Lamb

By: Andrew Wing

Lamb (Icelandic: Dyrio, lit. ‘The animal’) is a 2021 folk horror film directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón. An international co-production between Iceland, Sweden, and Poland, the film stars Noomi Rapace (Millenium series, Prometheus), and marks Valdimar Jóhannsson’s feature-length directorial debut. Rapace and Béla Tarr act as executive producers.

The film follows an Icelandic couple who live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm when they discover a mysterious newborn on their land. But when they decide to keep it and raise it as their own, this unexpected development and the prospects of a new family which they thought would bring them much joy, turns into something else entirely.

After premiering at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film was released in Iceland on September 24, 2021. It was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

THE GOOD

I won’t lie, I thought I was done reviewing films from 2021, but once I saw that the Icelandic folk horror film Lamb was available to stream on Showtime, I just couldn’t resist. Also, it is an A24 film, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they will know that I live and die by A24. Being a true cinephile, I love all aspects and genres of film, and all of the A24 films carry an unexplainable vibe that definitely isn’t for most audiences, but I just eat it up. That said, the trailer for this was about as A24 as it could get, so I knew I had to check it out and eventually review it. So without further ado, let’s find out if this was another banger from A24, or if it was simply too weird and offputting to make for a quality film.

I’ll hold off on answering that for a bit, but just to start, I’ll say this movie is unlike anything I’ve seen before. I mean it didn’t take much considering the film follows a human/sheep hybrid with a mostly human body and a lamb’s head and right arm, but still, it was just so surreal. And I know I said I’d keep you waiting for a little, but I lied because to answer the question I posed, this is a high-quality film despite the wacky subject matter. And a big reason why it is was because of the director, Valdimar Jóhannsson, who had quite the feature-length directorial debut. Talk about going for it on your first movie, I mean this movie is so darkly imaginative. He brought to life this movie in a way that was so haunting and atmospheric, and I loved how he chose to have this be very slow-moving, and also extremely nutty in a way. All in all, Jóhannsson made a fan out of me, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

Now Jóhannsson put this movie together in a way that not many other directors could have in his debut, but what took this movie from average to above-average was Noomi Rapace. For those who don’t know her, Rapace is a Swedish actress and she is a really big deal overseas. She is an amazing actress and she was actually the famous girl with the dragon tattoo before Rooney Mara was in David Fincher’s Americanized version. Nevertheless, Rapace showed why she is one of the top foreign actresses today by her performance as María in this. This story is bizarre, and the only way it would’ve worked was if the lead was totally bought in, and she was. It really felt like she had raised this creation her entire life and had a deep personal connection to it, and I was just blown away by what she did here. If there is one reason to watch this movie in the first place, it is her performance hands down.

There is no denying that Rapace took home the grand prize here, but the other two performances we got are from supporting actors Hilmir Snær Guõnason and Björn Hylnur Huraldsson. Guõnason’s character is the husband to María and it was incredible watching his character’s journey from beginning to end, and seeing how he came to love this creature was impressive. As for Huraldsson who I thought had the slightly better performance, well he plays the husband’s brother who apparently used to have a thing with María in the past. His performance was great and he really played the bad guy role so well. I also thought he looked so familiar and after doing some research, I found that he had a role in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher that I watch which stars the man of steel himself, Henry Cavill.

In closing, I got to show some love to the top-notch technical side of things when it comes to Lamb. First, the cinematography we got here from Eli Arenson was phenomenal. Iceland is such an astonishingly beautiful country and I will never get tired of watching movies that take place there, and I just thought Arenson captured it in a way that helped the story dramatically. Also, the music like in all of the A24 films was fantastic and it made you feel uneasy in all the right spots. And lastly, it goes without saying that the VFX team absolutely crushed it here. They brought this human/sheep hybrid to life in a way that felt uncomfortably real and I probably will never look at lambs the same way again.

THE BAD

Alright, this is tough. If you’ve gotten this far into the review, you saw the poster, and you read the film’s premise, so you know what you are dealing with, and what you are dealing with is a very strange film. I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again but it is literally about a human/sheep hybrid. Like that is fucking weird, and if you can’t do weird movies, then this movie isn’t for you and I’d totally get it. I will say though, that if you like horror movies, good cinematography, and want to see some amazing acting performances, then you should just dive right into Lamb because you won’t regret it.

Now that that is out of the way, let’s get into some of the problems I had with the film. There weren’t many because it’s a high-quality film as I have said, but it isn’t flawless. First, as I do with all horror movies, I have to judge it by how much it scared me, and while it had a few scenes here and there, I just didn’t particularly find the film scary at all. Now I was uncomfortable, but that is different. It’s frustrating too because there was one scene about midway through that was pretty terrifying and I thought it was about to get batshit crazy, but it really didn’t and I think after seeing it that if it did, this movie could’ve gone from good to great.

The second and bigger problem I had with Lamb was the ending. I don’t know, by the time the final act rolled around I was highly invested and it felt like we were getting to the point where there was a price that needed to be paid, and while it was paid I guess, it just wasn’t in the way I had hoped. Maybe others will like how things wrap up, but I just felt it to be such an underwhelming conclusion to a film that had such a compelling start.

THE VERDICT

Despite the film’s bizarre premise and what I thought was an underwhelming conclusion, Lamb is a folk horror film that is haunting and unsettling. It is an interesting debut from director Valdimar Jóhannsson that has me eager to see what he does next, and it’s backed by amazingly bought-in performances from the cast, especially Noomi Rapace, and some stunning cinematography of Iceland.

It’s a tough film to recommend because it certainly isn’t for everyone, but I’d suggest keeping an open mind and checking it out because it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting and you can’t go wrong with A24.

TED TAKES RATING - 7.6/10

Lamb is now available to watch on Showtime. Check out the latest trailer below.

The Gray Man

By: Andrew Wing

The Gray Man is a 2022 American action thriller film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), from a screenplay the latter co-wrote with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. The film stars Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Blade Runner 2049), Chris Evans (Avengers: Endgame, Knives Out), Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049, No Time to Die), Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist, The Matrix Resurrections), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Sylvie’s Love), Dhanush (prominent Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema), Wagner Moura (Elysium, Narcos), Julia Butters (American Housewife, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave, Clemency), and Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa, Fargo).

Produced by the Russo brothers’ company, AGBO (Extraction, Everything Everywhere All at Once), it is the first film in a franchise based upon Greaney’s Gray Man novels. The film focuses on the CIA agent Court Gentry (Gosling), who is on the run from sadistic mercenary Lloyd Hanson (Evans) upon discovering corrupt secrets about his superior (Page).

An adaptation of Greaney’s novel was originally announced in 2011, with James Gray (The Lost City of Z, Ad Astra) set to direct Brad Pitt, and later Charlize Theron in a gender-swapped role, though neither version ever came to fruition. The property lingered in development hell until July 2020, when it was announced the Russo brothers would direct, with both Gosling and Evans attached to star. Filming began in Los Angeles in March 2021, before wrapping in Prague that July. With a production budget of $200 million, it is among the most expensive films ever made by Netflix.

The Gray Man began a limited theatrical release on July 15, 2022, followed by its digital release on Netflix on July 22. The film will be followed by a sequel with Gosling reprising his role and a spin-off.

THE GOOD

I have yet to read the book, but ever since this project was announced back two years ago in July 2020, I have been beyond excited. The main reason being the two actors who were attached to star in the film in both Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. I mean it really doesn’t get much better than that, to be honest. I mean Gosling is my second favorite actor just behind Adam Driver after seeing him star in two of my all-time favorite movies in La La Land and Blade Runner 2049. As for Chris Evans, I love everything about him. He is Captain America for christ's sake, the man is a living legend. More than that, the man can legitimately act. Don’t believe me? Go check out Rian Johnson’s 2019 whodunnit Knives Out, which is another one of my favorite films from the past five-plus years. Aside from those two guys, the fact that the Russo brothers were going to direct an action film was phenomenal because they clearly know how to do that after directing probably four of the top ten MCU films. Despite all the good things it had going for it, the Russo brothers did direct Cherry last year, a movie I thought was quite bad, so I had a tiny bit of skepticism. Nevertheless, I checked it out the first thing I could, so keep reading to find out if it matched my otherworldly expectations, or if it was another post-Marvel dud from the Russo brothers!

It was neither. It, unfortunately, didn’t match my expectations, but that’s more of a me problem and it doesn’t take away from the fact that was a good movie that was really entertaining, that was also a massive improvement over Cherry! I think the reason I didn’t vibe with Cherry was that it was more of a drama movie than the Russo brothers have done before. There is no denying that their bread and butter is action and they put that on display in The Gray Man. I will address the action scenes, in particular, a little later, but the scale of this movie was massive. They used all of their $200 million budget and gave us one hell of an enjoyable watch. It truly was a tactically aggressive and almost brawny assassin action film that just proves that when it comes to making an action movie, these two guys are at the top of the food chain.

Enough about the Russo brothers though, it’s time to talk about the main selling points of the movie, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. First with Gosling, as he is the lead actor in The Gray Man. Gosling crushed it here, and as much as I liked Chris Evans, he carried the film for me. Gosling just has this natural stoic toughness that we have seen from him in all of his films that is unexplainable, and that’s why I love him and he is one of my favorite actors. Now I hope he keeps taking dramatic roles in the future so he can get a damn Oscar which he might do in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie which comes out next year, but at the same time, I would have nothing wrong with him starring in more action movies because the dude is a beast. No wonder he is married to Eva Mendes. 

Next with America’s Ass himself, Chris Evans. First things first, if you aren’t a Chris Evans fan, you just have something wrong with you. Evans captured our hearts from the first time he played Cap, and we were all crying in Avengers: Endgame when he passed his shield down to his best friend Sam Wilson. If you say you weren’t, you’re just lying to yourself. Aside from the MCU though, he has shown just how talented of an actor he is, especially in Knives Out when he played the antagonist. And his performance in that was a huge reason why I was so excited to see him play the villain in this, and he did not disappoint. He can just play a smug piece of shit so well, and while I still thought we should’ve got more from his character, I loved everything he brought to the table here. 

Now with this being an action thriller from the Russo brothers, you know we have to talk about the action scenes. I thought they were fantastic and they really kept me interested in this movie. They were all entertaining and engaging, and the fight choreography was fantastic. To be specific, the first fight scene that introduces us to Gosling’s character Court Gentry, and the last fight scene between the two stars of the film were incredible and lived up to the hype. More than that, the whole last act of the film was fucking awesome as it was just straight action from start to finish.

THE BAD

As much as I enjoyed watching two of my favorite actors on screen, there is just no way I can call this an above-average action movie. There were great fight sequences, don't get me wrong, but it was just nowhere close to competing with some of the best the action genre has seen like the John Wick franchise and the Mission: Impossible film series. Those movies are truly elite and have some of the best singular films the genre has ever seen, and I was expecting The Gray Man to be on that level, but it just wasn’t. However, I will definitely still keep the faith and hold out hope because as I mentioned, it’s already been announced that the film will be followed by a sequel with Gosling reprising his role and a spin-off series too.

Now that that is out of the way, we need to discuss what I thought were the two biggest problems with the film. First with the script, which I thought was most definitely a clichéd one. It’s tough because the writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have proven in the past with MCU films that they can write a good script and balance out the drama, action, and humor, and while it wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t good enough. As I said, it was full of clichés and other stereotypes we know too well from other action films, and it was at its worst in the first thirty minutes of the film if you ask me. From the encryption keys to the data leaks, it was just all stuff we as an audience are tired of seeing, and if you throw in some of the other cringy dialogue we got too, it just felt like lazy writing to me.

The second main problem I had with The Gray Man was its pacing. I have seen other critics refer to the film’s pacing as “breakneck pacing”, and after watching it, I can agree with that. It just moves way too fast, and it reminded me a lot of, to refer to another action film, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, the movie I find to be the worst of the John Wick franchise. It was even worse in The Gray Man though because of this being the first film of the franchise that's main duty was to entertain, which it did, but to also introduce us to the characters and develop them. And at the end of the day, as much as I loved both Gosling and Evans’ characters, they both could’ve used more character development, and so could the majority of the rest of the cast, especially Ana de Armas’ character.

THE VERDICT

Despite it not reaching the levels of the John Wick franchise or the Mission: Impossible film series due to a stereotypical script and some poor character development, the Russo brother’s book-to-screen adaptation of The Gray Man is still a thrilling piece of entertainment that sees two of the best in the business in Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans go face-to-face on the big screen.

All in all, I thought Gosling and Evans carried the film with their chemistry, but the action sequences were as great as you’d expect considering who’s in the director’s chairs.

TED TAKES RATING - 7.4/10

The Gray Man is now streaming on Netflix. Check out the latest trailer below.

Nope

By: Andrew Wing

Nope is a 2022 American science fiction horror film written, directed, and co-produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) under his Monkeypaw Productions banner. It stars Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah), Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee, Hustlers), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Minari), Brandon Perea (The OA), Michael Wincott (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Crow), Wrenn Schmidt (For All Mankind, Boardwalk Empire), and Keith David (The Thing, They Live). In the film, two ranch-owning siblings (Kaluuya and Palmer), with the help of a tech salesman (Perea) and a renowned cinematographer (Wincott), attempt to capture and sell video evidence of an unidentified flying object.

Peele officially announced his then-untitled third directorial film in November 2019. Palmer and Kaluuya joined in February 2020, with Yeun being cast the next month, and Peele revealed the title in July 2021. Filming took place during fall 2021 in northern Los Angeles county, before wrapping in late November.

The film premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on July 18, 2022, and was released in the United States on July 22, 2022, by Universal Pictures.

THE GOOD

The time has finally come! Ask anyone close to me, and they will tell you that Nope was easily my most anticipated film of 2022. The number of times I watched the incredibly ambiguous trailer, and forced those close to me to watch it just so I could hear Daniel Kaluuya perfectly utter the phrase “what’s a bad miracle?” was probably unhealthy. I mean how could I not be excited? It is the third directorial film from Jordan Peele who this time was taking on my favorite personal genre, science fiction, and it also had him reuniting with Kaluuya who was the star of his 2017 debut film Get Out. The hype for this film was absurd and I saw it as soon as I could, so the question is, did it live up to the hype? Keep reading to find out!

Without any hesitation, the answer is yes. It did live up to the hype. Jordan Peele man. The guy is a truly talented filmmaker and after Get Out in 2017, Us in 2019, and now Nope, he hasn’t even come close to missing. What he has done in the past five years is remarkable, and that is why he is already through three films, one of my, and I’m sure many others, favorite directors working today. It is just his pure originality when it comes to his storytelling that is so unique nowadays when so much of what we consume comes from other IP, and you can tell he has a true love for the horror genre. The other thing I love about Peele is his ambition as a filmmaker and storyteller. He is not just one of the most exciting filmmakers we have today, but he is one we truly need. He means something to us as cinephiles as all of his movies mean something and say something, and that was exactly what he did with Nope in his third outing as writer/director.

Peele’s direction in Nope was honestly flawless in my opinion. The way he crafted this film was amazing. It was a spectacle to tell you the truth and it honestly felt like I was watching a cinematic event. He clearly had a strong grasp on both the sci-fi and horror genres just with the way he paid homage to previous legendary films. I’ve already mentioned that I love my science fiction, but I really am not too big on horror just because nowadays it has become so gore-based. But with Peele in this, he focuses more on the supernatural horror which I think is scarier, and more than that, he does horror in a way that folds society in on itself and makes us look at how scary we are as human beings. And Jordan Peele has mastered that and does it better than any other director out there. Also, as the director, he was able to test some of the best talents in the industry with very heady and highbrow concepts, and we really see those with his script. 

First things first, this script is wholly original. Now I’m sure some people might have a few problems with the script just because of how the film ends which I will touch on later in the review, but as a whole, this script was magnificent. It was full of tension, and this dark and eerie vibe that made your skin crawl, but it also contained a lot of humor and just the perfect amount of social commentary. All in all, Jordan Peele is the fucking man, and I would love to see him get Oscar nominations for both his direction and his original screenplay because he deserves it.

Jordan Peele will definitely get the most praise for Nope, and deservingly so, but goddamn are all of the performances across the board amazing! I never thought I’d say this in a movie that starred Daniel Kaluuya, but I have got to start with Keke Palmer because she was the absolute standout of the film for me. Yes, that’s right I said Keke Palmer, the actress that most of us know from her days as a child actress for both her roles on Nickelodeon and also some stuff on the Disney channel. But she has grown up since then, and with her performance in this, I’d say she is about to break out as a star. I was just buying everything she was selling here. She was funny, dramatic, and her chemistry with Kaluuya was phenomenal. I honestly can’t see any other actress in her role which is crazy to say, but she carried this film, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Now onto the guy that rightfully deserves the first billing he got here, and that is Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya is so damn good in this, and while it might not have been as good as his performance in Get Out, it was such a completely different performance and that is arguably more impressive. He plays the character OJ, a very shy and reserved person who just keeps to himself, and I was blown away by what Kaluuya did with his character. Honestly though, and I don’t think I’m crazy in saying this, but Kaluuya might be a top five actor in Hollywood at the moment. I mean he is definitely a top five favorite actor of mine, but who in the past five years has put out as many incredible performances as he has? Maybe Adam Driver, and I couldn’t resist because he is my favorite actor, but from Get Out to Queen & Slim, to Judas and the Black Messiah which earned him what I think is the first of many Oscars for him, to now this, Kaluuya is an absolute superstar and I cannot wait to see what is next for him.

Kaluuya and Palmer definitely were the best of the bunch when it came to the performances in Nope, but there are so many other supporting performances that need to get mentioned. Steven Yeun was fantastic as he gave us his most confident performance I think of to date as the sort of secondhand antagonist in the film. And I know I said Keke Palmer might break out as a star after this, but the same can be said for Brandon Perea, an actor I had never seen before, who played the tech salesman, Angel. Perea was pretty much the comic relief character alongside Palmer here, and he was really funny, but there was something else about his performance that just made his character so great and just someone you wanted more of. And to finish on the performances before we get to the technical elements of Nope, I have to touch on Michael Wincott’s performance. Similar to Perea, I had never heard or seen him, but he crushed it, and boy oh boy does he have an intimidating voice.

In conclusion, being the cinephile that I am who appreciates all aspects of film, I need to highlight Nope’s technical elements, specifically the music and the cinematography. First with the music that was done by Michael Abels. Abels did the music for Peele’s previous two films, and just like in those, the music was great here. The music really enhanced the dark and eerie feeling I briefly mentioned earlier, yet it somehow felt grander and larger than any other score he has ever composed. I just hope he and Peele work together on all of Peele’s future films because they just get it. Oh, and speaking of Peele and his collaborators, he needs to keep working with the film’s editor Nicholas Monsour because the film was perfectly edited and flowed very nicely.

Now onto the cinematography which Hoyte van Hoytema did. I am such a sucker for some good cinematography, and while Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049, 1917) is the absolute GOAT, van Hoytema is right up there with the best of them. Other films he has shot include Her, Ad Astra, and three Christopher Nolan films: Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Tenet, and Nope is in my opinion one of his best works. I am no cinematography expert, but I’d assume it’s a challenge to shoot something that is not there but is there in post-production thanks to the visual effects, which were outstanding by the way in Nope, but it really felt like van Hoytema was just shooting UFOs, and that combined with the way he shot the beautiful Agua Dulce desert in northern LA have me wanting him to get a Best Cinematography nomination so freaking bad.

