Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft – The Tour Live in 3D

Posted on May 7, 2026 at 5:50 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong language and suggestive references
Profanity:	Strong language and sexual references in song lyrics
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	None
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	May 8, 2026

If you don’t know better, when you see Billie Eilish come on stage by herself in a huge area, looking like she is wearing the clothes she slept in, bopping a bit as she walks around the perimeter of the stage that juts into the audience, you might think she is winging it. There may not be a sequin in sight, no choreography with spangled dancing girls, very few digital effects and just two back-up singers, simply dressed in polo shirts and pleated skirts. But Eilish is in control of every detail including meticulously staged lighting effects, a floating platform (reassuringly, she is tethered to it), and bursts of flame. As we will see, that also includes a powerful connection with every individual in the two gigantic arenas that are the settings for this 3D IMAX documentary concert film co-directed by Oscar-winners James Cameron and — I did say every detail — Eilish herself. She even used a camera to shoot some of the footage.

For a moment, I was annoyed at what I thought was the hands blocking the screen from the row in front of me. Then I realized they were not blocking the screen; they were on it. Cameron, the man behind the “Avatar” franchise, knows how to create a truly immersive experience. Like most concert films, this one has brief interviews with fans expressing their adoration and images audience members happily sobbing as they sing along as well as some backstage moments, in this case mostly with Cameron interviewing his co-director in an atmosphere of utter comfort and respect. One of the movie’s sweetest moments has Eilish looking through her window to see fans camped out below. She holds up a hand-lettered sign telling them she loves them and they of course go wild.

And one of the documentary’s most touching moments is when Eilish, who is in such confident command on stage, tells Cameron that while she loves performing “more than anything,” she was worried that she would not be able to because she was not comfortable in what she thought of as the expected presentation of young women singers (see the above references to sequins and choreography). Learning that she could be not just accepted but cherished for presenting herself as is (she smiles that she does her own hair and make-up, both minimal) is as important to her as the understanding and appreciation her fans find in her music. Over and over we hear them say that it is the generosity and insight in her music that makes them feel seen in a way that gives them hope and self-acceptance.

Early in the film, Eilish receives flowers and a loving note from her brother, Finneas, wishing her well on her first tour without him. That makes it all the more meaningful when he shows up late in the film to join her on stage. The relationship between them as siblings and musicians is a joy to watch, as is seeing Eilish play the audience as though it is a musical instrument. She is a truly remarkable performer. At one point, she lies down on the stage, cautioning her audience to stay as quiet as possible for just a minute so she can create a series of vocal loops requiring astonishing precision in a studio setting, near-unthinkable in live performance.

Her dedication to the fans is endearing, musing about the cuts and scrapes on her hands from trying to be in literal touch with as many as possible, and explaining that she wants to be the kind of performer her younger self would like to have been a fan of. As we are on stage with her, a part of these concerts, we can assure her that she has.

Parent should know that this film begins with a warning that it includes a lot of bright, flashing, and pulsing lights that may create problems for some viewers. Eilish’s lyrics have some strong language and sexual references.

Family discussion: Why did Billie Eilish think she would not be able to be herself on stage? What performers do you most admire and why?

If you like this, try: other concert films including performances by Taylor Swift, The Band, The Talking Heads, the Rolling Stones, and U2.

Ne Zha II

Posted on August 21, 2025 at 5:26 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Characters take magic pills
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence, sad deaths of parents and brother, images of a destroyed village with charred remains, scary monsters
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	August 15, 2025

I’m not going to spend much time on the storyline of “Ne Zha !!” because it is extremely convoluted and because it is not really that important. “Ne Zha II” is a sequel, continuing the saga based on the Investiture of the Gods book written during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), itself based on folklore, myth, and real-life historical characters. The first film is now on Netflix. I’m not sure it will clear things up for you, though, unless you already have some familiarity with the underlying stories told over generations. I overheard some older Chinese-Americans in the audience laughing as they admitted they remembered hearing the stories as children but had a hard time muddling through the first film.

That doesn’t matter too much, as long as you can figure out who the good guys are and why they are fighting the bad guys, because you will be spending most of the time looking at what’s best in this film, the spectacular and stunning background and secondary character visuals, especially the monsters. The design of the main characters is not close to that level, the voice talent other than Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, is lackluster, and the convoluted storyline becomes more distraction than narrative.

The two characters at the heart of the story are the impish child demon Nezha (Yanting Lü) and the more mature Ao Bing (Mo Han). They were created together as a Chaos Pearl, birthed from the primordial essences of heaven and earth. In the first movie, they joined forces and their bodies were dissolved. As this one begins, Nezha’s teacher, the immortal Taoist deity Taiyi Zhenren (Jiaming Zhang), portrayed here as a foolish but devoted character, is creating new bodies for them from the petals of the sacred lotus, a difficult process that almost immediately goes wrong when Ao Bing’s still very fragile body is destroyed. Because it takes a while to re-create the lotus petal material for bodies, Ao Bing’s soul will dissolve unless he can find a temporary host, so Taiyi puts him inside Nezha’s body.

