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”

You’re Cordially Invited

Posted on January 30, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language throughout and some sexual references
Profanity:	Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril and violence with some grisly wounds
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	January 31, 2025

There are so many brilliant, funny, wildly talented people in and behind this movie that it is difficult to understand why it is so hard to watch.

Writer/director Nick Stoller is responsible for comedy hits like “Get Him to the Greek,” “The Muppets” (2001), and “Yes Man” along with lesser entries like “Zoolander 2” and “Night School.” He filled the movie with top comedy powerhouses Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, supported by immensely talented up-and-coming performers Geraldine Viswanathan (“The Broken Hearts Gallery,” “Blockers”), Meredith Hagner (“Bad Monkey”), Jimmy Tatro (“Theater Camp,” the under-appreciated television series “Home Economics”), and solid supporting comic actors Fortune Feimster, Jack McBrayer, and Rory Scovel, plus the very funny stand-up comic Leanne Morgan and Keyla Monterroso Mejia, a standout in this month’s “One of Them Days.”

But one crucial ingredient is missing: the stakes. The entire premise for the film is that a luxury island destination off the coast of Georgia has been double booked. Why? Because the elderly lady who took one of the reservations had a heart attack and died before she could write it down with a working pen in the hotel’s calendar book. Fun, right? It is close to impossible to care which bride gets what services and even more difficult to care about any of the people who do care about it.

There is single dad Jim (Ferrell), whose entire life has revolved around his daughter, Jenni (Viswanathan) since her mother died when she was a little girl. It is supposed to be both funny and endearing that she is his whole world. It is not. For example, the two of them have a “cute” little musical number they like to perform together, apparently without ever having listened to the lyrics. It’s “Islands in the Stream,” which is of course a love song duet with the couple singing about making love.” Ew. Jenni wanted her best friend and maid of honor Heather (Mejia) to make all the plans, so Jim has not confirmed any of the details.

In the other corner is reality television producer Margot (Witherspoon), who does not get along with anyone in her family except for her baby sister Neve (Hagner), who is her favorite person in the world. As a producer and, if this is not redundant, control freak, Margot has made three visits to the island to nail down everything up to and including the canapés. And as someone who feels her family does not appreciate or approve of her, she is ready for battle over every one of those details.

Both have emotional attachments to the venue. Jim and his late wife were married there. Margo and Neve spent summers on the island with their late grandmother. At first they try to get along but very soon this leads to a succession of petty, silly, and mostly dull efforts to obliterate each other, with escalating hijinks that make these people more and more unpleasant. A bride gets hit in the face, leaving a huge bruise. A wedding party gets knocked into the water. There is a sharp contrast between the slapstick and the exquisite music (not “Islands in the Stream” — the soundtrack also features a gorgeous song from Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” and operatic selections). It is a nagging reminder of the gulf between the meaning of the events, which even the couples seem to have overlooked, and the ridiculous pettiness of the conflicts.

Parents should know that this movie has a lot of very strong and crude language with sexual references. There is also a lot of comic peril and violence. No one is badly hurt but we do see some bloody woulds and a bad bruise.

Family discussion: Would you want to attend either of these weddings? What weddings have you been to that you especially enjoyed?

If you like this, try: better movies with the cast including “The Broken Hearts Gallery,” “Stranger than Fiction,” and “Legally Blonde”

Flight Risk

Posted on January 23, 2025 at 7:12 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for violence and language
Profanity:	Very strong and crude languagecdure
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence, airplane peril, characters injured and killed, some grisly and disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	January 24, 2025

“Flight Risk” has all of the ingredients for a tight little thriller except one. There’s a good set-up — transport of a cooperating witness, accompanied by just one US Marshal in her first return to field work after a failure that left her feeling vulnerable, and a pilot sent by the bad guys to kill the witness. It has a good setting — a small plane flying through the snowy mountains of Alaska. And a good run-time — just over 90 minutes. But the direction by Mel Gibson is sloppy. Not the editing or special effects, which range from serviceable to tense, but some of the choices that interfere with the best the movie has to offer.

Topher Grace, who plays Winston, is, as always, immediately engaging, well cast as the talkative prisoner. He’s first seen in a low-end motel, sitting on the bed and staring into an aged microwave waiting for it to warm up a styrofoam cup of soup. US Marshals break in and he immediately offers to cooperate with them. Like Charles Grodin in the infinitely better “Midnight Run,” Winston was an accountant for a vicious mob boss. He agrees to tell law enforcement everything he knows if they will give him immunity and protection.

Michelle Dockery (“Downton Abbey”) is Madolyn Harris. She has to bring Winston east to testify in the gangster’s trial. Without his testimony, there will not be enough evidence to convict him. She charters a plane, gets Winston settled with handcuffs, and takes the only other seat, next to the pilot (Mark Wahlberg), who says his name is Booth. His backwards baseball cap, chewing gum, and cornpone accent do not create a great deal of confidence, but he assures Madolyn that they’ll be in Anchorage and on their way to Seattle in 90 minutes.