THE BAD

News flash: I loved Nope. As I said, it lived up to the hype, and I really got everything I wanted out of this film. I won’t listen to anyone who calls it bad, but I will say there are definitely some areas where one could critique. The first is the fact that this just wasn’t as good or rather as impactful as Peele’s first two films, both of which I would give very high ratings. However, the biggest critique the film has was the ending and how it wrapped up. I was fine with how things ended, to tell the truth, but I’d be lying if I said it wrapped up just how I wanted it to. 

Also, after reading a ton of other reviews on the film, I have consistently seen people blasting the film’s subplot that deals with Steven Yeun’s character’s backstory. It was definitely weird, and maybe it didn’t make perfect sense and you had to wait a while to know more about it, but I was able to put the pieces together and see how it connected to the story as a whole. Lastly, it also was probably a good fifteen minutes longer than it needed to be as it had some unnecessary scenes. All that said, I still ate this movie up, I cannot wait to rewatch it, and I will spend the next six months praying that it gets a Best Picture nomination!

THE VERDICT

In his third outing as writer-director, the brilliant Jordan Peele’s Nope is a sci-fi horror that is an absolute spectacle that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Sure, maybe it doesn’t hit the same marks as his previous two films, but his ambitious direction and beautifully original screenplay that is full of horrifying, yet intriguing concepts and metaphors on today’s society make me say this is one of 2022’s best thus far.

It also features another great Daniel Kaluuya performance, and one from Keke Palmer that absolutely stole the show. Aside from that, the technicals are all top-notch, from the VFX to Hoyte van Hoytema’s mind-blowing cinematography, to the terrifying creative sound work, and a breathtaking score from Michael Abels.

TED TAKES RATING - 9.2/10

Nope is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Elvis

By: Andrew Wing

Elvis is a 2022 biographical musical film directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby), who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner. The film follows the life of rock and roll icon, singer and actor Elvis Presley, told from the perspective of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It stars Austin Butler (The Dead Don’t Die, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) in the title role with Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan) as Parker, and Olivia DeJonge (The Visit, The Society), Helen Thomson (Kangaroo Jack, A Man’s Gotta Do), Richard Roxburgh (Van Helsing, Hacksaw Ridge), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Waves, The High Note), David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, 300), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Power of the Dog), and Luke Bracey (Point Break, Hacksaw Ridge) in supporting roles.

It was announced in 2014 that Luhrmann would be directing an Elvis Presley biopic, though the project was not officially announced until March 2019. Butler was cast in the title role that July, beating out several high-profile actors. Filming began in Luhrmann’s native Australia in January 2020, but paused from March through September following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming wrapped over a year after it began, in March 2021.

Elvis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022, and was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures in Australia on June 23, 2022, and in the United States on June 24. The film has so far grossed over $159.4 million worldwide against its $85 million budget.

THE GOOD

It seems crazy that we are just now, 45 years after his death in 1977, getting a biopic on the rock and roll icon Elvis Presley. I mean the man was a sensation and he is arguably the biggest and most popular singer right up there with Michael Jackson to be completely honest. Despite the long wait though, we finally got a biopic on Elvis and it came to us from the one and only Baz Luhrmann. Luhrmann hasn’t made as many films in his directing career as say Martin Scorsese, but the guy absolutely has his own style and he clearly has a profound love for music, so I thought he was the perfect choice to direct this film. Also, once I saw the initial trailer for Elvis and saw Austin Butler as the titular character, I was blown away and I couldn’t wait to check this baby out and see how he would portray the “King of Rock and Roll”! Despite all of my excitement, it is just the truth that there have been some bad biopics so far this century, and you throw in the fact that Luhrmann has been known to make a stinker a time or two and that Butler has never been in the lead role in a feature film before, there was definitely a chance this could be a disaster. So without further ado, was this the flop that some people were projecting, or was it the Elvis biopic we have all been waiting for? Keep reading to find out!

I won’t keep you waiting, It was definitely the one we have all been waiting for. Now I, like many others, have definitely been feeling a little bit of musical biopic fatigue after Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018, Rocketman in 2019, and last year’s Respect (see my full review here), but Elvis was the best of all of those I think. I enjoyed it a lot and it was just a good time for lack of a better phrase. Ever since seeing it, I have been singing “Suspicious Minds”, my personal favorite Elvis song, on repeat. And the reason I found it to be the best of those other musical biopics I mentioned is mainly because it had undoubtedly the best lead performance of all of them, and that belonged to Austin Butler.

Now despite his good looks, before this movie Austin Butler was definitely not a household name. He was in an episode of iCarly way back in the day and also some stuff on the Disney Channel, but he really impressed me back in 2019 as he played the serial killer member of the Manson family, Tex, in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. All that said, after his role in this, Austin Butler’s name will never be forgotten. There is no denying that Austin Butler is the best part of this movie. Absolutely none. 

I really don’t think there could have been a better casting choice because he does look a lot like Elvis, but it was so much more than that. It never felt like he was just doing some lame impersonation of Elvis, but rather you could tell he did his homework and just got lost in the role. He just feels so effortless in this role and I really felt like I got a sense of Elvis’s personality thanks to Butler’s portrayal. He nailed the voice, the dance moves, and all of the stuff he needed to get right, and because of that, he damn well better get a Best Actor nomination at the 95th Academy Awards. I’d be fine if he won, but it’s way too early to predict that because for the rest of this year we still have films coming out that feature some star big name actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman, Adam Driver, and Christian Bale just to name a few.

Now onto the crazy Australian that is Baz Luhrmann. Like I previously mentioned, he definitely has put out some stinkers and I have mixed feelings about him as a director, but I’d say this was one of his better products he has ever put out. What he does worked here truthfully because the movie was really energetic, colorful, and just hard not to be entertained by. Also, like I said, the man clearly has a deep passion for music and I did appreciate greatly the way the music was handled here from the touches of modern soundtrack to the way he did all of Elvis’s music to also make that sound more modern. All in all, I really liked how Luhrmann did all of that and his style worked basically perfectly here.

Continuing with the music as a whole, the musical sequences we got here are incredible. I really liked how they tried to hit on Elvis’s love for the crowd, and they did that very nicely in all of the musical sequences. They just did a brilliant job at showing the excess of all of that and really showing how much of a performer Elvis was. I mean really the best scenes of the movie were the ones where we got to watch Elvis passionately perform, thrive on stage, and just be true to who he is. Every time he took the stage he was trying to prove who he was as an artist and the musical sequences did that exceptionally.

There were so many other things I liked about Elvis that I just needed to touch on. First, the costumes were truly glorious and this movie will definitely be in the running for that at the Oscars. I also loved the production design in every scene, and I just can’t say enough about the sound in this movie from start to finish. And lastly, even though I didn’t love Hanks’ character that he plays in a fat suit that I will touch on more later in the review, the makeup in this movie was still very good. Oh, and the Doja Cat song “Vegas”, which incorporates elements from Big Mama Thorton’s “Hound Dog”, was awesome and it will likely get a Best Original Song nomination too.

THE BAD

Alright, here we go. I never thought I’d be saying this but the hands down worst part of this movie was Tom Hanks. I know, you can call me crazy. I’m not taking anything away from Hanks, because he is truly one of the greatest actors of all time, but boy oh boy this was not it. Hanks was fine I guess and I’m sure people will like his performance because he is Tom Hanks, but I really think the main problem was just that he got cast in this in the first place. Now I know you need star power to get people in the seats, but I mean they could’ve picked literally anyone else. I mean there are a bunch of overweight actors in Hollywood they could’ve picked, or they could have just picked someone who is actually Dutch. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but it was just such a distraction seeing Tom Hanks play the antagonist of Colonel Tom Parker with a Dutch accent in a fat suit, and I thought he was so so out of place.

Also, I brought up the fact that Baz Luhrmann has his own style because he definitely does, and while I think I vibed with it more than I usually do, I could still definitely see people being annoyed by it. For example, the first act of the movie truly might give you a headache or even whiplash just by the way it was edited and the way it zooms through Elvis’s life at extremely fast speeds. The editing in this movie as a whole was just insane. There is a lot of wacky shit, a lot of split screen stuff, wild transitions, and I just wasn’t a fan of all the overediting. That said, I would put money on it getting a Best Editing nomination because the Academy is stupid, so much so that Bohemian Rhapsody, a terribly edited film, actually won for Best Editing back at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019.

My last complaint I had with Elvis is that it is basically a Wikipedia page biopic if that makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the final product but it follows his entire career told through the perspective of his manager. Now I still enjoyed it, but there’s no taking away the fact that Elvis was a pretty generic musical biopic in terms of the story. We just moved way too fast, which is weird given the film’s way too long of a runtime, and it left us with a very general impression of Elvis at the end of the film rather than the personal or lasting impression we wanted it to have on us.

THE VERDICT

Despite the generic storytelling, wacky editing, and what I thought was a bad Tom Hanks role, Elvis is still one of the best musical biopics we’ve gotten in the past few years, thanks mostly to Austin Butler’s unbelievable transformative performance as the “King of Rock and Roll”! Butler just crushed every aspect of this role and he is more than deserving of a Best Actor nomination.

Aside from that, Baz Luhrmann’s style was perfect for this story, and he gave us one of the most energetic and colorfully vibrant movies in recent memory. He also gave us some great musical sequences and a banger of a soundtrack too, but more importantly, Luhrmann does achieve the film’s goal of giving the audience a deeper appreciation of Elvis.

At the end of the day, I do think that audiences already have been and will continue to dig this movie a lot, and if this continues to be a mega hit like Bohemian Rhapsody was back in 2018, it might even be able to nab one of the ten Best Picture nominations, but we will just have to wait and see.

TED TAKES RATING - 8.1/10

Elvis is now playing in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is a 2022 mystery drama film directed by Olivia Newman, from a screenplay written by Lucy Alibar. Newman is best known for her debut film, the 2018 Netflix original drama First Match, which she wrote and directed. Where the Crawdads Sing is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by author Delia Owens. Published in 2018, the book was selected by Reese Witherspoon for her book club helping with the trajectory that would eventually lead to the big screen. Witherspoon also serves as executive producer on the film.

Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect. As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.

The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., and David Strathairn.

Where the Crawdads Sing made its debut in theaters on July 15th, courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing.

THE GOOD

I have been a movie guy for as long as I can remember, more than likely since before I could even walk. I guess you could look at me as Jim Carrey’s Chip character in the movie Cable Guy, partially raised by movies and television shows, just slightly less clingy and certainly not as psychotic. But in all seriousness, movies have always been at the center of my universe. When it came to reading, not so much. I mean sure, I read plenty of books in high school, like the classic The Catcher in the Rye, but that was required. After high school, my interest in reading faded fast, and when people mentioned a book they thought I should read, I would always respond by saying I will watch the movie when it comes out. But as it happened I matured into a productive member of society, and in the process discovered that I enjoy reading a good book.

My love for movies hasn’t changed either, and instead, I found a way to combine the two. I jump at the opportunity to read a book that is either based on a movie that I have always considered a favorite, like Black Hawk Down for example or when a trailer for a movie or series releases that is based on a book I try and read it before the movie comes out, like the Netflix original film The Gray Man (our preview and trailer here), which I am currently reading. When the trailer for Where the Crawdads Sing dropped, all I was hearing was how incredible the book was and how excited fans of the book were for the movie. So naturally, I grabbed a copy of the book, and my wife and I both gave it a read, and boy was it good! She of course finished it first and nagged me to finish so we could have our own little book club discussion. Naturally, my wife and I quickly became a part of the crowd anxiously awaiting the middle of July when the film would finally hit theaters. Well, that day is finally here. Did the movie live up to the best-selling page-turner? Keep reading to find out!

I’ll admit I was nervous simply because of the fact that book-to-film adaptations tend to have an uphill battle when it comes to living up to the expectations of the source material, but I am pleased to report that Where the Crawdads Sing is a very worthy adaptation that was able to bring this amazing book to life. I genuinely enjoyed this movie which for me felt very much like a journey as I re-lived the incredible life of Miss Catherine Danielle Clark, aka Kya Clark, or better known as The Marsh Girl. As I sat there in the theater consisting mostly of women in their late 60s, I was anxiously waiting to see how the story would play out on the screen, and it did not disappoint. Kya’s secluded shack in the marsh was exactly how I envisioned it, and just like when I read the book I was in awe of the tranquil, albeit very lonely, life she led. When a book I really like becomes a movie, I am hit with a hefty case of FOLSO (Fear of Leaving Something Out). Okay sure I just made up that acronym, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Books simply have too much content to fit in a movie without making it 5-hours long, which is why they are often made into a series or at the very least a two-part movie. For this reason, we as fans of the book and eventual viewers of the film are left hoping they include our favorite parts of the book, but the reality is the powers that be, in this instance being Lucy Alibar who wrote the screenplay, are mostly concerned with including enough to ensure the story feels whole. And I have to say, she did one heck of a job with Where the Crawdads Sing. And it was no simple task as Kya’s journey is told in a span of several years, with important moments in her life taking place from when she was just a little girl, right into adulthood, and eventually leading up to the incident that lands her in a courtroom with her life and the freedom she holds so dear hanging in the balance. Viewers need to see the Kya we fell in love with in the book, and I believe that is exactly what we got with this movie. Just a job well done all around.

Where the Crawdads Sing puts a premium on all of the necessary elements that make or break a film. The casting decisions were perfect making for some stellar acting and genuine chemistry between the leads, the pacing of the story fell into place nicely and unraveled just how I had hoped, the cinematography was fantastic, and the score/soundtrack made everything feel real. The film has some intense scenes with lots of drama and suspense, but also tells a great love story and includes plenty of heartwarming and sometimes very sad moments. You might want to bring a few tissues to the theater just in case. The book tells a fairly elaborate story and jumps back and forth between timelines as we learn more about Kya and her journey, and the film found a way to tell the story in the same way. Just like the book, the mysterious death of a well-known local man and subsequent murder investigation quickly became the talk of the town, particularly once the Marsh Girl became the primary suspect. The film flows extremely well and the 2-hours really fly by, thanks to the fact that the story has so many interesting elements giving screenwriter Lucy Alibar plenty to work with. The book left quite an impression on me, and I am thrilled to say the film did as well.

When it comes to Where the Crawdads Sing, a major plus for the film is the acting which needless to say would make or break a film based on such a beloved novel. Fans of the book already had a vision of what the characters should look like, and I have to commend the casting team for the amazing job they did here. First and foremost, the gorgeous and talented Daisy Edgar-Jones was the perfect choice for Kya, better known as the Marsh Girl. As beautiful as she was fiercely independent to a fault at times, Edgar-Jones felt like she jumped from the pages of the book onto the screen. As a fan of the book it really was quite an experience watching her become this character. She did her justice and then some. This movie simply does not work without the right person in this role, and she was just fantastic throughout. Time and time again I found myself just lost in her eyes, and no matter what when I looked at Edgar-Jones I saw Kya, it was unmistakable.

My next favorite character in the book was also very well cast, and that would be Taylor John Smith who took on the role of Tate. A huge part of Kya’s journey, Tate’s character is a constant presence with quite a unique story arch as it relates to his connection to Kya. Like a lemonade stand on a scorching summer day, I was buying what he was selling. From his infectious smile to his genuinely good-natured demeanor and high character, which translated perfectly from the book, Smith owned his role. Another very important character who is at the core of the film’s backstory is that of Chase Andrews, played by Harris Dickinson. I won’t go too in-depth at the risk of spoiling anything for those of you who haven’t seen the movie or read the book, but he is a pivotal character. Dickinson was tasked with playing a tough role in terms of some of the scenes he is involved in, and he does a really nice job remaining believable even during some of the more intense moments. I really like Dickinson as an actor who was fantastic in the 2021 action thriller The King’s Man (our full review here), which you can now stream on HBO Max and Hulu.

Aside from Kya and Tate, I am fairly confident that any fan of the book would say that the next most important casting decision rested with two other pivotal characters, which would be Jumpin’ and Mabel. I fell in love with Jumpin’s character in the book right from the start, and in each chapter I looked forward to Kya’s next interaction with him. His wife Mabel followed his lead as the two became the beating heart of Kya’s support system. As a girl who was shunned and written off by nearly every other person in her life, she was forced into becoming independent and self-reliant. But even so, Jumpin’ and Mabel sacrificed a great deal to look out for and protect this little girl from the start. I was beyond nervous about who they would cast as Jumpin’, and I thought Sterling Macer Jr. was fantastic in the role. His intentional demeanor and sheer kindness came to life with Macer Jr.’s performance, and that put an ear-to-ear smile on my face. I am so glad he was given this opportunity and he is deserving of some praise because this movie does not work as well as it did without him.

Michael Hyatt, a great actress who is best known by me for her role in the FX series Snowfall, takes on the role of Mabel. Hyatt is known for playing strong roles, and I loved her as Mabel. Her relationship with Jumpin’ was a critical part of the book, and she had incredible chemistry with Macer Jr. in the film. Hyatt is one of those actresses that can say a lot without saying anything at all, she just gives you that look and you know exactly what she is trying to say. So yeah, I was very pleased with how two of my favorite characters were portrayed on-screen. I also really liked the decision to cast veteran actor David Strathairn as lawyer Tom Milton. In order for it to be believable that Kya would open up to a lawyer, it needed to be someone who had a welcoming presence and also someone that really seemed to fit within the world that Kya knew. Milton was a local man who had crossed paths with Kya before, and I thought he nailed his role. Logan Macrae played the role of Jodie Clark and he was incredible as well. Even though he didn’t get a ton of screen time, he was involved when it mattered and I was very impressed with him. He was another one of my favorite characters in the book. Rounding out the cast is Garret Dillahunt who was great as Pa, Jojo Regina and Luke David Blum who did a nice job as young Kya and Tate, Will Bundon who I really liked as young Jodie, Ahna O’Reilly as Ma, and lastly, Bill Kelly who I thought did a very nice job as Sheriff Jackson.

On the technical side of things, Where the Crawdads Sing genuinely impressed me. I’ve touched on it some already, but any book that translates to the big screen has a great deal of ground to cover. First, anyone who read the book is expecting a certain feel for the film, plus readers have already envisioned what the film should look like when appearing on-screen. With that being said, I honestly feel like they knocked it out of the park. Taylor Swift fans will be very pleased with her original song Carolina which she wrote and performed for the film. It is the perfect way to close out the film as it plays during the end credits.

The cinematography from the talented Polly Morgan really made me feel like I was right there with Kya digging mussels out of the marsh in North Carolina, and the score/soundtrack from Mychael Danna set the tone and no doubt helped to bring some tears down the faces of viewers. The weight of the more dramatic or even just more exciting scenes were felt thanks to the film’s soundtrack. The camera work helped to make the story feel more intimate which was great, with several unique and well-intentioned shots to really capture the feel of the book. Director Olivia Newman clearly bought into the vision and made it a reality. The books setting is almost entirely in the marsh and the film sticks with that continuity making for a gorgeous and very satisfying experience.

