The Italians

Posted on April 10, 2025 at 5:58 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol
Violence/ Scariness:	A scuffle, sad death
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	April 11, 2025

“The Italians” is a messy movie about a messy family. It begins as farce and ends as, well, no spoilers but it ends as something more serious.

Director Michelle Danner stars as Angelina, a middle-aged mother of Nico (Matthew Daddario) and wife of Vincenzo (Rob Estes). She is very Italian. Exaggeratedly Italian. Meaning that she has very strong views and is very open about expressing them: everyone should be Italian, Italians should only marry church-going, previously unmarried Italians who are eager to have babies, and feeding everyone Italian food is much more important than having conversations about feelings or finding compromise. Even her husband calls Angelina sterotypical.

The movie begins with Nico, Angelina, and Vincenzo going to confession with Father Joe (Luca Riemma). They begin to tell him the story we will soon see unfolding, about two family dinners.

The first is when Nico brings his girlfriend, Lily (Abigail Breslin) to meet his parents. She is not what Angelina had in mind. She is not Italian. She is an atheist. More disturbing, she does not eat meat, she has been married before, and she is not sure whether she wants to have children. All of a sudden, a previous girlfriend of Nico’s, known in the family as Geena the Hyena (Olivia Luccardi) for her loud, honking laugh, is looking better. At least, she is Italian. Angelina invites her to the second dinner without telling Nico. Things go even more badly, and Lily leaves in the middle of the meal.

The Italians trailer

We think we know where we are at this point, a relatable romantic comedy about culture clash and family pressure. But even with the flashback from the confession booth structure and the heightened tone, it never captures the rhythms of comedy and lurches when it should zip. The actors seems to be in different movies; their performances are tonally out of synch.

And then the movie shifts in subject and tone to focus on marital issues between Angelina and Vincenzo and then shifts abruptly into sentimental drama. Somehow by that point we still feel connected to the family and the conclusion is genuinely touching.

Parents should know that this film includes discussions of infidelity, family conflict, and illness and a sad death.

Family discussion: Does your family blend more than one culture? If so, did it create any conflicts, big or small? If not, do family members feel pressure to stay within the culture?

If you like this, try: “Moonstruck”

The Amateur

Posted on April 8, 2025 at 1:50 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, and language
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Some alcohol
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence, fights, guns, explosions, car chase and car crash, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	April 11, 2025

Two powerful, enduring fantasies combine in “The Amateur,” the story of a nerdy computer guy who becomes an assassin to kill the four people responsible for murdering his wife. We all like to think that our Clark Kent selves, underestimated by pretty much everyone are just the secret identity of a powerful superhero. Indeed, being underestimated is its own kind of superpower. And we all wish we were capable of bringing justice, even rough justice, to those who cause harm. It is a remake of a 1982 film starring John Savage and Marthe Keller, based on the novel by Robert Littell.

Rami Malek stars as Charlie Heller, a computer guy (“decription and analysis” and apparently also some programming) who literally works in the five-stories-below-ground basement of the CIA, spending all day looking at screens. We see him at home with his beautiful, devoted wife Sarah, played by Rachel Brosnahan, perfectly fulfilling her responsibility to make enough of an impression for us to share Charlie’s sense of devastating loss. (Side note, as someone who well remembers the Aldrich Ames spy scandal, that a computer guy at the CIA who lives in what is clearly a multi-million dollar house in the country, on a huge piece of land with a barn big enough to hold a plane would be a big red flag as a likely double agent no matter how successful his wife is. )

Sarah is leaving on a five-day business trip to London. She asks him to come with her, knowing that he will not travel because he is set in his ways and also because he says he is untangling a puzzle at work. They exchange affectionate goodbyes, and then just to show us what a shy loner Charlie is, we see him going into the CIA office in Langley, Virginia, where he is greeted by someone there to be the opposite: Jon Bernthal as “The Bear,” a field agent (spy) who is confident, personable, and good at wheedling some IT support out of Charlie.

We also see Charlie receiving information from an anonymous contact in an undisclosed location. And then, a couple of days later, we see Charlie informed by his boss that Sarah has been killed in a terrorist attack. The CIA is not going to go after them because they are mercenaries and they want to go after the people who hired them. (At least that’s what they tell Charlie.)

And that is when our humble guy decides to leave the basement and his reluctance to travel behind so he can personally kill the four men who were involved. His boss (burly Holt McCallany as Director Moore) agrees to provide him with field agent training and sends him off to learn from sensei Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), not because he supports what Charlie wants to do but to get him away from home and the office so they can find out where he has hidden the documentation of the rogue black ops he has threatened to release if they do not give him what he wants.

Apparently all the training a spy gets takes place in a couple of days, so after we and the Colonel see what Charlie is good at (making IEDs) and not good at (shooting or killing), Charlie is off to track down the four mercenary bad guys. Charlie takes a backpack of fake passports and starts jet-setting around Europe (we obligingly are given not just the names of the cities where these various encounters take place but also their longitude and latitude). At this point it’s just counting down the culprits with a series of cleverly designed traps. If you guess that the anonymous person Charlie knew online, the apparently amiable spy, and the Colonel will show up again, plus the obligatory graffiti-covered bathroom in a nightclub scene for any spy movie that doesn’t have a swanky black tie gala scene, you are correct.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you’re probably there for the pool scene, and it is a lulu, especially in IMAX. Nice to have Charlie say “It’s all about integrity” with a double meaning. There are a few good twists, plus the always-welcome Julianne Nicholson as the newly-appointed head of the CIA who has her own concerns about what Moore is up to, and the always-superb Michael Stuhlbarg, who elevates everything he is in and here make a near-ridiculous scene almost make sense. “The Amateur” may not be memorable or make sense, but it benefits from a strong cast, it looks glossy (outstanding work on the settings), the action scenes move along well and that pool scene really is pretty special.

Parents should know that this film includes a brutal capture and murder of a beloved wife followed by the murder of the people involved. Characters are injured and killed. Characters drink alcohol and use some strong language.

Family discussion: How did Charlie make the most of what he was good at? What did we learn from the lunch scene with O’Brien and Moore? (And how likely is it that they would be discussing CIA business in a restaurant?)

If you like this, try: “Three Days of the Condor” and the Bourne movies

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 tater tots, 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 wolf, 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