Except he was never told their next stop was Seattle. Madolyn gets suspicious. “Booth” is there to kill Winston. He is also the only pilot on board. There is nothing around them but snowy mountains. The rest of the movie is the very bumpy ride.

The problem is that the fun of all the tension and action is interrupted by weird dialogue that is as off-balance as the plane. As Madolyn is using the limited access to her phone to update her colleagues (and try to figure out who has been leaking key information to the gangster), she is also on with Hassan (Maaz Ali), a pilot who is talking her through the instrumentation. He is creepily predatory, in the midst of the direst possible situation insisting that she go on a date with him. What is the idea behind this? Is there any world where someone might imagine this could be reassuring? It j’ust kept taking me out of the film.

And then there is “Booth.” Reportedly, Gibson let Wahlberg write some of his own dialogue, which gives his character a chance to free-associate a series of comments that he and Gibson may have considered evidence of recklessness and pleasure in hurting people, showing us why he is so dangerous. But they are crude and off-kilter (too many references to prison rape, for example) in a way that is at odds with the tempo and tone of the film. They’re also tedious. They do not add anything to the sense of menace or the stakes. It just comes across as self-indulgent, the last thing you want in a 90-minute thriller.

Parent should know that this is a very violent film with a knife, a flare gun, a very dangerous plane flight, criminal behavior and corruption, and extended strong language with very crude sexual references.

Family discussion: How did Madolyn decide who she could trust? How did her past experience help or hurt her ability to handle the challenges of this transport?

If you like this, try: “Plane,” “Fathom,” and “Con Air”

Brave the Dark

Posted on January 23, 2025 at 5:31 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for domestic violence/bloody images, suicide, some strong language, teen drinking, drug material and smoking
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Teen drinking and smoking, drugs
Violence/ Scariness:	Domestic violence, murder, suicide, abuse, guns
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	January 24, 2025

An angry teenager can seem like an immovable object. Most adults have a hard time finding the patience to be the irresistible force that reflects back unconditional support. “Brave the Dark” is based on the true story of a teacher who was that for many students over the years, especially for Nate, a boy who desperately needed a reason to believe that life had more to offer than abuse, trauma, and disappointment. It was made with love by the now-grown boy himself, with three brothers from the other side of the ocean who saw a story that needed to be shared.

The three brothers are the sons of actor Richard Harris (“Camelot” and the original Dumbledore). Damien Harris directed and co-wrote the screenplay. Jared Harris (“Chernobyl” and “Mad Men”) plays teacher Stan Deen. And Jamie Harris plays Barney, the tough probation officer assigned to Nate when he gets in trouble. While the heart of the film is the relationship between Nate and Stan, the scenes with Stan and Barney are among the highlights. The two characters have a history that left them respecting one another but they are very different. Stan is almost preposterously optimistic and Barney is as tough and cynical as you might expect a parole officer whose job is riding herd on acting-out teenagers to be. Jamie and Jared have great chemistry and really spark off each other so well we could imagine a whole other movie about them.

But this is Nate’s story. When we first see him, he’s running track at his high school. We won’t find out why until later, when we learn he has been living in a car after eight years in an orphanage starting at age 6 and failed placements with four foster families. And he has friends who invite him to go along on a break-in. For them it’s fun. For him it’s a way to get some money for food. But he is caught. He gets sent to prison.

Stan Deen cannot let Nate stay there. He is just that guy, as we see when the prison guard explains that only family is allowed to see Nate, and Stan glances at the portrait on the wall and asks to see the warden. This is not some “I need to see the manager” thing. As we will learn, Stan has made the lives of everyone in Lancaster County better, teaching them or their kids, helping them through tough times. Of course the warden is a former student. And many of the movie’s best moments are like this one, when Stan always just seems to know and be loved by everyone.

Stan is a bit of an oddball. He’s a bit awkward but he is incapable of being anything but completely authentic. That, more than anything else, is what gets Nate started on thinking of himself and his life’s possibilities differently. But in order to move forward, he has to be willing to be honest about the past, about the unthinkable tragedy he witnessed as a child. It is something his grandparents insisted he lie about, even to himself. Witnessing Stan’s natural honesty shows Nate that he can be honest, too.

Stan, who once dreamed of being an actor, is directing a school production — tellingly — of “Flowers for Algernon.” That story is the basis for the movie “Charly,” which won an Oscar for Cliff Robertson as a man with low cognitive skills who has an experimental surgery that — temporarily — gives him superior intelligence. The brief moments we see in the play parallel the movie’s themes about increased understanding as Nate’s interactions with one of the play’s leads, the girl who broke up with him after he was arrested. Viewers should know those scenes were shot in the school auditorium where the real Stan Deen staged plays with his students, and that it is now named in his honor.