THE BAD

Believe it or not, I don’t have many things to complain about when it comes to Where the Crawdads Sing, but I guess that shouldn’t be too surprising if you have been paying attention to this review. With sky-high expectations thanks to a best-selling novel that has been devoured by book clubs all over the world, it was going to be a fine line turning it into a quality movie but they managed to do just that, and then some. Admittedly I was teetering a bit during the opening of the film as it sort of felt like they were going out of their way to kickstart the backstory by forcing some of the dialogue, but I soon realized that was necessary as they had to get to a good starting point as quick as possible to ensure the key elements of the story were included. The film did leave out a few key parts that I would have liked to have seen, but screenwriter Lucy Alibar found a way to effectively tell Kya’s story without making too long of a film.

And let’s be honest, the book club crowd isn’t surviving a movie longer than 2-hours, I mean all of that wine at home sure isn’t going to drink itself. And that’s not a diss, I love books and I also love wine. True story. The ending felt a bit rushed, but again it did touch on what made the book so great and gave me the emotional conclusion to the story I was looking for. Although Jumpin’ and Mabel are a big part of the film, I would have liked to have seen a bit more of their backstory that the book touches on especially since they are crucial to the story. I will say that the acting was a bit shaky during the younger years, primarily the actors playing young Kya and young Tate, but it wasn’t that big of a deal as they played a pretty small role all things considered. So yeah, not much else negative to report.

THE VERDICT

An immersive book-to-film adaptation boasting beautiful cinematography and captivating performances from leads Daisy Edgar-Jones and Taylor John Smith, Where the Crawdads Sing defies lofty expectations and delivers an entertaining story of love, loss, and incredible perseverance. Bringing to life the complex and inspirational story of the outcast known as the Marsh Girl, the film prioritized the source material from start to finish which was huge in terms of how well everything worked. I’m honestly confused by the criticism from the majority of so-called critics, but as far as I can tell most of them either haven’t read the book or just like to complain. I’ll admit that the film does feel like in many ways it caters to fans of the book, but as a film based on a hugely successful book, isn’t that sort of the point?

As I touched on earlier in the review, a 2-hour film can’t possibly include everything from the book and it was missing a few things I would have liked to have seen, but that is just par for the course. So many elements of the book that were left out would have required separate build-up easily adding 20 to 30 minutes to the film which is not feasible for the average moviegoer. But at the end of the day, the right decisions were made and the film works very well as is. If you haven’t read the book I HIGHLY recommend it, but you can absolutely see the movie before reading it. To be honest, going that route will not only make it so you can appreciate the movie that much more, but it will also allow you to really get sucked into the book. I had been looking forward to the release of Where the Crawdads Sing for quite some time, and it left me genuinely satisfied and wanting more. I can’t wait to see it again. Ignore the out-of-touch critics who can’t seem to get out of their own way and check this one out in theaters, you won’t regret it.

TED TAKES RATING - 8.3/10

Where the Crawdads Sing is now playing only in theaters. Check out the official trailer below.

Hustle

By: Andrew Wing

Hustle is a 2022 American sports drama film directed by Jeremiah Zagar (directed We the Animals back in 2018), from a screenplay by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters. The film stars Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore, Uncut Gems) as an NBA scout who discovers a raw but talented player (Juancho Hernangómez) in Spain and tries to prepare him for the NBA draft.

Current Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards plays the main antagonist, Kermit Wilts in the film, while Queen Latifah (Beauty Shop, Girls Trip), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, Leave No Trace), Robert Duvall (The Godfather, Kicking and Screaming), and Heidi Gardner (Saturday Night Live) also star. Icon and NBA superstar LeBron James acts as a producer through his SpringHill Company banner for the film as well.

Hustle was released by Netflix on June 8, 2022.

THE GOOD

For those who don’t know me, I am a huge basketball fan. I played all the way up throughout high school and I even coached a middle school basketball team at my former middle school this past winter, so when I saw there would be a sports drama film revolving around my favorite sport of basketball, I knew I couldn’t miss it! More than that, once I saw the trailer for Hustle and saw that not only one of my favorite actors Adam Sandler was leading the way, but that Juancho Hernangómez, a real NBA basketball player who played on my favorite sports team, the Boston Celtics, for a little bit last year, was starring alongside Sandler, I was so pumped for this! However, as much as I love Sandler, he has been in some pretty bad movies in the past ten years and there have also been some brutal sports drama films in the past decade, none worse than Draft Day, so I was still skeptical about it. So was it another garbage sports movie, or was it one of the better ones? Keep reading to find out!

It was the latter! Just like a film I recently reviewed in Chip‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers (see my full review here), you can go right ahead and chalk this one up as one of the biggest surprises of the year. This movie was just a good time from start to finish. Now like I previously mentioned, there have been some bad sports dramas in the past few years and despite my love for both sports and movies, I really am not the biggest sports movies guy just because of how many bad ones there have been. But this one was absolutely not that. It really was one of the better sports movies, and honestly one of the best basketball sports movies, and a big reason why is because this is first and foremost a character drama focused around Adam Sandler’s character, Stanley Sugerman, a scout and coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.

It’s rare to see a sports movie that doesn’t revolve around someone that wasn’t either a player or a head coach, but what they did worked here and that’s mainly because of the performance we got from the Sandman himself, Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler truly is unlike any other actor. The man is definitely known for his comedy because he has been cracking us up for nearly thirty years, but he has also proven time and time again that he can be a great, and I mean great dramatic actor too. You don’t believe me? Just go watch Punch-Drunk Love, The Meyerowitz Stories, and Uncut Gems. And even if you don’t take my advice and go watch those, you will believe me after watching this because he has done it again. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of funny moments, but he just killed it here in all of the dramatic moments. I would love to see him in either Grown Ups 3 or Hubie Halloween 2 because I’ll eat that slop up, but I really would encourage him to keep taking roles like these so he can continue to shut the haters up by showing what he is really capable of. I’ll stop there, but I just gotta say this in case he reads this, I love you, Adam Sandler, you are the man!

As good as Sandler’s performance was, and there is no denying that he carried this film, current Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards who plays the main antagonist, Kermit Wilts in the film, was freaking awesome in his first film role. Ever since Edwards got drafted into the NBA a few years ago as the top pick, not only has he got buckets, but he has shown in his media availability that he has an amazing personality and a hilarious sense of humor, so it makes sense that he was good in this. But still, the fact that he played this villain role as good as he did is unfathomable, and I might get some heat for this take, but he reminded me a lot of the Apollo Creed character in Rocky. For real though, his character was a complete a**hole and I hated him and it was because of how well he played this part.

Aside from the performances, Hustle had great writing from Taylor Materne and Will Fetters, and directing from Jeremiah Zagar. It takes a lot to make a sports drama film nowadays feel unique and all of those guys somehow did it. How? I’ll tell you. This movie really stood out to me because of its emotion, its characters, and just all of its dramatic elements. Those in charge just did a really good job at connecting with the audience and making you care about the characters and what was going on in the film. I genuinely cared about the main characters and this movie touched me emotionally. Seriously though, it almost had me tearing up at one point. I could go on, but I was just locked in from the start when it came to Hustle and that is all a credit to those that put it together.

As for some of the other small things that I liked about Hustle, I quickly get to touch on some of the other performances. It was great to see Robert Duvall in his small role because well, it’s Robert Duvall. I also really liked Queen Latifah in her role as Sandler’s character’s wife. I was also blown away by the kid performance we got from Jordan Hull as Alex, Stanley’s daughter. And if you know me, you knew this was coming, but I loved Ben Foster’s role in this too. Similar to Edwards’ character, Foster played just an absolute scumbag that you hated so much and that is all thanks to Foster’s acting chops. Lastly, the film was edited very nicely, especially all of the basketball scenes which is usually not the case when it comes to sports films. But it worked here because they got real basketball players and taught them how to act rather than doing the opposite.

THE BAD

Nobody can say this is a bad movie. Nobody. There is just too much to like here for anybody to hate on it. However, despite how much I enjoyed this movie, it still had an abundance of sports movies cliches, an unnecessary amount of inspirational quotes, montages that run way too long, and just a level of predictability that we have come to expect from all sports movies. That just comes with the territory at this point, but it really didn’t take away from the overall product too much.

One more small critique and I know I brought up how good Anthony Edwards was in his first film role, the same could not be said for all of the real NBA players we got in this, unfortunately. Juancho Hernangómez was fine, but some of the other smaller cameos were just bad. Call me biased here because as I already mentioned, I am a diehard Celtics fan, but all the performances we got from the real 76ers players didn’t do much and what f**k was Kyle Lowry doing in this? The dude literally said one word and I just rolled my eyes when I saw him on screen, but my hatred for Kyle Lowry (the basketball player) is a story for another day.

THE VERDICT

In what is Adam Sandler’s love letter to the game of basketball, Hustle is easily one of the better sports dramas of the past decade and it is just the feel-good film of all feel-good films. Sandler gave us yet another great dramatic performance and he continues to show that he should be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. Other than that, the LeBron James-produced film was unique and extremely emotional, and it also featured a fantastic performance from NBA player Anthony Edwards as the film’s antagonist.

If you are a basketball fan like me, you just need to watch this movie. It caters to fans as it has some fantastic nods to the NBA and the basketball world as a whole with awesome cameos from NBA players and reporters. Overall, this movie works and it is no doubt one of the surprises of the year!

TED TAKES RATING - 8.2/10

Hustle is now streaming only on Netflix. Check out the latest trailer below.

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is a 2022 superhero film directed by Taika Waititi, and co-written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The film is based on Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is a direct sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Filming took place entirely in Sydney, Australia. Waititi returns to the director’s chair after making his Marvel debut with 2017’s massive hit Thor: Ragnarok (our full review here). I will fully admit my allegiance as a Taika Waititi fanboy, but there is no denying the fact that he tapped into the greatness that is Chris Hemsworth as Thor by finally allowing the films to have the unique identity they have been missing.

Thor is on a journey unlike anything he's ever faced -- a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher, who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who -- to Thor's surprise -- inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher's vengeance and stop him before it's too late.

The cast includes Chris Hemsworth as Thor, alongside Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Taika Waititi, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, and Vin Diesel.

Thor: Love and Thunder made it’s debut in theaters on July 8th, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.

THE GOOD

I can’t even begin to explain how pumped I was to see Thor: Love and Thunder. To give you some perspective, once the first trailer released I knew right there and then, this was THE movie I needed to see in 2022. No matter what happened, I would be seeing it as soon as humanely possible. Like any red-blooded American, I love me some Chris Hemsworth and his Thor character. Like honestly, what’s not to love?! I mentioned briefly my admittedly unhealthy infatuation with the talented and always hilarious director/writer/actor Taika Waititi, and he was a big part of my excitement after what he did with Thor: Ragnarok, I mean he changed the game in my opinion and completely shifted the tone of the Thor franchise. So, with the anticipation building up to the point where I could barely breathe, and not to flex my VIP status or anything but I made my way to an early (and of course exclusive) showing for Thor: Love and Thunder, and I was so damn ready. Now we all know how dangerous it can be to have such high expectations for a film which was in the back of my mind, but as the previews concluded I grabbed a handful of popcorn and thought to myself, “It’s game time!!”. So, did Thor: Love and Thunder live up to my impossible expectations? Keep reading to find out!

Damnit Taika Waititi you sly sonuvabi**h, you’ve done it again! Move over John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, Hollywood has a new power couple! I’m talking about a collaborative work couple of course in Waititi and Chris Hemsworth. Let me just start by saying I was back and forth on whether I should do this review right away or not since I would be seeing the movie again soon, and I have been trying to gather my thoughts since seeing it. It is just such a difficult thing to have such high expectations, try and soak everything in as a fan, while also trying to remain critical. But, I decided I needed to give the people what they want so here we are! Also I am basically writing this review as I process my thoughts on the film, so bare with me just in case I come across as slightly scatterbrained.

So yeah to continue with my opening, I loved this movie! Thor: Love and Thunder doesn’t waste any time bringing back the infectiously entertaining feel of Thor: Ragnarok which is surely something fans will appreciate. I was locked in from start to finish, laughed out loud a ton, damn near stood up and danced with the epic soundtrack, and more than anything else I was just so damn excited to finally be seeing yet another Waititi Thor film. To be honest I just want everyone to see this movie ASAP so I can talk about all of my favorite parts without ruining anything. Just earlier I laughed out loud randomly while thinking about a scene from the movie and my wife looked at me like I had 6 heads. Just so many ridiculous scenes and great one-liners. What can I say, the struggle is real.

Considering Taika Waititi’s involvement in the director’s chair as well as co-writing the screenplay, we knew comedy would be a big focus. Thor: Ragnarok was a massive hit because of the comedic tone throughout and those expecting that to continue will not be disappointed. We do get a balance of serious and funny as far as the underlying themes of Thor: Love and Thunder, but I would say that comedy is still more prevalant even though it is a closer balance compared to Ragnarok. The film is driven by two primary storylines, the storyline involving Gorr the God Butcher which essentially involves everyone, and the storyline between Thor and ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster. Gorr is a fantastic bad guy and I loved the story arch for his character from start to finish, and in many ways he embodied the all-encompassing feeling of power similar to the late great Thanos (RIP).

Similar to Thanos, Gorr’s reasoning for his madness makes sense and is even relatable. This allows for a much more developed antagonist sure to get viewers invested. The Thor and Jane storyline is both serious and sad, but also very goofy and ridiculous. I mean Jane has always been sort of a soft spot for Thor, and they take full advantage of that with Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s the typical first love who got away scenario and you somehow come face to face with them and realize you haven’t even started getting over them. They even go as far as adding another layer of jealousy between Thor’s new and improved Stormbreaker hammer, and his other old flame the original Thor hammer. In many ways the screenplay is corny for this reason, but at the end of the day love is corny, right? I mean that’s why my wife watches the stupid Hallmark channel for hours on end as soon as Christmas is 60 days away or less.

Clearly we have to talk about the incredible cast involved with Thor: Love and Thunder, which is just loaded with talent from top to bottom. It of course starts with the man himself, Chris Hemsworth. It’s honestly hard to talk about this guy without gushing about him, but I will do my very best. He is without question the best casting decision for the MCU in terms of the overall success of his respective films alongside Chris Evans as Captain America. With only 47 acting credits to his resume, which somehow seems low, Hemsworth made his big-screen debut in Star Trek (2009). He would land the role of Thor soon after which would serve as what would ignite his amazing career. Soon after the debut of Thor in 2011, he would star in The Cabin in the Woods (2011), which is severely underrated, three movies in 2012 including The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsmen, and Red Dawn, and would go on to become a staple in just about every Marvel film that could justify an appearance from the great Thor, as well as a few comedic roles including a supporting role in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot.

It is extremely difficult to picture Hemsworth as anything other than Thor at this point, but he was great in a few intense military thrillers including 12 Strong and the Netflix original film Extraction. Bottom line, he has become one of my favorite actors and what Taika Waititi did with his character in Thor: Ragnarok was next level genius. I remember reading interviews with Waititi prior to Ragnarok releasing who kept saying how funny Hemsworth was and that his comedic talents were being wasted. Well, those days are gone. The new and improved Thor is pure delight on screen, and I loved his character in Thor: Love and Thunder. I could talk about the infamous naked scene but you’ve all seen the trailers, plus I don’t want to start sweating considering I just took a shower. I’m kidding of course, sort of.

Next I just need to talk about my longtime obsession with the gorgeous actress Natalie Portman. In a weird way I always related to Thor’s obsession with her, she is just that girl next door and the definition of wholesome. From her breakout role way back in 1994 as Mathilda in the incredible crime thriller Léon: The Professional, she has been a favorite of mine. If you haven’t seen that movie, you need to. It is currently streaming on Netflix and Hulu, so you have no excuse not to watch it. You can thank me later. That was just the start for an illustrious career as she played in Heat (1995), Zoolander (2001), Garden State (2004), The Black Swan (2010), and her debut as Jane Foster in the original Thor (2011). Born Natalie Hershlag on June 9th, 1981, she was the first actress born in the 80’s to win an Academy Award as she took home Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Black Swan. She was next-level good in that movie which to be honest was a bit too much of a psychological mindfu*k for my taste. As versatile as she is beautiful, Natalie Portman has always been a memorable actress and I was thrilled to find out that she would pay a prominent part in Thor: Love and Thunder. Not only is she just perfect in this role, she is a big reason why the film works so well because of her chemistry with Hemsworth. She is also just a great actress in general so the more dramatic scenes were no problem at all for her.

The other primary roles belong to Taika Waititi himself as Korg, Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, and Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie. Korg, probably my favorite character in Thor: Ragnarok, was amazing once again and I just cannot get enough of Waititi’s New Zealand accent, it just cracks me up every time. He is Thor’s right hand man here and is along for the entire ride for Thor: Love and Thunder which made me so, so happy. I am still waiting on either a spin-off film or a Disney+ series featuring Korg, so they better get on it! Christian Bale taking on the role of Gorr was pure genius. I remember when the trailer released giving us our first look at Bale, and I was on Cloud 9. Like here is this upper-echelon acting talent taking on a big role in one of my most anticipated movies of the year. I was just beside myself, and he CRUSHED it. Bale was almost unrecognizable and honestly had some The Machinest vibes, and so much of his character relied on facial expressions and mannerisms, and he was without a doubt the man for the job. He was pure nightmare fuel, and his performance was just fantastic and a big reason why the overall story of the film held so much weight. Thompson picked right up where she left off in Thor: Ragnarok, and was great yet again. She has this sort of cocky attitude that she clearly adopted from Thor, and it just works for her.

As far as the rest of the cast, the supporting talent was amazing as well. I won’t give away the names of a few familiar faces that will have fans excited, but Russell Crowe was awesome as Zeus. Even though Zeus and Thor are both mighty Gods, the two couldn’t be more different. Thor looks like he could walk on to a starting NFL roster, while Zeus looks like he just took on Joey Chestnut in a buffet eating competition. Okay admittedly that is a little harsh as Crowe doesn’t look that bad, but he was great in this role and surprisingly funny. His back and forth banter with Hemsworth was a highlight of the film, and something I honestly did not expect. Hemsworth comes across as funny in a very effortless way, and somehow Crowe channeled that and did the same. Overall kudos to him making an impact on Thor: Love and Thunder to the point where he definitely left a lasting impression on me.

From a technical standpoint Thor: Love and Thunder leaves no stone unturned as expected. The action sequences are over-the-top and aplenty, and it is made clear from the start that the film will not be taking itself too seriously, not even for a second. The CGI is fantastic but is also pretty cheesy at times which is definitely by design. After the films opening sequence you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect going forward, and I personally thought the decisions they made worked in terms of the feel and the tone of the film. I mean, at one point Thor decides to ride on his Stormbreaker (his fancy new axe) like he is Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus 2. Just process that for a second and you’ll have a pretty good idea as far as what to expect with Thor: Love and Thunder. And don’t get me wrong, it was glorious. I loved the attention to detail and the cinematography, as well as it balanced tons of color and a colorless black and white theme that was very Sin City/300-esque towards the end of the film. The only thing we were missing was a Gerard Butler appearance. Lastly, I haven’t experienced goats that added as much to a film since Black Phillip from the 2016 horror film, The Witch. Even though they scream quite a lot, you can rest assured the goats in Thor: Love and Thunder, who were absolutely hilarious, are not disciples of Satan himself.