This leads to some complications as Taiyi takes the combined boys to get the potion needed to give Ao Bing a new body. The boy(s) will have to pass a series of tests to be given the potion by Wuliang (Deshun Wang), Taiyi’s brother. Brother and father-son relationships are very important in this story.

Taiyi gives Nezha pills to put him to sleep and let Ao Bing’s powers take over to pass the tests. Meanwhile, various conflicts and reunions happen with many other characters. And many, many fight scenes, one with a funny exchange involving characters disguising themselves as each other and — an issue everyone can relate to — the inability to remember a password.

NOTE: Stay for the credits for an extended extra scene that is one of the film’s best moments.

Parents should know that this film includes extended fantasy-style peril, action, and violence, with monsters. Characters are injured and some are killed, including beloved parents and a beloved young brother and family members who sacrifice themselves and an entire village burned down, with dead bodies turned to ashes. There are a few schoolyard-style bad words and some graphic potty humor and gross-out moments. Characters take pills to manipulate their powers.

Family discussion: Nezha is given an impossible choice. What should he have done? Were you surprised at who the villain turned out to be?

If you like this, try: the first film

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

Posted on May 19, 2025 at 11:18 am

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief language
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence, guns, fire, fights, chases, explosions, stunts, some graphic and disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	May 23, 2025

Yes, Tom Cruise runs. Very fast. Even at one point when he is in London and could probably get there faster in a cab, though for some reason there are no cars anywhere as he races across Westminster Bridge. He also does that mask thing where the disguise is so good that no one can tell it is him until he dramatically lifts the prosthetics from his head. And he attends a black tie gala. This is all in the first 15 minutes or so.

Thus, we are able to get what we came for and get on with the new stuff, which also includes running and fight scenes, sometimes shirtless, blue wire/red wire bomb defusing decisions under extreme time pressure, Ethan Hunt telling everyone to just trust him, several people telling him that he is the only one who can save the world (“although you never followed orders, you never let us down”), recaps of the previous films with some reckoning and a bit of retconning, a very welcome return of a character from the first Cruise “Mission Impossible” in 1996, vastly over-qualified actors in near-cameos, and, of course, absolutely bananas but very exciting action scenes, one under water, one in the air. In other words, like Ethan Hunt himself, they understood the assignment.

You don’t need to remember much or even have seen part one because (a) they tell you what happened and (b) it doesn’t matter because all you need to know is that they need to get The Thing (and the things you need to disarm The Thing) or it will be very bad for the everyone on the planet.

The MacGuffin is an AI that is getting ready to destroy all of humanity, close to gaining control of every nuclear weapon in the world. This is of great concern to the US President (Angela Bassett) and to those who think they can take control of it and therefore of everything. The primary villain in this category is Gabriel (Esai Morales), but like The Ring in the LoTR films, the AI known as The Entity is so powerful that even honorable people can be seduced away from destroying it and into wanting it for themselves. It is a “truth-eating parasite processing our deepest personal secrets” that “knows precisely how to undermine our every strength and exploit our every weakness.” Time for only the purest of heart and the fastest of running men to save the day.

Like Harry Potter and the horcruxes or a character in a video game, stopping the Entity requires going to many places to obtain different items and perform various tasks. These mini-MacGuffins include the source code for the AI, which is in a sunken Russian submarine and the “pill” to shut it down, created by Ethan’s teammate Luther (Ving Rhames) and stolen by Gabriel, a variation on “Independence Day’s” virus uploaded to an alien operating system.

Thankfully, a lot of the communication between Ethan and his team is meaningful looks. The dialogue can get heavy-handed. There is not much of it, though, because everyone knows why we’re here, and it is not witty remarks. (One funny line relates to The Entity’s appeal to viral conspiracy types.)

There’s a big build-up to how dangerous and difficult the dive to the Russian submarine is and the high probability that it won’t work and Ethan will die, but hey, the name of the series isn’t “Mission Possible.” As with the last episode’s train scene, still to my mind the best action scene in the series, the submarine scene makes very good use of shifting weight and huge, heavy things that have to be ducked. After making it very clear that the only thing keeping Ethan alive at that depth and temperature is the super-high-tech diving suit, he has to shed it, so we see him swim around in his boxers.

The showstopper is an arial battle between two colorful biplanes, one red, one yellow. At this point, the film is cutting back and forth between four or five desperately high-pressure situations, but it is the planes that will forever show up in film school and highlight reels.

If you remember anything about the first film, it is most likely the hanging from the ceiling heist at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. There was a humorous button on that scene of a confused CIA employee entering the room just as Ethan was exiting, leaving his knife behind. That employee was immediately transferred to the most remote location under the CIA’s jurisdiction as a consequence of the theft. He is computer genius William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), married to an Inuit woman named Tapessa (Lucy Tulugarjuk), and they are the two best new characters in this installment. “Severance’s” Tramell Tillman is a delight as a US submarine captain, but Hannah Waddingham, Janet McTeer, Carey Elwes, Nick Offerman, and Mark Gatiss are not given much to do (though Waddingham’s American accent is quite good, perhaps from listening to her co-stars in four years of “Ted Lasso”). Henry Czerny returns and is just right as the frustrated head of the CIA who thinks he knows better than Ethan. I think we know who’s right on that.