Stan was feeling stuck after the death of his mother. He is able to move forward by allowing Nate to move into his home, even into what was his mother’s bedroom. There are setbacks and struggles, but that makes the conclusion and the images of the real Stan and Nate at the end especially moving.

Parents should know that this film has strong language, drinking, smoking, and drugs, and a mostly off-screen depiction of murder and suicide witnessed by a small child. The story includes abuse, abandonment, homelessness, and teen crime.

Family discussion: Why was Stan different from the other teachers? What teachers have made the biggest difference in your life? Can you be more like Stan?

If you like this, try: “Stand and Deliver” and “Coach Carter”

One of Them Days

Posted on January 15, 2025 at 8:34 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for brief drug use, sexual material, and language throughout
Profanity:	Constant strong language including the n-word
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Brief drug use
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril and violence, one very bloody scene, gangster violence, fire
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	January 17, 2025

If winter seems unending and the headlines have you down, “One of Them Days” will cheer you up. Keke Palmer (Dreux) and SZA (Alyssa) play best friends and roommates having a day that gets even more wildly and more hilariously wrong, It is crazy, silly, over-the-top, and a ton of fun.

We first see Dreux near the end of her overnight shift at Norm’s, part of a chain of diners. We can see that she is good at her job, friendly, capable, caring with her regular customers. Dreux is organized and focused. Alyssa is more of a free spirit, an artist who says she is in touch with her ancestors and trusts to the universe to take care of her.

Dreux leaves Norm’s at 7 am. At 4, she will have an interview for a job as a manager that she very much wants. She is nervous because she does not have some of the academic credentials of her competition, but hopes that her experience will be enough to persuade them to take a chance on her. All she needs to do is get home, get some sleep, and get ready.

But her landlord (Rizi Timane as Uche) tells her that her rent has not been paid and if he does not get the money by 6 pm she and Alyssa will be evicted, with everything in their apartment moved to the curb. It turns out Alyssa gave the rent money to her feckless boyfriend Keshawn (Joshua David Neal) and he never gave it to Uche. A clock appears on screen to tell us how much time the women have before they’re evicted.

Keshawn lies about more than the money. He’s cheating on Alyssa with fiery red-head Berniece (Aziza Scott). When she blames Alyssa and Dreux for humiliating her, she decided to go after them to beat them up.

Thus, there’s a set-up with three ticking clocks, to be on time and presentable for the interview, to have the money for the landlord, and to hide from Berniece. More tension piles up as their car gets towed, their efforts to get money go haywire, and they manage to get in trouble with the local kingpin, who demands $5000 by midnight, adding another ticking clock.

But in the midst of all this the tension is just enough to create a frame around the Lucy-and-Ethel level of crazy shenanigans I do not want to spoil. I’ll just say there’s a lot of mayhem and ups and downs plus some harsh words and a reconciliation.

This movie is a lot smarter and, yes, even in the midst of the wild and crazy stuff, it has a lot more heart than you might expect. There are echoes of films like “Friday” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” but this is kinder to the characters (most of them) and to us. They are not clowns. They are just a couple of young women trying to make it in a world stacked against them, with resilience and ingenuity.

Early in the film, Dreux and Alyssa learn that their building (which they call “the jungle”) is getting its first white tenant. It turns out to be a friendly young woman named Bethany (Maude Apatow). Thankfully, she is neither presented as someone who is there to teach Dreux and Alyssa or to learn from them. She may have a different experience and vocabulary. Her apartment, unlike theirs, looks like the pictures on the building’s website, with crown molding and a working air conditioner. But she is genuine and would like to make friends.

Palmer and SZA are outstanding, but so is the supporting cast. Every encounter Druex and Alyssa have is buoyed by the actors in even the smallest roles. It is difficult to pick just a few to mention, but the most memorable include Katt Williams as a man who tries to warn the young women to stay away from a predatory lender (“If you don’t have the money this month, you won’t have it next month”), Keyla Monterroso Mejia as the intake officer at the lender who cannot hide her laughter at Dreux’s credit score (and listen for the voice of producer Issa Rae in the audio recording in the lender waiting room). There is some cartoonish slapstick at the blood bank and a power line, but there are also moments of kindness and support, with Vanessa Bell Calloway as a neighbor who runs a mini-bodega out of her apartment and Gabrielle Dennis as one of the executives interviewing Dreux. And there’s an almost Capra-esque moment of the community coming together as the young women learn that they had what they needed all along.

Parents should know that this movie has constant very strong language and slapstick violence, including a visit to the blood bank gone very wrong. There are humorous sexual references including a man’s revealing underwear and brief drug use. A gangster’s henchmen drop someone out of a window.

Family discussion: What would you do if you were in Dreux’s and Alyssa’s situation? How do they feel about Bethany and why? What did you think Maniac’s story was going to be?

If you like this, try: “Friday” and its sequels and “Up in Smoke”