I have to talk about the soundtrack for this movie, because it is just amazing in every conceivable way. Now I am someone who can appreciate a wide range of music mainly because ultimately I ignore genre, if I like the sound of something, I will give it a chance. This dates back to my middle school days in the late 90’s where I could be jamming out to DMX Ruff Ryder’s Anthem right before I left the house for the bus stop, and the next thing you know I am all fired up because Backstreet Boys Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) is playing on the radio. I mean talk about the confusing days of your formidable years. Also, I had a teacher who would play Enya on test days because she said it would help us focus, and guess what, she was right! I would continue this trend through my college years and just crush hours of homework listening to the Enya greatest hits album. So as soon as Thor: Love and Thunder opened with Enya Only Time with Thor wearing the most ridiculous robe you’ve ever seen, I immediately thought to myself, “Let’s fu#king go!!”. I knew the soundtrack was going to be amazing, but what a start. From there we get a welcomed extra helping of Guns N’ Roses, as well as a little Mary J. Blige, and even some Ciara. Bottom line, this soundtrack is already on my listening queue.

The visuals, which are admittedly pretty damn ridiculous more often than not, are just so much fun. I can’t even begin to describe some of the earlier enemies that Thor makes quick work of, but they looked like something you might start seeing if you ate the wrong mushrooms while hiking. You get what I’m saying. It just speaks to the creativity of Waititi if you ask me, and also stays in line with the wonkiness of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, at least early on. I really liked the craziness and just tried to take it all in. I doubt you are going into this movie expecting dark and gritty, because if you are, you will be disappointed. Not to say it doesn’t have a gritty feel at times, particularly during the scenes with Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. They did a great job making him seem super creepy and a worthy foe for Thor or any other God brave enough to get in his way.

In closing, Thor: Love and Thunder satisfied my insatiable appetite for all things Taika Waititi and Marvel. It was action-packed, hilarious, serious enough at times, and driven by an impactful backstory. The cast couldn’t have been better, and the technical elements of the film left very little to be desired. To be honest I am still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I actually watched Thor: Love and Thunder, mainly because it feels like I have been excited for it for so long. Reuniting Thor and Jane Foster was just genius if you ask me, and allowed the film the chance to focus more on Thor as more than just this God/superhero. All of the pieces of the puzzle just seemed to fit together and left me as a big fan of Marvel and the Thor movies, more than satisfied.

THE BAD

Okay so now for the critical part I mentioned briefly earlier. Part of the reason why I was back and forth on doing this review right away was the simple fact that I went in expecting another Thor: Ragnarok, and that just isn’t necessarily what I got. Now I am not saying that as a bad thing, but not only was it a high bar, it was also Taika Waititi’s first opportunity to delve into the Thor character and he went all out. Although as a viewer I wanted more of everything that I loved about Ragnarok, he was determined to give us something with a bit more substance. For that reason in ways Thor: Love and Thunder feels like the little brother of Thor: Ragnarok in terms of the overall scale as well as what I considered to be non-stop humor, but the more I think about it the more I appreciate what they did. I am talking about this in the bad section to prepare you as the viewer in terms of the differences between the two films.

Thor: Love and Thunder almost feels like the origin story of the character in comparison, because in many ways it is. The film puts a great deal of focus on how Thor and Jane Foster came to be, and that requires some buildup. Plus the comedy is a bit more spread out in comparison to Ragnarok, which again I wouldn’t necessarily say is a bad thing, just something to consider. I also feel confident that taking the time to really reintroduce Thor to viewers, we are setup for some great follow-up film potential. Plus even though I was more than okay with it the film can be very goofy at times, which could rub some viewers the wrong way.

THE VERDICT

A cast stacked with talent including a great new villain in Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher and one of the hardest hitting soundtracks in recent memory, Thor: Love and Thunder proves yet again that Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth are a force to be reckoned with. This movie was a blast to watch, and just seeing Thor and Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster back together again was worth the price of admission in itself. Even with my lofty and seemingly unreachable expectations, I left the theater with a big smile on my face. And as I thought about the film last night and today while writing this review, I honestly can’t wait to see it again tomorrow and I am positive I will appreciate it even more. I talked about why viewers expected Thor: Raganarok 2.0 may find themselves slightly disappointed, but this is just a different film as far as the overall feel trajectory of the backstory. Thor: Love and Thunder still packs a hefty comedic punch but also has a great deal of substance, and may even cause you to push out a tear or two, so just be prepared for anything. The pacing is great and the just under 2-hour runtime will absolutely fly by, and you will be staring at the end credits before you know it.

Bottom line, Thor: Love and Thunder is a cinematic treat and something I recommend seeing sooner than later. Also be sure to stick around for the two post-credit scenes, you don’t want to miss them. As a fan I am giddy and cannot wait for what’s coming next.

UPDATE: I went to see the movie a second time, and I am pleased to say that I enjoyed it that much more. Do yourself a favor and ignore the pessimistic people who prefer to complain about literally everything, you will be better for it. #teamthorloveandthunder #teamtaikawaititi #gettothetheater

TED TAKES RATING - 8.9/10

Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Minions: The Rise of Gru

Minions: The Rise of Gru is a 2022 animated comedy from directors Kyle Balba and Brad Abelson, from a screenplay by Brian Lynch and Matthew Fogel, based on characters from Cinco Paul. In the same Despicable Me universe, the film is a direct sequel to the 2015 spin-off Minions.

In the heart of the 1970s, amid a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans, Gru is growing up in the suburbs. A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them. Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making backup from his loyal followers, the Minions. Together, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto--a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please--deploy their skills as they and Gru build their first lair, experiment with their first weapons and pull off their first missions.

The cast includes Steve Carell as Gru, Pierre Coffin as the Minions, along with Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, and Alan Arkin.

Minions: The Rise of Gru made it’s debut only in theaters on July 1st, courtesy of Illumination.

THE GOOD

I feel like the Despicable Me films have been around forever, which is sort of true considering the debut film released 12-years ago, almost to the day way back in July of 2010. With adorable animation and a stacked cast of voice actors lead by Steve Carell, success was inevitable. I loved the first film and even purchased the 3D Blu-ray when it came out. The oblivious little yellow weirdos known as minions quickly became a fan favorite, so it is no suprise that after the 2rd Despicable Me film released in 2013, they would turn back the clock and give us a glimpse of how these guys came to be with the 2015 film, Minions.

An origin story to try and explain how these guys became so obsessed with serving the ultimate super-villain, I personally enjoyed the first film and felt like it served as a great setup for the inevitable sequel. So now 7-years later we have Minions: The Rise of Gru which aims to real-acclimate audiences with Carell’s iconic character. Was it a great addition to this successful franchise or just another pointless sequel? Keep reading to find out!

I really enjoyed this movie! Minions: The Rise of Gru is simply a fun time at the movie theater for the entire family. When you are looking for an animated film that effectively appeals to adults and younger audiences alike, look no further! The animation is incredible as expected, the screenplay is a seamless continuation of the first Minions movie while also expanding on the Despicable Me films, the comedy is wholesome and aplenty, and everything is neatly tied in a hour and 30 minute package to help parents out. I was personally smiling from ear to ear the entire time, and my 3-year old literally never took his eyes off the screen which is probably why he was covered in honey mustard by the end of the movie.

I laughed out loud a ton, and at times even looked around to make sure I wasn’t the only one. I mean a minion thinking that going across country on a big wheel was a good idea is just comedy gold. It just felt like such a genuinely fun film that deserved to be made, and never for a second overstayed it’s welcome. We often complain about sequels but I felt like the origin story of Gru was necessary, and if anything it made me that much more of a fan of the Despicable Me films.

It should come as no real surprise that the voice acting in Minions: The Rise of Gru was fantastic. You have Steve Carell leading the way once again as Gru, and he is just so, sooooooo good with this character. Carell has the voice of Gru down to a science to the point where I bet he talks like Gru in his sleep. Pierre Coffin crushes it as the Minions yet again. One of these days I will understand what the heck those little guys are saying. Taraji P. Henson is a welcome addition as Belle Bottoms. Russell Brand, who was a favorite of mine in the first Despicable Me as Dr. Nefario makes his return and is a welcomed addition once again.

The great Michelle Yeoh is given a golden opportunity as Master Chow which she of course knocks out of the park. One of my favorite voice actors outside of Carell is without a doubt my guy Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean-Clawed. I mean aside from the incredibly creative name, he is amazing in this. The ageless Alan Arkin is great as Wild Knuckles., Dolph Lundgren tears it up as Svengeance, and old Danny Trejo takes on and owns the role of Stronghold. Even the very small roles are voiced by some incredible comedic talent including Jimmy O. Yang, Lucy Lawless, Steve Coogan, RZA, Will Arnett, and Kevin Michael Richardson. I mean, is that a stacked cast of voice actors or what?! Just stellar from top to bottom.

I really liked all of the extra sort of fan service elements of the film as well, including a fun reference to the primary antagonist from the first Despicable Me film, as well as a fun shoutout to Sandra Bullock’s Scarlett Overkill character from the first Minions film. You could tell that the writing team was determined to get the most out of Minions: The Rise of Gru, and I felt like they did just that. Fans were given reason after reason to go back and re-watch the earlier films, and once you left the theater you still wanted more.

For me that is the sign of a truly effective sequel or prequel film, and everything just came together nicely. I won’t get too in-depth on the technical side of things mainly because people know what to expect when it comes to a Illumination film, but Minions: The Rise of Gru looks incredible. The animation is pure eye-candy, and they took full advantage of it with all of the awesome action sequences. I also really loved the music for the film from talented composer Heitor Pereira, who also did the music for last years 2021 Paw Patrol: The Movie (just don’t tell my son).

THE BAD

Minions: The Rise of Gru isn’t perfect, but the final product brings much more good to the table than it does bad. Feedback for the follow-up to the 2015 Minions film has been better for several reasons. First, an origin story tends to feel a little slow no matter what you do, and when you add in a bunch of main characters that just speak gibberish for an hour and a half, it can be easy to lose audiences. Luckily even though Minions: The Rise of Gru is technically an origin story, the foundation has already been set for the main character giving the writing team plenty to work with.

With that being said, even though the writing was a positive for the film, it was a bit limiting as they seemed to play it safe for the most part. I felt like we were missing that new character that jumped off the screen and could maybe have ignited another spin-off film. I also felt like we didn’t get as many action sequences as I was expecting, which is too bad considering how great the film looked. I do feel like they may have held back for what will likely be another film for the franchise. But beyond those minor complaints, Minions: The Rise of Gru did what I wanted to do which is why I was very pleased with the film.

THE VERDICT

An energetic and good-hearted sequel packed with laughs and the top-tier animation we’ve come to expect from the talented crew at Illumination, Minions: The Rise of Gru is a ton of fun and kept my 3-year old glued to the screen right up until the end credits. Summer movie season is about the big blockbusters first and foremost, but it is also about the films that we can take the miniature versions of ourselves to go see. This is the 4th film I have taken my son who turns 4 at the end of the year to see, and as someone who sees the majority of movies solo I can’t even begin to explain how much it means to be able to share the love of cinema with him. To say that I am a proud dad would be an understatement.

Parents crave kid-friendly flicks that clock in at an hour and a half give or take, and find a way to appeal to them while also keeping the kids locked in. Minions: The Rise of Gru gets the job done and then some, which is why I can in good conscience recommend that you pack the kids into the minivan and head to the theater. My son and I are looking forward to a second viewing, and hope they decide to do a follow-up film.

TED TAKES RATING - 7.9/10

Minions: The Rise of Gru is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

The Tender Bar

The Tender Bar is a 2021 coming-of-age drama film directed by Academy Award® Winner George Clooney, and written by Academy Award® Winner William Monahan, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning author J.R. Moehringer's memoir.

It tells the story of J.R., a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — J.R. begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams — with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.

Starring Academy Award® Winner Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Christopher Lloyd, and Lily Rabe.

The Tender Bar made its debut in select theaters on December 17th, 2021, and on Prime Video on January 7th, 2022.

THE GOOD

If you know me, you know I LOVE me a good coming-of-age film. I mean, if it has coming-of-age in the synopsis, I will give it a watch. I actually spend substantial amounts of time researching the best coming-of-age books to be turned into movies just so I can read the book and then watch the movie. I wish I was kidding. So this brings me to my review at hand, which is on The Tender Bar, a drama film with a sprinkling of comedy based on J.R. Moehringer's memoir. Did it scratch my coming-of-age itch or was it just another forgettable run-of-the-mill drama? Keep reading to find out!

I really enjoyed The Tender Bar from start to finish and felt like the film itself did a fantastic job translating J.R. Moehringer's memoir to the screen. The film had heart and told a story that mattered as we watched this extremely intelligent kid grow up without a father. Instead of letting that be the excuse for why he never did anything with his life he gravitated towards his uncle who provided guidance that would shape him into the man he would become. I really loved the sense of family and community within the bar which to me showed how important human connection is and the fact that sometimes people who are not blood relatives can still become family.

The combination of the screenplay and the acting was the primary reason why The Tender Bar worked so well, with the casting decisions being paramount to it’s success. I am a huge fan of Ben Affleck for obvious reasons, but I have liked Tye Sheridan as an actor ever since he broke out in the indie coming-of-age drama Mud back in 2012. If you have yet to see it, I highly recommend checking it out. Sheridan takes on the titular role of JR, with Affleck playing Uncle Charlie. The chemistry between the two carried the film in my opinion, and Uncle Charlie’s no BS and down to earth personality was infectious.

The bond he shared with the men at the bar will make you wish you had better friends, or at least genuine friends like they had back in the day. These men also acted as extended Uncle’s to JR in a way as he spent so much time with them. I really liked Lily Rabe and thought she delivered a very convincing role. Daniel Ranieri was fantastic as younger JR and definitely made an impression. Plus who doesn’t love Christopher Lloyd, who was fantastic in a supporting role as JR’s no nonsense grandfather.

The Tender Bar may not light the world on fire with it’s technical elements but I still thought we had plenty to love here. The ability to get viewers into the time period is huge for a film like this to work, and I thought they did a fantastic job with that. George Clooney did a heck of a job behind the camera, serving up a ton of purposeful shots that resonated with viewers. I thought cinematographer Martin Ruhe did a really nice job as well bringing early 70’s Long Island to life. The bar called The Dickens, a play on words for author Charles Dickens, felt like the sort of place you wanted to spend all of your time. I mean sure it would likely mean you were an alcoholic, but still definitely worth it. And the early 70’s era cars parked out front, what a time to be alive. Dara Taylor did a really nice job to round things out with a great soundtrack as well.

THE BAD

The Tender Bar is a great all-around film but it’s not without its fair share of flaws. The good undoubtedly outweighs the bad, but it still suffers from some of the same issues we get when a book translates to the screen. Because this is based on an autobiography, at times things feel like they are dragging a bit more than they should, or perhaps they decided to include certain things and leave others out that hurt the overall impact of the film in the end. But like I said none of these issues deliver crushing blows to the final product, just worth pointing out.

THE VERDICT

A sweet and authentic coming-of-age story that explores the complicated social class hierarchy in a unique and constructive way, The Tender Bar is equal parts enjoyable and introspective and is absolutely worth a watch. As I talked about in the review I very much enjoyed this film, and not just because I am a sucker for a good coming-of-age movie. I loved the time period as well which was the icing on the cake for me, and Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan have an unmatched chemistry on-screen. While it’s not perfect and does suffer from pacing issues at times, it is a still a film director George Clooney can be proud of and one I absolutely recommend checking out.

TED TAKES RATING - 8.2/10

The Tender Bar is now streaming on Prime Video Check out the latest trailer below.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

By: Andrew Wing

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a 2022 British sex comedy-drama film directed by Sophie Hyde (also directed 52 Tuesdays and Animals) and written by Katy Brand (known for her ITV2 series Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show and for Comedy Lab Slap on Channel 4). The film stars Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Stranger than Fiction) and Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders, Pixie).

The film follows Nancy Stokes (Thompson), a retired school teacher who is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. And she has a plan, which involves hiring a young sex worker named Leo Grande (McCormack).

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2022, and was theatrically released on June 17, 2022, in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate, and digitally in the United States by Searchlight Pictures as a Hulu original film.

THE GOOD

I consider myself to be someone who has pretty good knowledge when it comes to movies that are coming out, but if you had asked me a couple of months ago about this film, I wouldn’t have known anything at all about it. It wasn’t until I saw it on someone’s list of their favorite movies from the first half of 2022 that I became interested in this movie with a very unique title. So I did some digging, saw that it premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was most people’s favorite film right up there with Cha Cha Real Smooth (see my full review here) from Sundance. And then, by the grace of the good Lord himself, I was watching something on Hulu, and I saw it right on their home screen under the “Just Added” catalog, and I was thrilled! You bet your a** I watched it the first thing I could, but was it really as good as some people are saying it is? Keep reading to find out!

I won’t keep you waiting, it was. I don’t know what it is with this year’s films from Sundance, but I’m just eating them right up, because this, like Cha Cha Real Smooth, is definitely one of my favorites of 2022 thus far. It’s a film about a woman who two years after her husband passes away hires a sex worker to try things she has never experienced, and this woman, Nancy Stokes, who is played by Emma Thompson, is the last person in the world you’d expect to be doing this, and that’s what makes the movie fun.

The director of Good Luck to You, Leo Grande was Sophie Hyde, a woman I’d never heard of before. Despite that, Hyde gave us what really feels like an instant classic when it comes to this sex comedy genre of film. Maybe that’s a big statement to make, but all of her directorial choices were flawless here, somehow making every moment feel different despite the majority of the film taking place in a hotel room. And because of that, she was able to make a very enjoyable film that also sends a message that there’s nothing wrong with working in this industry and that we as a public shouldn’t be quick to judge how someone makes a living.

So yeah, Sophie Hyde nailed it as director, but Katy Brand gave us what will without a doubt be one of the best original screenplays of this year. The movie is almost like a play due to Brand’s dialogue-heavy script that takes place in one location, and while usually that might be boring, it was quite the opposite with Brand at the helm. I loved everything about her script. It was funny as there were a handful of jokes, but the best parts of the script were when the two people, Nancy and Leo, got to know each other. A lot of the movie was just a showcase for the writing and the poppy dialogue I’ve mentioned. The characters were always finding something new to talk about and that gave the movie this very fresh feel which I greatly appreciated.

Now onto the entree of the full course meal that was Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and that were the performances we got from the two leads. First with the Academy-Award-winning actress Emma Thompson because she was amazing. At the start of the film, her character, someone who has never done anything like this before, is pretty prudish and very shy about sex in general, and Thompson made us fully believe everything she was selling. Her performance allowed us as viewers to see that not only did she feel this unadventurous about sex, but her life in general. Her performance was basically perfect here. She really elevates every line of dialogue and she was super funny too. I don’t know, I’ll say it again but I just really bought her character and everything that came with her from her nerves to her insecurities. It’s far-fetched just with this basically being an indie film, but I don’t see why she couldn’t be in the discussion for Best Actress. I mean she’s on camera for over 90% of the movie and trust me when I say we’ve seen actresses win in the past despite having smaller impacts on the film as a whole.

I can’t believe I’m saying this because we are talking about one of the top-tier actresses of the past thirty years in Emma Thompson, but Daryl McCormack gave us an equally as good if not better performance. He and Thompson had really good and unlikely chemistry together. His character, Leo Grande, is at first extremely charming and McCormack had no problem doing that because well, he's charming himself and just an attractive-looking guy. However, as the film goes on we come to learn that his character has something he needs to open up about as well and we got to know him a little bit better. We got so many great scenes from McCormack, and he really shines in the third act of the film as we see him become deeply emotional for a good chunk. Seeing that he had a role in Peaky Blinders makes me want to start that even more so than I did before seeing this, and I really can’t wait to see what McCormack does next because I feel like we got ourselves a star in the making.