I usually say that in action films, everything depends on the villain. In “Mission Impossible” movies, everything depends on the stunts, the “Fast and Furious”-style found family of the team, and the unquenchable charisma of Tom Cruise. Fortunately, all are here. Happy summer and happy summer movies!

Parents should know that this film is non-stop action-style peril and violence with guns, chases, fights, and explosions. Characters are injured and killed. There is some strong language.

Family discussion: Movie villains often reflect contemporary controversies. What does this movie tell us about the possible outcome of our current decisions? Why did the President change her mind? What are Ethan’s regrets? People trust Ethan for different reasons. How many did we see?

If you like this, try: the other “Mission Impossible” movies

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

Kraven the Hunter

Posted on December 12, 2024 at 5:41 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong bloody violence and language
Profanity:	Some strong language, f-words
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, potions
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended and graphic action and comic book style violence with disturbing and bloody images, knives, poison darts, bombs, fire, guns, bear traps, spears
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 13, 2024

Another day, another second or third-level Marvel character “from the Spider-Man universe” given main character energy as Sony makes sure it takes every possible advantage of the contractual carve-out that gives it a small piece of the Marvel universe that isn’t run by Kevin Feige and Disney. The best I can say is that “Kraven the Hunter” is a bit better than the dismal “Madame Web” and less goofy than Tom Hardy’s “Venom: The Last Dance.”

This is the sixth of the Sony films about ancillary Spider-Man characters, the longest (2 hours, 7 minutes), and the first to be rated R.

The rating is primarily for extended bloody violence, as indicated by the poster showing Kraven’s face with specks of blood (not his) and the sobriquet “Hunter.” In the comics, he hunts Spidey because he wants to test himself against the most challenging prey. That character is inspired by Richard Connell’s short story about hunting humans, “The Most Dangerous Game.” But this movie is an origin story, and Kraven hunts bad guys.

It opens in present day, where a bus is taking men in chains to a remote Russian prison. We see the man we will come to know as Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) holding his meager bedding as he enters his cell. An extremely tough-looking guy watches him enter, then says, “I do not like roommates.” Kraven tells him that he will be gone within three days; if not, his cellmate can hit him. Kraven stays long enough to kill another prisoner, one of those still-running-the-crime-syndicate-from-prison kingpins. And then he escapes, automatic weapon bullets all around him as he races to catch the plane that was sent for him.

Flashback to 16 years earlier. Teenage Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller) and his half-brother Dimitri (Billy Barrett) are attending a posh boarding school in upstate New York when they are told their father has come to pick them up. He is Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), a powerful crime boss and the embodiment of toxic masculinity. He abruptly tells the boys that Sergei’s mother has committed suicide because she was “weak” and disturbed. There will be no funeral; instead he is taking his sons on a safari, so they can prove their manhood by killing dangerous animals.

Nikolai teaches his sons that the only things that matter are strength and power; they must never show weakness or fear. Sergei, who is brave and thoughtful, tries to protect his sensitive and vulnerable younger brother. When a legendary lion many hunters have failed to kill approaches them, Sergei puts himself in danger and is fatally mauled. But he is found by Calypso, a young girl on a photo safari with her parents. Her grandmother, a tarot card reader with some mystical power, had just given Calypso a vial with a potion that can “heal someone in undreamed ways.” She pours it into Sergei’s mouth and later, at the hospital, after he is pronounced dead he suddenly recovers. Between the potion and the lion’s blood that dripped into his wound, Sergei now has the powers of the world’s apex predators.

Yes, this is a superhero story about daddy issues. Nickolai is a narcissist who belittles everyone around him, including his sons and also some random guy named Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) who tagged along on the safari in hopes of persuading Nickolai to allow him to be a part of all the criming. We will see him again later. When Nickolai tells Sergei he is taking him into the family business, Sergei runs away, leaving his brother behind.

Sergei becomes Kraven, living in a remote Russian forest on property once owned by his mother’s family. And he becomes a hunter, trying to balance his father’s ruthless brutality by taking out bad guys. He tracks down Calypso (Ariana DeBose), now an American lawyer working in London to thank her for saving his life and ask for her help in locating some bad guys. And then Dimitri is kidnapped, and Nickolai refuses to pay the ransom, because it will make him look weak.

All of this is just a light framework for a lot of impressive stunts. Kraven is old-school, so while people are shooting at him, he is using spears, knives, poison darts, and bear traps. At least the action scenes relieve us from the clunky dialogue and bad accents.

Parents should know that this is a very violent movie with constant action and comic-book-style chases and fight scenes and many graphic and disturbing images. A teenager gets mauled by a lion. There is a very unsympathetic discussion of suicide. Weapons include machine guns and rifles, spears, knives, poison darts, bear traps, and bombs. Characters drink alcohol and use some strong language.

Family discussion: Why did Sergei and Dimitri respond so differently to their father? What were Kraven’s strengths as a hunter? What mistakes did he make?

If you like this, try; “The Most Dangerous Game” and Taylor-Johnson’s “Bullet Train” and “Kick-Ass”