring them) about how society balances safety and justice and imposing a tight time limit to build and sustain a feeling of urgency. Adopting if not reaching the ingenuity of telling the story on a screen of the innovative films “Searching’ and “Missing,” produced by Bekmambetov, he makes the best of that form of storytelling and Pratt does very well stuck in a chair, showing us how his character shifts from horrified, confused, and humiliated to the determined problem-solver cop he is.

The last part of the movie gets over-complicated, piling detail upon detail, and cutting some logical corners. But Pratt is, as always, a likable presence and we want to see him work through this mess and prove that he is innocent — and that at least for now humans can still outthink machines.

Parents should know that this movie included the murder of a mother, discovered by her daughter who is very traumatized, as well was peril and violence including guns, explosives, and a car chase, with characters injured and killed. Characters use strong language, some are alcoholics who struggle to stay sober and one starts drinking again and gets very drunk, there is brief drug use and reference to making and distributing drugs.

Family discussion: Do you think AI will ever be able to judge someone’s guilt? Did you think Chris was guilty and if you did, what changed your mind?

If you like this, try: “Missing” and “Searching”

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Posted on November 13, 2025 at 5:18 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some strong language, violence and suggestive references
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Social drinking, drug reference
Violence/ Scariness:	Peril and violence, character killed, references
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	November 14, 2025

Take this into account: I loved the first film in this series about the magicians who exchange quips as they dazzle audiences and outsmart international law enforcement, and I liked the second one a lot. So when I say that a better title might be: “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Think Too Hard,” that doesn’t mean I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this third in what is being set up to be a “Mission Impossible” or “Fast and Furious”-style franchise. It does mean that you will be more likely to enjoy yourself thoroughly if you don’t get distracted by questions of logics or physics. You know, like “Mission Impossible” and “Fast and Furious.”

To recap: In the first film, illusionist Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), mentalist/hypnotist
Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), lock-picker/pickpocket/card thrower Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) teamed up as The Horsemen to return a portion of a billionaire’s ill-gotten gains to some of the people he stole from, and they become members of the most secret, selective, and prestigious magic club in the world, called The Eye. In the second film, the three men are joined by Lula (Lizzy Caplan), replacing Henley, and the villain is the son of the villain from the first film.

The team has separated for many years, but they are reunited when they receive mysterious cards from The Eye, and they are joined by three young magicians who are likely being set-up to lead in episode 4, teased at the end of this film. The newcomers are stage performer Bosco (Dominic Sessa from “The Holdovers”), pickpocket June (Ariana Greenblatt the girl who was too old to play with Barbies in “Barbie”), and Charlie (Justice Smith from “Dungeons and Dragons: No Honor Among Thieves”), a magic nerd deeply immersed in the history of the art and craft of deception for entertainment who prefers to plan the illusions but remain behind the scenes. As with the previous films, the fun comes from the prickly banter, the fun of being fooled and then getting a peek at how the tricks are done, and the satisfaction of outsmarting a villain who deserves it.

And Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike) is every bit as worthy of being outsmarted as we could wish. She is the ruthless head of a South African diamond company, inherited from her father. Her diamonds are involved in laundering money for arms dealers and traffickers, and warlords. “She makes all the worst criminals possible.” (If that sounds like crypto, don’t think that gets left out.) There’s also some mention of the entire premise of the diamond business being based on abusive practices. And someone with a disguised voice keeps calling her about something very bad in her past that she does not want to be made public.

Veronika has a gigantic diamond called The Heart that is the size of a very large potato and she is scheduled to show it off at an exclusive formal gala. The Horsemen infiltrate and pull various tricks to steal The Heart. The Eye cards then lead them to a magnificent castle that is like a museum of magic, with puzzle rooms that include funhouse mirrors and M.C. Escher-style steps. Then there is a final confrontation, with more twists than there are in a family size box of fusilli. That includes some appearances by characters/performers from the previous films. The series is bending toward “Mission Impossible” (the TV series, not the movies) territory with its intricate illusions to triumph over bad guys and toward “Fast and Furious” with it’s “I don’t have friends; I have family” moments, and the globe-hopping of both. Plus Lady Gaga’s very apt “Abracadabra.”

Pike makes an excellent villain. She is a master of the mirthless smile. As she did in “Gone Girl,” she shows us the fiercely feral intelligence that is always clicking toward “winning” even as her face is a mask of civility. The four original Horsemen understand their characters and their chemistry and make the most of both and the new additions show a lot of promise. They tell us up front that everything that disappears, reappears. If indeed Sessa, Smith, and Greenblatt take over the lead roles in the next film, we’ll be happy to be fooled by them again.

Parents should know that this film has some strong language, a drug reference, peril, and violence including attempted murder and a sad death of a character.

Family discussion: What kind of magic do you most enjoy? What should the Horsemen do in the next chapter?

If you like this, try: The first two films, plus “Magic Camp” and the documentary “Make Believe”

Ballad of a Small Player

Posted on October 17, 2025 at 8:57 am

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language and suicide
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, smoking, brief drug use
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	October 17, 2025

A character in “Ballad of a Small Player” tells a story about a gambler who dies and discovers that in the afterlife he is still gambling, but now he always wins. “This heaven?” he asks in amazement. “No,” he is told. “You’re in hell.”

The import of the story may be lost on the person it is told to, but it is not lost on the audience, who will understand that it is the story we are watching. Not because he is a winner, but because winning or losing, the gambling compulsion is its own hell.

In this film, the part of hell is played by Macao, the real-life gambling capital of the world, gorgeously photographed by James Friend. It looks like gambling may feel to someone who cannot give it up; thrilling, glamorous but also seedy, seductive, and dangerous.

The character who calls himself Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) is a gambler. He wakes up in a luxurious hotel room littered with the clutter of a dozen different room service meals. He shaves and dresses in a handsome and expensive-looking green velvet suit, and fails to duck the hotel management that would like him to pay up on the $350,000 he owes them. A bellman explains he can no longer get access to the hotel limos, but whispers the name Rainbow, a casino that gives credit.

The big money game is Baccarat, and Doyle tells us millions can be won and lost in a single hand. The hostess/purveyor of credit is Dao Ming (Fala Chen). Later, after a gambler commits suicide by leaping out of a window, his widow accuses Dao Ming of causing her husband’s death and Doyle protects her. Dao Ming brings him back to her apartment. The next morning, he wakes to find her gone, but she has written a number on his palm.

The pressure on Doyle intensifies when he is tracked down by an investigator from London (Tilda Swinton), seeking repayment of money he stole when he was still called by his original name, Riley. If he does not pay back almost a million pounds, she will have him arrested.

Elements of the film tell us it may be a dream, a fantasy, or a deathbed hallucination. Or perhaps it is hell, with Doyle/Riley stuck in some kind of loop of big risks and bad decisions.

Parents should know that this film includes suicides, strong language, drinking, smoking, drug use, and criminal behavior.

Family discussion: How are Riley and Dao Ming alike and how are they different? What part of this film is a dream or fantasy?

If you like this, try: “Hard Eight” and “Molly’s Game”