There really isn’t much more to address other than the direction, writing, and the two lead performances, but I’ll just say without spoiling that the end of this film was marvelous. Being a sex-comedy drama, I thought they had played it safe for a good chunk, but they went there and I’m glad that they did. All in all, there was just a lot to take away from this movie, and it’s a movie that might make you come out wanting to try something new in life, and that doesn’t mean in the bathroom necessarily.

THE BAD

I had a blast with this film if you couldn’t tell. That said, there were some small areas where I knocked some points off. First, there’s a reason I review films and don’t make them because trying to have your film give this underlying message without being over the top has to be incredibly difficult. That said, I am a critic so I will critique, and I know I said I liked the film’s message overall, there were some exchanges about sex work that just felt like those in charge were explicitly stating what they feel should be the right attitude society should have towards it. And I’m not saying I disagree with the envelope they were pushing and it did come up organically for the most part, but it still was just too on the nose at times and I think they should’ve just trusted the audience to come up with that way of thinking on their own rather than force-feeding it to them.

Continuing with that, I’ll just give you a warning, but if you don’t agree with the movie’s message about sex work and all that jazz before going in, maybe this isn’t for you, but I would still urge you to give it a shot. You never know, you may come away with a new outlook on that industry and everyone involved in it.

THE VERDICT

From director Sophie Hyde and writer Katy Brand, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a British sex comedy-drama film that features some unbelievable performances from the award-winning Emma Thompson and newcomer Daryl McCormack.

It’s a great comedy-drama as we get a perfect amount of both of those things, and it’s just a really enjoyable, charming movie with a beautiful message! I highly recommend checking it out!

TED TAKES RATING - 8.4/10

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is now streaming exclusively on Hulu. Check out the latest trailer below.

Blue Bayou

By: Andrew Wing

Blue Bayou is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Justin Chon (also directed Gook and Ms. Purple). The film stars Chon (The Twilight Saga, 21 & Over), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Danish Girl), Mark O’Brien (Ready or Not), Linh Dan Pham (Ninja Assassin), Sydney Kowalske, Vondie Curtis-Hall (Chicago Hope, Daredevil) and Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines, Brooklyn).

Inspired by true events, the film tells a moving and timely story that follows a uniquely American family fighting for their future. Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), a Korean adoptee raised in a small town in the Louisiana bayou, is married to the love of his life Kathy (Vikander), and stepdad to their beloved daughter Jessie (Kowalske). Struggling to make a better life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past when he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.

Blue Bayou had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 13, 2021, and was released in the United States on September 17, 2021, by Focus Features.

THE GOOD

I know I said a couple of months back that I was done reviewing films that were released last year, but there have just been a couple of films from 2021 that have taken what feels like years to get to streaming. For example, take a review I did last week in The Card Counter (see my full review here), another film that was distributed by Focus Features that just didn’t make it to any theaters in Maine that were near me. With Blue Bayou, I have been eagerly awaiting to check this out and review it ever since it premiered at Cannes almost a full year ago. I didn’t know much about Justin Chon going in, but I absolutely love Alicia Vikander in everything she is in, and I was also excited to see a film like this that dives deeper into a very serious problem in our country that doesn’t get enough attention when it comes to the number of adopted people that face deportation. That said, was this film worth the long wait, and did its intriguing premise make for an overall solid film? Keep reading to find out!

As I said earlier, I didn’t know much about Justin Chon going into this movie. He’s an indie filmmaker, but what little I know of him is more from his early acting days in the early 2010s. All that said, I will surely not forget Justin Chon after seeing this, that is for damn sure. First of all, he directed the shit out of this. From the film’s unique aspect ratio he decided on, to the long takes, to some of the other decisions he made, this was just some great direction from the young Chon and I am anxious for what he will put out next because he clearly knows how to make a very empathetic film. Also, he wrote an incredible screenplay here that contains a sort of call to action about both immigration and the United States Justice System. More than that, the script was so good that he was able to do both that and also find an identity as a character study for Chon’s character in the film, Antonio LeBlanc.

His character is a guy who has had a very rough past from growing up in a number of foster homes, to getting adopted by an abusive family, to having criminal activity stealing bikes. He is grappling with how he should carry forward and move on to become a better person, and Chon just gave us an amazing performance. There’s really no other way to put it. You really felt like this was all happening, and when the conflict of him potentially being deported arises in the film, Chon’s performance gets even better as we see his tensions go to another level and also see his relationship with Alicia Vikander’s character and her daughter start to rapidly change. All in all, I’m shocked that Chon didn’t get more buzz when it came to getting a Best Actor nomination last year because he was playing a character that doesn’t always make the right choices, but he still made us root for him as we saw that he was trying his best thanks to Chon’s dedication and that is worthy of some awards consideration, no doubt.

Justin Chon’s performance was excellent, but Alicia Vikander might’ve had the best as she was extremely good as Antonio’s girlfriend, Kathy, who is just trying to keep their family together. Both of their performances were very heavy, there were lots of heightened emotions at play, and their chemistry was off the charts. In those more dramatic scenes though, Vikander absolutely crushed it, and while writing this, I can think of at least five scenes off the top of my head that could’ve been used for her “Oscar clip” had she been nominated. Similar to Chon, I don’t know how she didn’t even get talked about, because I’d put her performance in this right up with her Academy-Award winning performance she gave in Tom Hooper’s 2015 romantic drama, The Danish Girl.

Aside from those big things, there was still a lot to like about Blue Bayou. For starters, I absolutely loved the cinematography in this movie. It was shot on 16 mm and it gives it a very homemade feel. There were also a lot of scenes that used natural lighting really beautifully. Also, I was blown away by the young Sydney Kowalske’s performance as the little girl Jessie, and I also enjoyed Mark O’Brien’s performance mainly because of his solid southern accent. In conclusion, the movie had a really strong resonant message about choosing your family and choosing to give yourself to others and they hit the political message they were going for right out of the park if you ask me. Don’t believe me? Just wait until you see the very emotional ending that provided a massive gut punch and almost moved me to tears.

THE BAD

There is no denying that this is a quality film. However, I did have a few complaints about the film. One is that it is definitely a little melodramatic, but the bigger one is that it is just really heavy-handed. Yes, the performances are great and the film deals with a heavy subject matter, but there are just some moments where the movie was a little too direct in its messaging I thought. Also, in some of the more dramatic moments, the music sort of swells as it is really really loud, and I just thought that was all a little bit too much.

The heavy-handedness I brought up definitely played a big part in the second half of the film, and I don’t know, I also just felt like the movie got a tad lost in some of the side conflicts because I really thought the central story of a man trying to keep his family together was good enough. One of those side conflicts dealt with the clear antagonist that was Emory Cohen’s asshole police officer character. Cohen had a solid performance, but I just didn’t think we needed that subplot there because the film as a whole already had its big antagonist, that being the U.S. immigration system as a whole.

THE VERDICT

Written, directed, and starring Justin Chon, Blue Bayou is an incredibly moving, well-acted story of a Korean man, Antonio LeBlanc, who was adopted and raised in a small town in the Louisiana bayou but is facing deportation from the only country he has ever called home.

I’m still shocked how this film didn’t get enough love when it came to last year’s awards season because it had great performances, especially from Alicia Vikander, powerful messaging, and just how it was able to hit you right in the feels. That’s in the past though, so if you want to give this film the love and notoriety it so rightfully deserves, go check it out now on the HBO Max streaming service!

TED TAKES RATING - 7.9/10

Blue Bayou is now streaming only on HBO Max. Check out the latest trailer below.

The Black Phone

The Black Phone is a 2022 horror thriller directed by Scott Derrickson and produced by Jason Blum. Written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, it is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill, the son of famed horror author Stephen King. The Black Phone had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 25th, 2021.

Just for some quick background on director Scott Derrickson, the guy is already a fixture in the film industry after his debut film The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Sinister (2012), and a dabbling with the behemoth that is Marvel as he directed Doctor Strange (2016). Derrickson has proven that even though he is flexible as an artist, he undoubtedly feels most comfortable with the horror genre.

Finney, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer's previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn't happen to Finney.

The cast includes Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, and Jeremy Davies.

The Black Phone made it’s debut only in theaters on June 24th, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

THE GOOD

I feel like it’s been years since the first trailer for The Black Phone released, and to say that I was excited would be a severe understatement. I am a horror fan through and through, and I love my guy Ethan Hawke so this had the makings of a day one viewing for me no matter what if I’m being honest. Now as we all know quality horror films tend to be a dime a dozen, but with director Scott Dickinson at the helm and Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures backing the project, something told me we may have something special on our hands. I waited, and waited, and waited (I hate you COVID!!), until this film finally made it’s debut in theaters with anticipation like you wouldn’t believe. So, did The Black Phone live up to my clearly unrealistic and admittedly unhealthy expectations?! Keep reading to find out!

Please excuse my language, but The Black Phone was fucking FANTASTIC! I promise you the profanity was necessary just to express my deep appreciation for this film, which I will do my best to discuss more in depth during this review (with less profanity, hopefully). The new and improved opening sequence for Blumhouse Productions is absolute fire, and kicks things off for one hell of an achievement in quality filmmaking. The Black Phone appealed to my strong appreciation for a variety of genres mainly because it effectively weaves the feel of top-tier horror and intense crime thriller seamlessly. For obvious reasons the overall effectiveness of the film hinged on the films primary antagonist, and the way that they set the stage for the feared child killer, known as The Grabber, was nothing short of amazing. I won’t give anything away but they take the very effective less is more approach as we are given just subtle glimpses of the man terrifying this small town and leaving detectives with no leads whatsoever. The overall feel of the film, the screenplay, the acting, it was all so ambitious yet so well-executed. Keep reading to find out more about why I loved The Black Phone so much as I touch on some of the finer points of the film.

The jumping off point that began the chain reaction resulting in the amazing film that is The Black Phone was undoubtedly the screenplay. Director Scott Derrickson co-wrote the screenplay along with his creative partner C. Robert Cargill. The two previously collaborated on Sinister (2012), Sinister 2 (2015), and Doctor Strange (2016). They have a fantastic working relationship which is proven yet again as they bring this immersive and terrifying film to life. But as I touched on briefly in the introduction, it all starts with author Joe Hill as he penned the short story way back in 2007, surely without thinking it would reach the big screen as a feature film no less. As the son of famed author Stephen King who changed his pen name to Hill in an effort to try and make his own way, it is undeniable that like his father, he has a pedigree for horror.

The story of The Black Phone is both terrifying and engaging, making it no surprise why it was made into a film. Derrickson and Cargill collaborated with Hill and kept the core of his story intact only making a few changes including changing the antagonist from a part-time clown to a part-time magician, and adding more victims to the story as the film was set to be about twice as long as the short story. Derrickson and Cargill filled in the gaps incredibly well, not wasting a second of the films one hour and forty two minute run-time. I was and still am infatuated with the story because it just includes so many great elements that made me a fan of film in the first place. Two of my favorite genres, horror and crime thriller, blend together to make for a film that will elicit every emotion from viewers while making for one heck of an entertaining ride. I loved every element of the story and commend all involved for a job well done.

It is truly terrifying how well Ethan Hawke plays the sadistic child murderer known as The Grabber, a man who lurks in the shadows and has become an urban legend of sorts for the kids in this small Denver suburb. I am a MASSIVE Hawke fan, and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see him playing a pivotal role in such a highly anticipated horror film, especially considering his connection to director Scott Dickinson after the 2012 horror film Sinister. He was sooooooo damn good in Sinister, but Hawke is arguably one of the most multi-talented actors working today. His performance in this without a doubt makes the film, and will leave viewers with a lingering sense of pure dread as they exit the theater. I can almost guarantee the majority of average film fans haven’t even seen a ton of the fantastic films he has appeared in mainly because the guy is willing to focus his talents on indie films which I greatly appreciate. Whether it be the 2017 horror thriller First Reformed, The Phenom (2016), Good Kill (2014), Predestination (2014), or the unique coming-of-age film Boyhood from Richard Linklater, the guy can do it all. I am a Ethan Hawke fan through and through, and seeing him just dominate such a difficult role with The Black Phone was incredibly satisfying for me. If his performance isn’t mentioned come awards time, I will be smashing some windows you can bet on that.

Right from the jump I knew the young Mason Thames was the real deal, he just exuded a certain on-screen confidence from the opening scene that only got stronger as the film progressed. Thames portrays the films main character, a 13-year-old boy named Finney. A bit of an outcast as he doesn’t quite fit into the popular crowd, Finney is a smart kid who has earned the respect of the toughest kid in school who is a bit of an outcast himself. Finney is also on the baseball team, and seems to be quite the pitcher. I realize I am getting off track a bit but I felt like Thames was nothing short of amazing, and a huge reason why this film worked as well as it did. The fact that this is the feature-film debut for Thames sort of blows my mind if I am being honest. This kid has a bright future so I suggest keeping an eye on him. He has another film in post-production called Boys of Summer where he stars alongside the great Mel Gibson, and I’m looking forward to checking that out.

Madeleine McGraw played a crucial role as she plays Finney’s sister Gwen who seemingly has dreams that allow her to see things, a trait she inherited from her late mother. Prior to Finney’s disappearance, detectives show up to her school asking questions as she seemingly has information they had never released to the public. Her reaction to the detectives is hilarious, and her character actually provides the limited comic relief for the film. The chemistry between Finney and Gwen is without a doubt a driving force for the film and helped me to get invested from the start. Right from the outset I felt their sibling bond and as I awaited the dreaded but expected abduction of Finney, Gwen’s inevitable reaction kept me on edge. When she knew her brother was taken and stormed out of the door of her friends house, I felt the panic she was feeling. The young actress who voiced Bonnie in Toy Story 4 left an immediate impact on me, and you can bet your ass she is going places in her career. After what she showed me in The Black Phone, I will support her here on out.

One of the biggest strengths of The Black Phone is it’s ability to get viewers invested in supporting characters who have very limited screen-time, which is no easy thing to do. As a credit to the screenplay and the actors taking on these roles, I loved all of the characters including each of the prior victims of The Grabber. I have to give credit to a very solid supporting cast as well with a great performance from Justified actor Jeremy Davies as the troubled alcoholic father of Finney and his sister Gwen. I like Davies a lot and will never question his involvement in a dramatic film or series. James Ransome, who plays a unique role in the film which I won’t give away, is one of those actors you recognize but can’t quite figure out why. He played a small role in the horror film Sinister I touched on earlier, but he has been etched in my brain ever since his role in the HBO series Generation Kill. An incredible series chronicling the first wave of the American-led assault on Baghdad back in 2003, Ransome’s sometimes annoying but often infectious role is very memorable. He also played a role in the 2019 horror film It Chapter Two. I loved Miguel Cazarez Mora in his first role as Robin, the toughest kid in school who takes a liking to Finney. I liked Mora from the outset and his character, however limited in the grand scheme of things, was crucial to the success of the film. I also really enjoyed E. Roger Mitchell as Detective Wright, and Troy Rudeseal as Detective Miller, the two men working all hours to solve these seemingly heinous crimes.

The Black Phone puts on an absolute clinic on the technical side of things, with everything working in perfect harmony to ensure the film had the dark and somber tone it was going for. First I have to talk about the incredible score and soundtrack delivered by Mark Korven, who previously scored The Witch and The Lighthouse. Korven is a master at setting the tone and the more tense scenes that involve The Grabber will definitely have you on the edge of your seat. He also threw in some great music to get viewers in the true feel of the late 70’s. I am huge on score and soundtrack and it was nice to see that they out a premium on this aspect of the film for The Black Phone. Cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz absolutely kills it, pun intended. This guy knows how to make sure every single shot matters, and the way he was able to help create this larger than life evil character known as The Grabber, was truly something special to experience. He helped to ensure the film felt immersive, and kept viewers filled with a feeling of dread as to what might happen next. I won’t get too much into detail, but at times I got a real It/Pennywise feeling during some of the films more artistic sequences, and it gave me chills. I also loved how they decided to shoot the film a really unique flashback style as well as a focus on the late 70’s era to give the film more what I felt was a more convincing element to the story.

I knew there was a reason why I loved the masks worn by The Grabber so much, and that is because of the legendary artist that is Tom Savini. Savini contributed to epic horror franchises including the Evil Dead franchise and one of my personal favorites, the Friday the 13th franchise. People may not realize this but the masks Ethan Hawke’s character would wear were viewed as a critical element of the film. The short story the film is based on gave the team a starting point but they reached out to five different companies before settling on Savini’s company, Callosum Studios. Savini himself invested a ton of time collaborating with director Scott Derrickson to make sure the masks were perfect, knowing that they would be the primary marketing tool for the film. If the masks weren’t convincing, it simply wouldn’t work. Derrickson was adamant that the masks had to have large holes for the eyes to ensure Hawke could still use his eyes as part of his performance. Plus, they realized that you don’t cast a talented actor like Hawke and just put him in a mask for an entire film. The various versions of the mask that they settled on were nothing short of exceptional and extremely terrifying, becoming a big part of The Grabber’s identity. Each mask worn seems to be specific to his mood at that time as it relates to the sick and twisted plans he had for his victims, whether it be a terrifying grin, a chilling sad face, or even a face with no mouth at all.

THE BAD

Listen, if you have been paying attention at all you surely don’t expect me to talk about much in this section of the review. The Black Phone is an exceptional film, but I suppose it does warrant some disclaimers. First of all, the films antagonist abducts and murders children, which is a sensitive subject for obvious reasons. Although I will say they keep things pretty classy all things considered in terms of the violence and the gore. But with that being said, the sheer terrifying elements of the film as viewers come face to face with a sadistic masked killer with his fair share of issues is enough to strike fear in even the most seasoned horror enthusiasts. So yeah, if you decide to watch you can thank Joe Hill and Ethan Hawke for the forthcoming nightmares. I also consider being traumatized a positive, so I guess I have altogether lost control of this review. Oh well.

THE VERDICT

A brilliant albeit terrifying realization of author Joe Hill’s masterful short story, The Black Phone is a generational horror thriller anchored by breakout performances from the legendary Ethan Hawke and newcomer Mason Thames. I loved everything about this movie, and I honestly can’t think of a single thing I would change. The overall feel was next-level thanks to a brilliant score and amazing cinematography, the acting was phenomenal, and the screenplay and source material was original and superbly satisfying. From director/co-writer Scott Derrickson, to writer C. Robert Cargill, to the entire cast and right down to every last person who worked on The Black Phone, this is one of those films that I personally considered to be an instant classic before I even left the theater. I talked about it quite a bit during the review but it’s worth revisiting, you don’t have to be a horror fan to appreciate everything this film has to offer.

Early on I was worried The Black Phone would get a limited release due to studios and their hesitancy to put too much stock in horror films these days, but Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures teamed up to make sure we had an opportunity to experience quality filmmaking on the big screen, and I personally couldn’t be more appreciative - it really was a long time coming. Please return the favor and see this work of art in theaters as soon as possible, you can thank me later.

TED TAKES RATING - 9.6/10

The Black Phone is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Brian and Charles

Brian and Charles is a 2022 comedy-drama directed by Jim Archer, from a screenplay by David Earl and Chris Hayward. Earl and Hayward also star in the film. The rights were acquired by Focus Features at the Sundance Film Festival where it was a 2022 Official Selection. Archer, in his directorial debut also edited, developed and co-funded the film with Film4 and the BFI. He got his start shooting comedy sketches with friends before writing and directing several short films which resulted in winning gold at the Young Director Awards in Cannes for the short film version of Brian and Charles.

Brian, a lonely inventor in rural Wales, spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he's invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

In addition to screenwriters David Earl and Chris Hayward, the cast also includes Louise Brealey, Jamie Michie, and Nina Sosanya.

Brian and Charles made it’s debut in select theaters on June 17th, courtesy of Focus Features.

THE GOOD

I am a complete sucker for a good indie film, especially when it manages to snag an official selection at the crem de la crem of film festivals, The Sundance Film Festival, which is no easy feat. Aside from the fact that as a fan of film I like to support the genuine creativity that tends to come into play within the indie film circuit, I also appreciate original ideas which can be tough to come by in the modern era of filmmaking. When I first started hearing rumblings about Brian and Charles after its debut at Sundance, I couldn’t wait for the trailer to drop. Once it did, the infectious feel of the film as well as the fantastic setting of rural Wales had me rearing and ready to go. All I could do was hope that the film found its way to a theater near me, and I was pumped to find out that it would release opening day in a theater nearby known for indie films that I hadn’t visited in years. I blocked off a day to go and see Brian and Charles, but was it worth the annoyance of $15 parking and the hustle and bustle of the “big city”?! Keep reading to find out!

I am pleased to report that I really and genuinely enjoyed Brian and Charles. To say that it is a unique film would be a severe understatement, but I mean that in the best way possible. The film opens with what essentially feels like a meet and greet of sorts with the oddly charismatic and highly unsuccessful inventor Brian, who lives a very lonely and isolated life in rural Wales. Because a good portion of the film includes just Brian, especially in the beginning, he narrates and sets the stage for the film in a very The Office sort of way. Brian welcomes viewers into his home and his makeshift cow shed turned into a workshop, and proceeds to show off his rather ridiculous inventions, from a pine cone bag which he is quick to explain is just a bag with pine cones glued on it, to his egg belt, which is you guessed it, a belt that holds eggs. When he has an idea, he makes that idea a reality, no matter how ridiculous that idea may seem, and if you ask me there is something inspirational in that. Brian’s willingness to keep on keepin’ on after so many failed inventions is what leads him to creating what will soon become his very best friend, a robot with a washing machine body that seems to like the name Charles.

Things start out a bit slow at first but the fun really starts once Charles comes into the picture. Not only is his body made from scratch, literally, so is everything else about him so he must be taught everything. Although I still for the life of me can’t figure out how he actually consumed food, Charles seemed to really enjoy cabbage. I like me some cabbage in a boiled ham dinner, but the train stops there. Sorry, I’m getting off track. My favorite thing about the movie is watching this unique relationship between Brain and Charles develop, it is really something special. Any parent will relate right away to Charles and his innate infatuation with disobedience especially when he isn’t getting his way, but that part of the relationship is overshadowed by the special bond that forms between man and robot. Brian has been quite lonely for a long time and it almost feels surreal that he finally has a companion to the point where he is too scared to expose Charles to the rest of his small town, worried someone may take him away. Brian does his best to protect Charles while teaching him all about the world, and even doing his best to reassure him when Charles develops a fear of birds. But seriously, their relationship and the ups and downs that they navigate feels so well-intentioned and real, and I just enjoyed watching it all unfold. I was drawn to Brian from the start as he is just someone you can’t help but root for, so watching him finally find what he has been looking for in his life feels pretty damn good.

Bottom line, without the inspired performances from the leads in Brian and Charles, this film would simply fall on its face. Everything and I mean everything, runs through the performances from David Earl and Chris Hayward. Whether it be the back and forth banter between the two or the combination of Charles’ robot voice and hilarious mannerisms, it was all just so good. Earl offers up one of the most charismatic and wholesome performances I have seen in quite a long time, and he won me over immediately. Even though he plays this lonely and quite honestly very odd guy, you can’t help but feed off his energy and relentless positivity. He is that friend you want to be around just because they have such an infectious personality, plus you also know it is okay to laugh at them from time to time because they will be laughing right along with you. Once Hayward joins the party as the fun-loving and sometimes rebellious robot, things really take off. The relationship between Brian and Charles is without a doubt the driving force for the entire message of the film, and it absolutely hit home for me. I thought Earl and Hayward were magical together, and I cannot wait to see what they do next. I also really liked Louise Brealey in an important supporting role as she had great chemistry with Earl, and also enjoyed Jamie Michie as the film’s primary antagonist. Lynn Hunter was a very sweet supporting character as well.

The technical elements of Brian and Charles are surprisingly impressive, especially for such a small-scale indie film. I thought the camera work and cinematography were fantastic, taking full advantage of the rural Wales setting. Each shot felt very well-intentioned, from the aerial driving shots to the intimate close-ups that made viewers feel like they were involved with what was happening on-screen. I was also very pleased with the score and soundtrack which for me was a massive driving force for the film. Brian and Charles is all about that offbeat tone and it all comes together so well here. All and all, a very solid technical package.

THE BAD

Okay so bottom line, Brian and Charles is not for everyone, and that’s okay. You won’t find me bashing this film but I also want to keep expectations in check for people who are considering giving it a shot. It is a comedy-drama that really is a pretty even balance of both, and even though there is plenty of laughs and giggles to be had, they mostly come from a dry sense of humor. The overall identity of the film is pretty clear from the start so you’ll know if it’s something you can get into within the first 5-minutes. It is also a very small-scale film in terms of the cast as well as the filming location. With that being said I also can’t see anyone justifying this as a “bad film”, even if it maybe isn’t something that is entertaining for them on a personal level. Brian and Charles, like filmmaking in general, is a well-crafted piece of art that thrives on its unique sensibilities and authentic feel.

THE VERDICT

A quirky indie comedy-drama that explores the unique friendship between a lonely inventor and his newly-built robot companion, Brian and Charles is a sweet and in many ways inspirational story that will surely leave its mark on viewers who embark on this special journey. David Earl and Chris Hayward are unique talents who deserve to be celebrated. The film reminds us to appreciate the little things in life and to always be on the lookout for something incredible in the unlikeliest of places. I keep catching myself wanting to use the word quirky over and over again when I describe this film but it really is the best word to use. Quirky in the sense that it is unique, imaginative, simple yet well-rounded, and just an experience that viewers who are willing to give it a chance will absolutely appreciate by the time the end credits hit the screen. I felt very satisfied with Brian and Charles and judging by the fact that the majority of the other people in the theater remained seated during the first half of the credits, I would say they felt the same way. If you can find it playing somewhere near you, I would take the time to check it out.

TED TAKES RATING - 8.6/10

Brian and Charles is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

I Want You Back

By: Andrew Wing

I Want You Back is a 2022 American romantic comedy film directed by Jason Orley from a screenplay written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. The film stars Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Horrible Bosses), and Jenny Slate (Bob’s Burgers, Parks and Recreation) in the lead roles, while Gina Rodriguez (Annihilation, Jane the Virgin), Scott Eastwood (The Fate of the Furious, The Outpost), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Bad Times at the El Royale), Clark Backo (Letterkenny, The Handmaid’s Tale), and Mason Gooding (Booksmart, Scream) also star.

The film follows Peter (Day) and Emma (Slate) as two recently dumped strangers who team up to sabotage the new relationships of their exes (Rodriguez and Eastwood).

It was digitally released on February 11, 2022, by Amazon Studios.

THE GOOD

I Want You Back has been at the very top of my watchlist ever since I originally saw the trailer for it at the beginning of the year, but one thing led to another, and I didn’t watch it until June. The reason I had it so high on my watchlist was for one, I love me some Charlie Day and I don’t know why I haven’t started It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia yet because everyone says it’s the best comedy show on television. Aside from Day being hilarious, I also quite enjoy Jenny Slate, and I’m not afraid to admit that while the rom-com isn’t my favorite movie genre, I still enjoy a solid rom-com every now and then, most recently Cha Cha Real Smooth (see my full review here). But was this a solid one, or was it another in a long list of terrible rom-coms? Keep reading to find out!

THIS. WAS. SOLID. Very solid to be exact. I had a feeling it would be good after I initially saw the trailer but I never expected it to be one of my favorite movies of the year thus far. But boy oh boy was I wrong. The performances were amazing and I’ll be sure to touch on them later in the review, but this was such a great film from start to finish! I had never heard of the director or either of the writer’s names before, but I will be sure to not forget them after this. Jason Orley’s direction, while it wasn’t Oscar-level good, it didn’t need to be. His direction here was simple but it got the job done, and I cannot wait to see what he does next! As for the writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, I really thought that they knocked it out of the park here. It’s super hard to come up with something original when it comes to making a rom-com, but they somehow did it and I’m sure their phones have been blowing up for future projects ever since this hit Amazon Prime.

Alright, enough waiting, let’s get to the lead performances we get from Charlie Day and Jenny Slate! They were both fantastic! First and foremost, the chemistry these two shared was marvelous and I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time these two have been in a feature film together and that is shocking because their chemistry was that good. They are both known for their comedic roles, usually in supporting roles, but together they were amazing as the leads here. First, with Day, he is just so damn funny and a lot of it is simply because of his iconic voice. The way he yells and raises his voice is hilarious and he had a good amount of those in I Want You Back. As for Slate, I would probably say she had the best performance of the bunch here. She is equally as funny as Day, but I also thought she nailed all of the more dramatic scenes in the film too. Call me crazy, but if Slate takes the right role, I could definitely see her getting some awards love.

Now the great thing about I Want You Back is that it wasn’t just the lead performances that were good, it was the performances of the entire cast. They all made the film as good as it was and more than that, the entire cast had chemistry so good you’d think that they were shooting this project for years! The best of the bunch when it came to the supporting cast for me was Scott Eastwood. Now Eastwood might never become as good as an actor as his father, a guy by the name of Clint Eastwood, let me know if you’ve ever heard of him, but I would say after this that he is already a better comedic actor than his old man. Granted, Clint wasn’t known for comedy as much as is known for spaghetti westerns, but I was extremely impressed by what Scott gave us comedically here. I think he’s a very underrated actor, and I just can’t wait to see how big he gets in the next couple of years because he has got what it takes.

Other than that, there were so many other things I appreciated about I Want You Back. Gina Rodriguez, Manny Jacinto, Clark Backo, and Mason Gooding all were excellent. The movie was very well-paced and a lot of that is a credit to the editing that was done by Jonathan Schwartz. It had a simple score that Goldspot did, and Brian Burgoyne’s cinematography just brought another layer to an already very well-put-together movie. One more thing, whoever’s idea it was to have the middle school student’s drama play be Little Shop of Horrors was genius, but at the same time, I want your contact info because I can’t stop singing “Suddenly, Seymour”, and I’m sorry, but that’s your fault.

THE BAD

If you couldn’t tell by me already saying that this is one of my favorite movies of the year, I don’t have a lot of negative things to say about I Want You Back. It’s enjoyable from start to finish and the acting was superb! I will say though, that there were some minor quips I had. First, some of the jokes didn’t land, but that just comes with the territory. Second, and this was the bigger problem I had and the big overall problem I have with rom-coms was that you know how the film is going to end from the second you press play. I don’t know, I still liked the ending, but it’d just be nice one time to not know how a rom-com is going to end because I love to be surprised.

THE VERDICT

Behind some fantastic acting from the entire cast that was led by Charlie Day and Jenny Slate, I Want You Back is one of the better rom-coms of the past few years, and it’s one of my favorites from the first half of 2022. Day and Slate were hilarious and their chemistry was perfect, and Scott Eastwood shined in his supporting role as he showed he’s got some comedic skills to go with his good looks.

All in all, this is such an easy movie to recommend as I can’t see anyone not enjoying it as much as I did, so go check it out now on Prime Video!

TED TAKES RATING - 8.8/10

I Want You Back is now available exclusively on Prime Video. Check out the latest trailer below.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

By: Andrew Wing

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a 2022 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man trilogy, Evil Dead franchise), written by Michael Waldron (Rick and Morty, Loki), and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Sherlock) as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen (Wind River, WandaVision), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, The Martian), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: No Way Home), Xochitl Gomez (The Baby-Sitters Club), Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, Fargo), and Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, Mean Girls). In the film, Strange protects America Chavez (Gomez), a teenager capable of traveling the multiverse, from Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch (Olsen).

Doctor Strange director and co-writer Scott Derrickson had plans for a sequel by October 2016. He signed to return as director in December 2018, when Cumberbatch was confirmed to return. The film's title was announced in July 2019 along with Olsen's involvement, while Jade Halley Bartlett was hired to write the film that October. Derrickson stepped down as director in January 2020, citing creative differences. Waldron and Raimi joined the following month and started over, adding elements of the horror genre that Raimi had worked with previously and making Maximoff the villain of the film, continuing her story from the series WandaVision (2021). Filming began in November 2020 in London but was put on hold in January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed by March 2021 and concluded in mid-April in Somerset. Shooting also occurred in Surrey and Los Angeles.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on May 2, 2022, and was released in the United States on May 6, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. It was eventually released on Disney+ on June 22, 2022. It grossed over $944 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2022 thus far.

THE GOOD

About damn time! Anyone reading this who might be asking themselves “didn’t this movie come out like a month and a half ago?”, yes it did. But Ted is a busy man and so am I to a lesser extent because I don’t have kids of my own yet. Nevertheless, with it hitting Disney+ today, I figured today would be the perfect time to post a review for what was the 28th film in the iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. To provide some more context though, I remember being worried how this film would fare after Derrickson stepped down, but once I heard that the legendary director Sam Raimi would be stepping in, all of my fears went goodbye. Also, the combination of this being the first true Marvel movie to combat the multiverse if you don’t count Spider-Man: No Way Home (see our full review here) and the fact that the first trailer for it was arguably one of the best trailers ever, my expectations were through the roof. But did it match my expectations? Keep reading to find out!

That’s tough to answer because my expectations were literally sky high and I was projecting this to be easily a top 10 MCU film, and while I don’t know if it hit that bar, this movie was still great. It was genuinely entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. A big reason why I did so much was just because of how creative and unique it was, and the main reason was because of the man that was in charge, the one and only Sam Raimi. Before I dive into Raimi’s direction, I just need to commend Kevin Feige for allowing Raimi to basically have full creative freedom over this project because this is a great example of what can happen when you let this man do his thing.

Now to Raimi, this is absolutely a Sam Raimi film. No doubt about it. I am a huge fan of the Evil Dead franchise despite not being a big horror guy, and I grew up on his Spider-Man trilogy, so I love the dude. But yeah with me being familiar with his filmography, it didn’t take me very long to see his style and technique stamped all over this movie. He somehow brought both his expertise of the superhero genre and also the horror genre, and used both of them to make MCU’s first true horror film and easily the MCU’s darkest film yet as it really pushed that PG-13 boundary. I mean there were moments in this movie that genuinely startled me and made me gasp. At the end of the day, Raimi crushed this and I hope Feige brings him back for future MCU projects because he is a creative genius and he made this film unforgettable.

And because of the horror elements Raimi plastered all over this film, we not only got a great overall film, but it also allowed us to get one of the best individual performances the MCU has ever had from Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch. For starters, Olsen as an actress must’ve been so excited once she got the script from writer Michael Waldron because her character in this is so different from the Wanda we are used to seeing, because in this she’s literally a demon. She was phenomenal here as the film’s antagonist and it was another great step in the right direction following her tremendous performance in the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision. You could feel everything her character was feeling and her performance was so good that she made you as an audience member feel like everything she was doing was justifiable even though it wasn’t. I was just so impressed with Olsen here and I cannot wait to see what she does next!

Now Olsen stole the show for me here, but Benedict Cumberbatch was amazing as always as Doctor Stephen Strange. Doctor Strange is honestly one of my favorite superheroes and a big reason why is just because of how Cumberbatch portrays him. Also, I just love Cumberbatch as an actor and I’m still pissed he didn’t win the Best Actor Academy Award this year over Will Smith (#TeamChrisRock) for his performance in The Power of the Dog (see my full review here). Back to his portrayal of Strange in this though, he just continued to solidify the fact that he is the perfect casting for this character as he just comes off as intelligent, but also has a great sense of humor and can be intimidating when he needs to be.

This shouldn’t be a news flash because it’s a Marvel film, but the visuals we got here were stunning. More than that, with this being a multiverse movie, we got so many fantastic visuals. Sure there were some moments that had some questionable CGI like every superhero movie, but overall I thought this movie’s visual portrayal of the multiverse was fascinating and it was entertaining to watch, to say the least. 

Those were the main things I liked the most about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but can’t forget to touch on the other small things I appreciated. Benedict Wong was as awesome as he always is, Xochitl Gomez quickly proved that she will make a great addition to the MCU, and it was also great to see some familiar faces return in both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams. Also, the music that was done by Danny Elfman was one of my favorites of all the MCU films as it went hand and hand with Raimi’s directorial tone. And lastly, we got some great post credit scenes like we always do and I won’t spoil it, but we got some outstanding fan service in this bad boy! That’s all I’ll say.

THE BAD

I love superhero films, especially those of the MCU, and I had a blast with this from start to finish, but with that said, the film is not without its flaws. Like I said, it’s not a top tier Marvel movie. Sure I had some problems with the script but I have a lot of respect for Waldron coming in and taking the bull by the horn with this multiversal movie that I’m sure was incredibly challenging to write. But more than that, the biggest problem with this movie for me was the runtime. 

This movie clocks in at just over two hours, which compared to previous MCU movies is on the shorter side. And in those two hours, they packed a whole hell of a lot into and it was non-stop from the start, and sure maybe they wanted to stay true to the film’s title by having it be utter madness, but it just made the movie feel a little bit rushed to me and I wish there was a little more time to flesh out this wild story because I think that this could have been a top-tier Marvel movie if they didn’t try and pack so much in just two hours.

THE VERDICT

Easily the darkest Marvel film yet thanks to the influence of director Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness effectively blends action and horror with eye-popping CGI making for one heck of a wild ride. Also, Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen both gave their best performances yet as members of the MCU.

Sure, I had some minor problems with the plot, but at the end of the day, it was unique, creative, and a hell of a lot of fun to watch, so what more do you need?

TED TAKES RATING - 8.7/10

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+. Check out the latest trailer below.

The Card Counter

By: Andrew Wing

The Card Counter is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader (who earned his first Academy Award nomination back in 2017 for the dramatic thriller First Reformed). It stars Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars sequel trilogy), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip, Night School), Tye Sheridan (Mud, Ready Player One), and Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project, The Lighthouse). Legendary director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed) serves as an executive producer.

The film tells the story of an ex-military interrogator turned gambler, William Tell (Isaac), who during his eight-year stint is not only haunted by the ghosts of his past decisions but also learns how to count cards. And following his release from prison, a meeting with a past acquaintance from the gambling world, La Linda (Haddish), shows him that all he wants to do is count cards, but on the casino trail, that dream of his is shattered once he meets Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man who is seeking to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel (Dafoe).

It had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2021. It was released on September 10, 2021, by Focus Features.

THE GOOD

One word. Finally! I could be wrong here, but I’m 99% sure I saw the first trailer for The Card Counter over a year ago, and I have been waiting on pins and needles ever since to check this out and review it. Yes, a big reason for my excitement was this absolutely stacked cast that was led by the man who had himself arguably the best 2021 out of anyone in the industry in Oscar Isaac who starred in not only the HBO drama miniseries Scenes from a Marriage alongside Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain, but also the sci-fi epic Dune (see my full review here) that brought home more awards than any other film at this year’s 94th Academy Awards. But yeah, I think Isaac is one of the best actors working today, so once this film finally came to the HBO Max streaming service a couple of weeks back, I knew I had to check it out first thing. But was it worth the wait? Keep reading to find out!

You’ll just have to wait a little longer before that question is answered, but to get the ball rolling, The Card Counter was good. For someone like myself who has never played real poker, I have always been intrigued by the sport, to say the least. I also have enjoyed almost every film that revolves around poker from Molly’s Game in 2017, to the 1998 classic Rounders, to even Daniel Craig’s first outing as the famous James Bond in Casino Royale. There is just something I like about movies that involve poker, and I can say that The Card Counter is a solid entry to that list. But aside from my weird fascination with poker movies, the movie was good because of the two main men who were in charge: Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese.

Now Scorsese only served as an executive producer here, but still, anything with his name attached is going to be good, and that was exactly the case here. For Schrader though, he is definitely less of a household name compared to Scorsese, but the man wrote or co-wrote screenplays for four Scorsese films, with two of them being some of Scorsese’s best works in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Also, Schrader’s last directorial outing was First Reformed in 2017, a movie I find to be severely underrated that features an incredible lead performance from Ethan Hawke. And now since you know that, you won’t be surprised why this movie was a good one. Sure, there were some things with Schrader’s direction that I think would’ve made the film stronger, but the man knows how to write a film and direct it in a way that showcases the lead actors skills, because that is just what he did with Oscar Isaac here.

All of the performances were good here, specifically Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe, and I will talk more about them later on in the review, but despite those stars being in the film, Oscar Isaac outshined them all just as I had hoped and expected he would. Now a year back once I had originally watched the trailer for the first time, I instantly thought this was going to be a Best Actor-contending Oscar kind of role, and while maybe it wasn’t on that level, it was still incredible and it didn’t get discussed nearly as much as it should have. His performance here was one that had me glued to the screen every time he was on it. It was both mysteriously slick on the outside just like his character’s hair but also tormented on the inside sort of performance that gave the film life. All in all, maybe it wasn’t his best work which I still think is Inside Llewlyn Davis from the Coen brothers, but it was good enough to make me feel even more confident that his first Oscar-winning performance is coming very very soon.

Aside from all of that, there were a couple of other small things that I liked about the film. The production design was great with all of the casinos they were running through, and while the cinematography from Alexander Dynan wasn’t eye-popping or anything like that, it was more laid back and reserved with hints of the color gray and I think it matched the film’s tone. Also, the music was pretty good too so shoutout to Robert Levon Been and Giancarlo Vulcano.

THE BAD

Back to my original question I started the review off with whether or not this film was worth the ridiculously long wait to see it, my answer is unfortunately no. It just wasn’t, and maybe that’s my fault because the longer I waited the more excited I became. I mean how could I not? It’s a movie that was produced by the GOAT Martin Scorsese that featured one of the hottest actors on the planet right now in Oscar Isaac. It also didn’t help either that Schrader’s last outing was freaking incredible, but this was a significant step back for the director if you ask me.

I don’t know, it just felt like we got a mixed effort from Paul Schrader. Now the man knows how to write and direct a film, I’m not questioning that, but at the same time it felt like as the plot began to unwind in The Card Counter, he just didn’t know how to bring this baby home, and it’s a real shame because there was a lot of potential with this. But again, back to First Reformed, that film was building towards an epic finale and it absolutely paid off, and with this, I kind of hated the ending to be brutally honest.

And lastly, when I saw there was a lot of potential with this project, I meant it because it’s not every day that you get a cast this stacked. And while I said the performances we got from Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe were good, I really think Schrader severely underutilized them. Maybe not Haddish’s character so much because I feel like there wasn’t much to her character in the first place, but hey I love me some Tiffany Haddish, so forgive me for wanting more of her on-screen. For me though, it was what we got from Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe that really left me wanting more because the way both of their character’s stories wrap up was quite frustrating, to say the least.

THE VERDICT

Despite this being a significant step back from his previous work due to a forgettable second half and the fact that he underutilized an all-star level cast, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter is still a serviceable drama film that features an above-average performance from one of the best in the business right now in Oscar Isaac.

TED TAKES RATING - 7.2/10

The Card Counter is now streaming exclusively on HBO Max. Check out the latest trailer below.

Cha Cha Real Smooth

By: Andrew Wing

Cha Cha Real Smooth is a 2022 American comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Cooper Raiff (best known for his debut feature film Shithouse, in which he starred, directed, wrote, produced, and co-edited). Similar to his first film, Raiff also stars in this, with a supporting cast that includes Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades film series, The Peanut Butter Falcon), Evan Assante, Vanessa Burghardt, Leslie Mann (This Is 40, Blockers), Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond, Fargo), and Raúl Castillo (Looking, We the Animals).

The plot follows the 22-year-old Andrew (Raiff) who’s fresh out of college and stuck at his New Jersey home without a clear path forward. But when he begins working as a party starter for bar/bat mitzvahs, he strikes up a unique friendship with a young mom (Johnson) and her teenage daughter (Burghardt).

It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2022. It was released in limited theaters and on Apple TV+ on June 17, 2022.

THE GOOD

I am extremely happy to finally be writing this review because ever since Cha Cha Real Smooth premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, all I have heard is great things. And usually, when it comes to films that do very well at the festivals, we don’t get to see them until the end of the year as their distributors are expecting them to be Oscar contenders. But with this, the comedy-drama film from Cooper Raiff that Apple bought for $15 million, we got to get it on the Apple TV+ streaming service just in time for summer! With that said, I checked it out the first day I could, but did it live up to the hype? Keep reading to find out!

I’ll just get right to the point, it did and it honestly exceeded my expectations. And the main reason it did is Cooper Raiff. I still need to watch his debut feature Shithouse, and after seeing this it will definitely be moving up my watchlist because he absolutely crushed it here as he directed, wrote, and starred in his own film. I’m going to address everything Raiff did here, but I’ll begin with his direction because I loved it. It was just so sensitive and I appreciated how he made the film so funny and sweet, yet very relatable. It was extremely relatable to me especially as a 21-year-old aspiring writer because Raiff’s character Andrew is this recent college graduate struggling to figure out how he is supposed to live his early 20s which I already know is a time in life where you can be kind of desperate for some sort of shape to take form. At the end of the day, it was just so real as he made it a point to dive into the character more and explore what this film was really about.

Next with Raiff’s writing because it was superb. His character Andrew was so charismatic, like arguably one of the most charismatic characters I’ve seen in a film in a long long time. The level of likability his character had was sonridiculous that it had me wishing that I had his ability to just charm everybody I'm around with such ease. But truthfully, it was weird how much I liked admiring the main character of this movie because that’s not the main reason why I watch movies in the first place, but there was just something about this character’s willingness to put themselves out there in such a way, and it was all a credit to how Raiff wrote the character.

So now since I’ve touched on Raiff’s direction and his writing, there is only one thing left to touch on, and that is his acting. I’ve already discussed how much I loved his character Andrew as he just made him so likable and easy to root for, but what really made the film for me was Raiff’s unbelievably natural on-screen chemistry with Dakota Johnson. The romantic tension between the two was undeniable and I just wanted it for them so bad once they met each other. I won’t spoil it when it comes to how their relationship unfolds, but once you as a viewer realize what their relationship means to these characters, you will have no problem with how this film finishes.

But to continue, I have to highlight the other half of that dynamic duo in Dakota Johnson. She was freaking great here and this is right up there as one of her best roles ever with her previous performance in The Lost Daughter (see my full review here). The chemistry she had with Raiff was off the charts, but aside from that, I was buying everything she was selling from start to finish. Johnson definitely had the best supporting performance if you ask me, but to be honest the whole cast was great, from Evan Assante and Vanessa Burghardt in what I think was each of their feature film debuts, to the amazing on-screen couple that was Leslie Mann and Brad Garrett.

In closing, Cooper Raiff stole the show, Dakota Johnson was the best of an all-around fantastic supporting cast, and the film had a great message. It also was beautifully shot by Cristina Dunlap and it had a killer soundtrack. The last thing I will say, and while it’s unlikely, I would love to see this film kind of play out similar to CODA (see my full review here), another film that premiered at Sundance and was eventually purchased by Apple and went on to win Best Picture at this year’s 94th Academy Awards. Now I’ll be honest, I don’t see it winning Best Picture for a number of reasons, but I would love to see it stay relevant for the rest of this year and maybe be in contention for one of the ten Best Picture nominations slots, and also so it can get some support in categories like original screenplay, supporting actress for Dakota Johnson, and definitely lead actor in my opinion for Cooper Raiff, but we will just have to wait and see!

THE BAD

Do your best to keep your emotions in check as I am about to shock you, but I really have nothing bad to say about this film. While it maybe didn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to rom-coms, I never felt for a second that it was retreading any of the territory we’ve seen in past rom-coms. Also, if you’re someone who isn’t a fan of hyper-charismatic protagonists then this isn’t the film for you because that is exactly what Cooper Raiff is in Cha Cha Real Smooth. But despite him taking the risky move by having his personality have so much of a hold over the entire picture, it totally paid off as he was perfect for the role as only he could’ve played the character of Andrew.

THE VERDICT

In just his second outing as a writer-director, Cooper Raiff cements his place as a major new voice in the movie industry that we aren’t soon going to forget with his comedy-drama film Cha Cha Real Smooth that I would say is the perfect modern rom-com. Raiff also starred in the film and he showed that he is just as good of a dramatic and comedic actor as he is a filmmaker as his confident portrayal of the character was super infectious and incredibly magnetic from beginning to end.

Dakota Johnson also gave arguably the best performance of her young career, and all in all, this is a very charming, wholesome, and feel-good film that had me beaming right from the start, and it never faltered in that respect. I’ll shut up now because I could go on for days, but it is such an easy movie to fall in love with, and with that and also the fact that there are a lot of different things one can take away from it, I think it’s endlessly rewatchable.

TED TAKES RATING - 9.1/10

Cha Cha Real Smooth is now streaming exclusively on Apple TV+. Check out the latest trailer below.

Lightyear

By: Ted Trafton & Andrew Wing

Lightyear is a 2022 American computer-animated science-fiction action-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film, a spin-off of the Toy Story film series (serving as an origin story for the fictional test pilot/astronaut character who the Buzz Lightyear toy/action figure featured in the main films was inspired by), was co-written and directed by Angus MacLane (he also co-directed Finding Dory) and produced by Galyn Susman, and stars Chris Evans (played Steve Rogers / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) as the voice of the title character, with Keke Palmer (Jump In!, True Jackson, VP), Peter Sohn (voiced Emile in Ratatouille, and Squishy in Monsters University), James Brolin (father of Josh Brolin, who starred in the television series Hotel), Taika Waititi (best known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit), Dale Soules (The Messenger, Orange Is the New Black), Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite) and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire) in supporting roles.

Lightyear tells the story of young astronaut Buzz Lightyear, who, after being marooned on a hostile planet with his commander and crew, tries to find a way back home while confronting a threat in the form of the Emperor Zurg. Initially, the source material for Buzz Lightyear was introduced in the 2000 direct-to-video film Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, which was the pilot to a spin-off television series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01). After finishing work on Finding Dory (2016), MacLane, a science fiction fan, pitched the idea of making a film about Buzz Lightyear at Pixar. To evoke the science fiction films the director grew up watching, the animators wanted to give the film a "cinematic" and "chunky" look. The animation and visual process were done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael Giacchino (Up, The Batman) composed the film’s scores.

Lightyear had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on June 8, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 17 in RealD 3D, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX formats. This was the first Pixar film to be filmed in IMAX.

THE GOOD

From Ted’s perspective…

First things first, the Toy Story franchise provides a ton of great nostalgia for me. Few songs have been engrained in my brain quite like Randy Newman’s “You've Got a Friend in Me”, and I wasn’t mad about it. That song was simply fire and fit the debut film in the franchise so well. The original Toy Story made it’s debut back in 1995, which seems crazy if I’m being honest considering how well it holds up today. The film remains nearly blemish free when it comes to critics, and pulled in an impressive $363 million in the box office. The 4th film in the franchise released just a few years ago in 2019. Realizing that Andrew had yet to be born when the original released makes me want to swan dive off the roof of my house, but that is a story for another day. The bread and butter of the franchise has always been the message at it’s core which is the powerful bond of family and friendship, and what it means to feel forgotten or left behind. At the end of the day, as human beings (or toys that come to life) we all need to feel wanted or valued in one way or another.

Back in November of 1995, life was good for a gun-slingin’ cowboy toy named Woody. He was the apple of his owner’s eye, a joyous and wholesome young boy named Andy. He even had Andy’s name quite haphazardly written on the bottom of his boot with sharpie as a nice reminder. But, all great things must come to an end at some point, right? All of the toys in Andy’s room are tightly wound as the little boys birthday has arrived yet again. Each toy fears the worst, being replaced. In comes Andy’s newest and highly sought after toy, the shiny Space Ranger known as Buzz Lightyear, complete with a wing suit, laser, and a quite an ego. When Buzz first comes to life, he doesn’t realize he is a toy. He thinks he is the real Buzz Lightyear, a character in one of Andy’s favorite movies which is why he asks for the toy for his birthday. Buzz is certain he has landed on yet another uninhabitable planet as he searches for signs of intelligent life, only to encounter Woody and the rest of Andy’s toys who proceed to convince him that he is in fact, just a toy. So, what about the “real” Buzz Lightyear?! I’m glad you asked! Andrew and I were beyond pumped when Lightyear made it’s debut in theaters, and knew we would be there on opening day. We decided to do a blended review considering we both have a different generational perspective when it comes to the Toy Story franchise. So what did we think? Keep reading to find out!

I’ll go first, I absolutely loved Lightyear! The film opened with several trademark Buzz Lightyear lines, and I damn near fell out of my seat I was so excited. Seeing this larger-than-life version of the toy I have grown to love just felt surreal to me in so many ways, and the 2022 animation advancements courtesy of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios was pure eye candy. I was drawn to each and every character outside of the titular Buzz Lightyear, which again, is a given, and I thought each character had great depth and fit the story perfectly. The writing team brings the heat yet again with a screenplay packed to the brim with exciting action sequences, a ton of emotional moments, and the power of family and friendship the Toy Story franchise is known for. Lightyear accomplished something I didn’t think was possible, which made me appreciate Buzz Lightyear more than I already did. I won’t go as far as to say that this is the best film in the franchise, counting the four Toy Story films of course, but it is a worthy and heartfelt addition that will hopefully serve as a springboard for more Toy Story movies. If they announce a Woody origin story, I might pass out. I wish I was kidding.

As far as the screenplay is concerned, it was actually much more elaborate that the trailer would lead you to believe. The trailer definitely puts you on the right track, but its one of those situations where they cut the trailer a certain way to avoid revealing the primary backstory of the film which I thought was a nice touch. The origin story of Buzz Lightyear is intriguing for several reasons, with the obvious and primary reason being the toy that was a huge factor in the success of the Disney-Pixar Toy Story film franchise. Buzz Lightyear and his “To Infinity and Beyond!” catchphrase has been rattling around the brains of kids and adults for decades, and we were finally afforded the opportunity to see why Andy wanted him for his birthday, and it wasn’t just the shiny and awesome suit.

Buzz is a man of the people, someone who is supremely confident but also terrified of failure. More than just failure, Buzz worries about letting the people who count on him down. There is no more prestigious position than that of a Space Ranger, and it is a role Buzz takes very seriously. The fate of mankind rests in the hands of Buzz and his co-pilot Alisha Hawthorne, and when a failed mission put everything they have worked for in jeopardy, Buzz is willing to sacrifice himself to save those he cares about most. This is the driving factor of the Lightyear story, and everything about it from the time travel element to the humor and emotional moments, I was engaged from start to finish.

As far as the voice actors are concerned, it should come as no surprise that they hit a home run with Lightyear. Chris Evans, who is attempting to transition to new projects after a phenomenal run as a Marvel mainstay, absolutely crushes it as Buzz Lightyear. I mean, who better to voice the real-life (sort of) space ranger than Captain American himself?! He just felt like such a natural in the role from the start, and I never once questioned his ability to really make this character come to life. His voice just fit everything that Buzz Lightyear embodied from the start and that had me fully invested. Uzo Aduba has a smaller but pivotal role as the voice of Alisha Hawthorne, but she was fantastic. Veteran actress Keke Palmer voices Hawthorne’s granddaughter Izzy, and I thought she was perfect for this role. Palmer, who recently starred in the 2019 comedy drama Hustlers, also has a lead role in the upcoming Jordan Peele horror thriller Nope, set to debut in theaters this summer (preview and trailer here). Palmer complimented Evans exceptionally well and the two had genuinely impactful chemistry in terms of the emotional element of the film.

The only thing that even came close to matching my excitement for the film in general or the fact that Chris Evans was voicing the great Buzz Lightyear, was the addition of my guy Taika Waititi, who yet again offers up his comedic chops for the greater good. The New Zealand native voices Mo Morrison, the poor oblivious “Space Ranger in Training” who stumbles upon a dangerous mission he couldn’t have been less interested in embarking on. But to the pure enjoyment of the audience, he didn’t have a choice. How I measure his performances may not be fair because his accent just kills me, but Waititi is hilarious in this with his well-timed punch lines and the fact that he just can’t seem to stop messing things up. I also really liked how they modeled his character to look exactly like real-life Taika Waititi, and that just made it even funnier for me. “My superpower is ingenuity!”

Oh, and for the people ready to boycott the film over the refusal to cast Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear you might want to take a few deep breaths and think about this for a second. This is the Buzz Lightyear the toy is based on, and Allen voices the toy. Would it make sense for the “real” Buzz Lightyear and the toy version of him to be voiced by the same person? I don’t think so. Maybe eventually we will get a Woody origin story, and we’ll see who they can find to fill the shoes of the great Tom Hanks.

On the technical side of things the animation is spectacular as expected. I mean let’s be honest for a second, when you sit down to watch a film with Disney-Pixar attached to it, you know it is going to incredible and just top-notch in every conceivable way. Nearly every scene left me in awe, from the characters facial expressions to how realistic and disgusting the inside out vending machine sandwiches looked, it was just eye candy throughout. The film was fairly limited in terms of visuals at its disposal because of the setting, but they made the most of it and created a world that felt very much lived in and alive. Also having seen the amazing film that is Top Gun: Maverick ( our full review here) recently, I couldn’t help but appreciate the glorious flying sequences that Lightyear had to offer. I was also very pleased with the soundtrack/score as it helped a ton setting the tone for the film especially during the more emotional scenes. I just realized I have been rambling for quite some time, so now I’ll give Andrew an opportunity to give us his thoughts on the film.

From Andrew’s Perspective…

It goes without saying that Lightyear was one of my most anticipated films of 2022. I’m sure 99% of the United States will say the same thing too because Buzz Lightyear is one of the biggest and most notable movie characters of all time, live-action or animated. I mean I grew up watching all of the Toy Story films and once I heard that this film was being made, I was just through the roof. More than that, the fact that the one and only Chris Evans, who was Captain America for the past decade, was going to voice the iconic character, I was on cloud nine. And because of my unhealthy anticipation, I just had to see this on opening night, so without further ado, did Lightyear live up to my otherworldly expectations, or did it prove that Disney and Pixar need to focus more on new stories rather than continuing off existing IP? Keep reading to find out!

Lightyear has everything you’d expect from a Pixar film and I will touch on all of those elements later in the review, but what I’ll talk about first is what was the most surprising thing about Lightyear, and that's how strong all of the science fiction elements were. That is in large part because of the director Angus MacLane, who made a sci-fi extravaganza with action worthy of the Star Wars films and ideas worthy of the genius Christopher Nolan. The story we got here was so good and I loved how character-driven it was. We really got to see how Buzz is at first this very self-absorbed person who gets off on feeling competent and in control, and the movie was constantly examining and challenging his shortcomings and I thought that was a nice touch. With all of that said, the film remained faithful to the spirit of the Toy Story movies while still being its own entity, so I give a big round of applause to director Angus MacLane, and I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Alright, I’ve waited long enough, it’s time to address Chris Evans’ voice performance as the titular character, Buzz Lightyear. His take on Buzz was amazing and it’s illegal to say that it’s as good or better than Tim Allen’s was because he made the character, but it was about as good as it could’ve been to me. Evans captured the character’s personality without doing a Tim Allen impression, and I was so impressed by Evans’ performance. The man can truly do no wrong, whether it’s kicking ass in that tight suit as Captain America or as the antagonist in the 2019 mystery film Knives Out (see Ted’s full review here), and I cannot wait to see him go toe to toe with another one of my favorite actors in Ryan Gosling in just over a month in the upcoming Netflix action thriller The Gray Man (see our preview here), which is directed by the Russo brothers.

Another great thing about Lightyear was its humor throughout. It is definitely a more inspired kind of humor and the fan-favorite when it came to who got the most laughs was the Sox character that’s voiced by Peter Sohn. I mean you just knew there was going to be a great comic relief character with it being a Pixar film. Aside from Sox though, all of the supporting characters were great from Taika Waititi’s Mo Morrison character to Bill Hader’s Featheringhamstan. They were all fantastic and provided a ton of laughs. James Brolin was awesome too as he voiced Emperor Zurg and Keke Palmer crushed it in her voice role as Izzy Hawthorne. Palmer is going to have herself quite the summer because not only is she in this, but she is set to star alongside Daniel Kaluuya in Jordan Peele’s upcoming science fiction horror film Nope (see our preview here).

There were so many other things I liked about Lightyear. First with the animation, and I know I use this word a lot, but it was truly stunning. I mean we know what to expect when it comes to Pixar, but they just continue to get better and better when it comes to their animation. I think a big reason I liked it so much though was because of all of the scenes in outer space and some of the longer takes we got in space that resembled Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 science-fiction epic Gravity which won Cuarón his first of two Best Director Academy Awards. Other than that, the sound design was fantastic, the visual effects were top-notch, and it was extremely well-paced. Oh, and one more thing, Michael Giacchino’s score was amazing and it brought so much to the film as a whole. As good as his score here was, it still isn’t even his best score of 2022, because that my friends is the score he did for the DC superhero film, The Batman (see Ted’s full review here).

In closing, the film has a lot of heart and it’s emotional too as we see Buzz learn the value of teamwork and the importance of accepting mistakes along the way. This may be a small spoiler, but there is at least one moment that will get you teary-eyed so just be prepared. All in all, I was just so impressed with how well put together this film was. A Buzz Lightyear origin story could have misfired in so many ways, but this film goes to infinity and beyond. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist, but in all seriousness, I will be rooting for this film to take home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, because it is very deserving.

THE BAD

From Andrew’s Perspective…

Despite my love for this film, there were just a few minor things I thought they could’ve done better. The first was that the film was very predictable at times despite the interesting story we were given. At the end of the day though it’s a Pixar film, and I feel like most of them are quite predictable. I will say though that I think a longer runtime might’ve helped solve that problem a little bit just by maybe throwing some more stuff in there because this film is only just over an hour and a half if you take out the credits. With that said, it’s a kid’s movie so they really can’t make it 2 hours plus, or else you’d either have kids falling asleep or just no longer paying attention. Finally, this is definitely a nice addition to the Disney Pixar catalog, but because of the film feeling a little obvious at times, I just can’t put it in the upper echelon of Pixar movies because I think the best Pixar movies get their point across in more indirect ways like for example, in Inside Out which I truly think is not only arguably the best Pixar film ever made, but one of the best animated movies ever made.

One more thing and I feel this needs to be addressed, but the main critique that I have seen from other critics when it comes to Lightyear is that it is another example of a soulless way to profit off of existing IP like the Toy Story franchise, but that is just such an old and annoying argument that really doesn’t work. This definitely wasn’t the worst way to use the IP, and if we are going to be totally transparent, everything is based on a previous work and I’m down for any space adventure that Pixar wants to give us.

From Ted’s Perspective…

It made sense to let Andrew jump into his criticisms of the film first considering I knew it would be easier for him to take out the critical microscope if you will, and to be honest I agree with all of his points. Even though I score the film a bit higher, which you will see in the verdict section, Lightyear is not perfect, and surely isn’t the best Toy Story film either for that matter. That honor of course is reserved for the original film. But yeah, the plot is predictable as Andrew mentioned and surely limited by the fairly short run time, but I appreciate that as a dad who is at the mercy of kids and their notoriously short attention spans. I wouldn’t go as far as to necessarily criticize the decision to go this route mainly because the primary objective was to bring the iconic Buzz Lightyear to life, and I felt like they accomplished that goal. But at the same time Andrew mentions the incredible film Inside Out as an example, and even though Lightyear has a ton going for it, that is just in another league in terms of the whole package.

THE VERDICT

From Ted’s Perspective…

Top-tier voice acting matched only by the stunning visuals, laugh-out-loud humor, and the heartfelt moments the Toy Story franchise is so proudly known for, Lightyear is an origin story of epic proportions that put an ear-to-ear smile on my face and brought out my inner-child. To infinity, and beyond!! I ended up seeing the movie twice as I took my 3-year-old son the very next day, and it was even better the second time around. He loved it as well, of course, and couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. Which is saying something considering he had a plate of chicken fingers, waffle fries, and a full basket of popcorn in front of him. I really can’t put a price on a movie that makes me feel like a kid again while allowing me the opportunity to share something so special with my own son. It’s really a feeling I can’t even begin to describe. Bottom line, Lightyear is so much more than a cash-grab and I personally cannot wait to see it for a third time. Get the family together and head out to the theater sooner than later.

TED’s RATING - 9.1/10

From Andrew’s Perspective…

Lightyear, the latest film from the famous duo that is Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, is a really solid adventure film with amazing science fiction elements, and it is also surprisingly thought-provoking at times as it serves as a sort of character study on the iconic Buzz Lightyear.

I was so impressed with the direction and story we got from Angus MacLane as he gave us some sci-fi elements we’ve never gotten from a Pixar film, and Chris Evans absolutely killed it as the voice of Buzz Lightyear as he brought new depth to the legendary character. Other than that, the film had everything you could ask for when it comes to a Disney Pixar film from the stunning animation, heart, humor, lovable side characters, and an unforgettable comic relief character, this one being the robotic cat that serves as Buzz’s companion, Sox.

Andrew’s RATING - 8.5/10

Lightyear is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Jurassic World Dominion

Jurassic World Dominion is a 2022 science fiction adventure film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who wrote the screenplay with Emily Carmichael, based on a story by Trevorrow and his writing partner, Derek Connolly. It is the sequel to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), the sixth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, and the third film in the Jurassic World trilogy. As with its predecessors, Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley will produce the film, with Trevorrow and Jurassic Park (1993) director Steven Spielberg acting as executive producers.

Four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed, dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

The film stars an ensemble cast including Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Daniella Pineda, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Omar Sy, and BD Wong reprising their roles from previous films in the franchise, and they are joined by Mamoudou Athie, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman, Campbell Scott, and DeWanda Wise.

Jurassic World Dominion made it’s debut in theaters and IMAX on June 10th, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

THE GOOD

I’m a Jurassic Park fan through and through, and although I wouldn’t necessarily say that I am a hardcore fan considering I don’t have a t-shirt in my closet or anything like that, these films still are absolutely pure nostalgia for me. I always think of the army green jeep with Jurassic Park written on the side, man that would be a cool summer vehicle. If you go all the way back to the original film, they always felt larger-than-life and ahead of their time. Dinosaurs really are the ultimate trigger of curiosity, I mean just look at the recently released docu-series Prehistoric Planet (see our preview here) which is incredible by the way. Okay so to get back on track a bit, I knew I would be seeing the latest film in the storied franchise, Jurassic World Dominion, as soon as it hit theaters. As I made my way to my super comfortable seat with warm delicious buttery popcorn and ice-cold soda in hand, was it worth my time? Keep reading to find out!

I had so much fun with Jurassic World Dominion. The movie delivered on the promise of edge-of-your-seat entertainment and genuine nostalgia as it managed to still feel like an authentic Jurassic Park movie. Bringing together the new age cast and the original cast for one final Jurassic World hoorah was a fantastic idea and they made the most of the opportunity. As expected, Jurassic World Dominion takes full advantage of the advancements in CGI technology, serving up some incredibly realistic and oftentimes downright terrifying dinosaurs. Don’t worry, we also get some cute ones that you would happily bring into your home as a pet. I was smiling for the better part of the film and really enjoyed seeing some of my favorite characters grace the big screen again. As far as the characters, the writing team put extra effort into ensuring the original characters felt like they had been living separate lives since the original film and subsequent sequels instead of it feeling like they just showed up.

The technical elements of Jurassic World Dominion take center stage as expected, and I don’t think many viewers will complain about that. At the end of the day, there is something reassuring about knowing you’ll have an unlimited supply of eye candy when you head to the theater to see a Jurassic Park film. Instead of going the route of feeling like a Transformers movie with one epic action sequence after another, which they easily could have, they opted for a nice balance to ensure the action helped to move the story along. The first few acts of the film are built around some of the more moderately sized yet still extremely dangerous dinosaurs as they are more popular in the underground black market scene for obvious reasons. I mean, you can’t exactly transport and conceal a T-Rex as much as you might want to.

We get some fantastic white-knuckle scenes including an awesome scene with Chris Pratt’s character on the run for his life on a motorcycle, as well as a few fantastic flying sequences. Plus our favorite characters are constantly in danger which had my blood pressure through the roof. When it comes to building tension, Jurassic World Dominion gets high marks from me. As far as the visuals are concerned, they really thrive in the finale when the humans step aside and let these amazing creatures fight it out. One scene, in particular, stood out to me and had a little bit of a Godzilla vs. Kong vibe. In my opinion, the film built things up like a great 4th of July fireworks display with a finale well worth the price of admission. So satisfying!

Aside from the visuals, the obvious bread and butter of Jurassic World Dominion is this fantastic and very well-rounded cast. The core Jurassic World crew is back led by Chris Pratt and the beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard. Pratt is great yet again as expected, and it was great to see how much his character has grown since the first Jurassic World film. If you were creating a list of jaw-dropping redheads, you better have Bryce Dallas Howard at the top of that list. The daughter of actor turned accomplished director Ron Howard, I just cannot seem to get enough of her. She is sort of like a more attractive but not quite as talented Jessica Chastain, and I mean that as a compliment. I love her in this role and her relationship with Pratt’s character is a big driving force for me. A big part of the film’s story is built around the Maisie Lockwood character played by Isabella Sermon, who made her debut in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Even though she is very inexperienced as an actress with this being her second acting credit, I thought she was great and definitely an asset to the film.

Jurassic World Dominion introduced a few newcomers as pivotal characters within the story, Mamoudou Athie, DeWanda Wise, and Dichen Lachman. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it took me much longer than it should have to realize why Athie looked so familiar. The Mauritanian-American actor has some quality acting credits on his resume, but his role in the Netflix drama-thriller series Archive 81 is likely to be fresh in the minds of most viewers. I loved his character and the intrigue he brought to the storyline, and I think he was easily the best new addition as far as the cast. Wise, who has been making quite a name for herself including a solid role in the Netflix film The Harder They Fall (our full review here), was just a badass in this. I really liked her former military-always-willing-to-do-the-right-thing-no-matter-the-consequences character, and she really upped the fun factor of the film.

I also really liked Lachman’s character as she took on the role of the mysterious antagonist, Sonoya Santos. Born in Kathmandu, Nepal, Lachman is known for her role as Frankie in the hit series Animal Kingdom, as well as a supporting role in the incredible Apple TV+ drama series Severance. The versatile actress is obviously talented and continues to make her presence felt in film and television series roles. I did really like Campbell Scott as the film’s primary antagonist as he played the extremely intelligent and socially awkward Lewis Dodgson. His character is hard to get a read on but you can tell from the start something isn’t right about him. I also really liked my guy BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu. His character is conflicted as he finds himself in the middle of a global disaster, and I really liked the story arch for his character.

Okay so I will do my best to keep it brief as I have already rambled quite a bit, but I have to talk about the OG cast that helped to build the Jurassic Park franchise from the ground up. That would of course be the dynamic trio consisting of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and the man, the myth, the legend, Jeff Goldblum. This is random but even though Goldblum has enjoyed an illustrious career as an actor, when I see him now I somehow can’t help but think about the Seth Rogen scene from Pineapple Express when he mentions his girlfriend’s attractive high school friend he is jealous of and the fact that he is so funny with his great Jeff Goldblum impressions, to which James Franco’s character responds “F**K Jeff Goldblum, Man!”. So funny!!

So yeah, I can’t understate how much I love me some Jeff Goldblum, the guy is just always on point. Someone needs to give Taika Waititi a high five for casting him in Thor: Ragnarok. It blows my mind to think that his career began in 1974 in the Charles Bronson crime thriller Death Wish, as the titular character, Freak #1. But seriously, he is one of the greatest. I enjoyed so many of the characters in Jurassic World Dominion, but I think his iconic Ian Malcolm character was my favorite. It was just classic Goldblum as he managed to play more than one character for the sake of deception while remaining hilarious as always no matter what. Okay so back to Sam Neill and Laura Dern, it was amazing to get the two of them back on-screen again in a Jurassic Park movie. Their reunion held the most weight without a doubt, and I really liked what the writers did with them and how their relationship developed. So yeah, bringing back the original characters for Jurassic World Dominion was a slam dunk.

THE BAD

As far as movies that are just meant to be seen in theaters, Jurassic World Dominion is an absolute blast. But, it’s not perfect. For me, it starts off a little slow which is an issue considering the long run time and the fact that this is the 3rd film in the “Jurassic World” franchise. I just felt like they could have gotten things going a bit quicker to allow for more of the exciting stuff in the rest of the film. Although I did enjoy the story, especially how it all comes together at the end, they really played it safe here making it so this felt oddly similar to 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. We did get a few solid twists and the return of the original characters made up for a lot of the writing deficiencies. I will say though, that I’m honestly not sure why so many critics seem to have such an issue with this film, calling it dull and uninspired. It almost feels like they watched the beginning of the movie, made up their mind, and started giving an opinion. Which if I’m being honest, really wouldn’t surprise me.

THE VERDICT

Although the decision to play it safe with the screenplay limits its overall potential, Jurassic World Dominion still packs a hefty punch with exciting action sequences and stunning visuals, a satisfying reunion with the original cast, and an epic finale that serves as a great sendoff for the franchise. So much of this film is fan service, which is more than okay with me and most of you heading out to the theater. The original film was released way back in 1993, and it was so cool to see a few fathers and grandfathers taking the opportunity to share a special experience with their children and grandchildren. Jurassic World Dominion isn’t perfect as I talked about earlier in the review, but the pros far outweigh the cons, and the fact that this movie simply NEEDS to be seen in theaters seems obvious. Take what the majority of critics are saying with a grain of salt as for some reason they seem to be comparing this to the magical cinematic treat that is Top Gun: Maverick (our full review here). So yeah, kick off the summer movie season with the dinosaurs that have been entertaining us for nearly 30 years, you won’t regret it.

TED TAKES RATING - 7.3/10

Jurassic World Dominion is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.

Emergency

Emergency is a 2022 comedy drama film directed by Carey Williams from a screenplay by KD Dávila. It is a feature-length adaptation of Williams and Dávila's 2018 short film of the same name. The short film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 SXSW. Dávila's screenplay also made the 2020 Black List of most popular un-produced scripts from up-and-coming screenwriters. Emergency premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival where Dávila won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

Ready for a night of legendary partying, three college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unexpected situation.

The cast includes RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sabrina Carpenter, Sebastian Chacon, Maddie Nichols, Madison Thompson, Diego Abraham, and Melanie Jeffcoat.

Emergency made it’s debut in limited theaters on May 20th, and became available to stream on Prime Video May 27th.

THE GOOD

Emergency sort of snuck up on me when the trailer was first released, but once I saw that it had the one-two punch of a massive debut at the crème de la crème of film festivals, that being the Sundance Film Festival of course, as well as the underrated and frankly underappreciated RJ Cyler in a leading role. And with that, like a stone-faced poker player, I was ALL IN. The initial critic response to the film was insane, and you were hard-pressed to find anything negative about it. Plus considering the fact that it would be available to stream on Prime Video only a week after a limited theatrical release for awards consideration, the anticipation was building by the day. Was it worth the excitement? Keep reading to find out!

Bottom line, Emergency was fantastic, and is an absolute cinematic treat. I was laughing hysterically within the first few minutes of the film, and right away I could sense the creative direction it planned to take and I was excited to be along for the ride. I won’t give anything away, but the opening scene is by far the most entertaining and hilarious take on racism in recent memory. Try not to get hung up on the fact that it does shine a bright light on several issues that absolutely exist within our society, because it does so in such a way to avoid excluding anyone. Perhaps tasteful is the right word, but somehow they manage to make a powerful message extremely entertaining while still getting the point across. I wouldn’t even refer to it as social commentary because it just all feels so authentic and grounded. Plus, somehow Emergency finds a way to never take itself too seriously which is a huge benefit in terms of the overall entertainment value. I never once glanced at my phone and was fully immersed in the film from start to finish. Plus, the film absolutely left a lasting impression on me.

I like to give credit where credit is due, and without question, the primary strengths of Emergency are the writing and the acting. Considering it is the foundation of the film, I’ll start with the writing and what I felt was a masterful screenplay from Mexican-American screenwriter K.D. Dávila. Everything about the story feels very intentional and genuine for a reason thanks to the fact that the film is based on Dávila’s 2018 short film of the same name, which netted director Carey Williams several awards at various film festivals including the Special Jury Price Short Filmmaking Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Fast forward to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and Dávila took home the Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award for a U.S. Dramatic film. It is undeniable the impact Williams has had behind the camera, but for the feature-film version to work so well the screenplay had to take center stage.

You really have to experience it for yourself, but the tone is just so, so good. I’m not quite sure how they were able to find such a great balance, but Emergency never feels too funny, too serious, or too anything really, just like one of the many fantastic jokes during the film, it feels just right (Goldilocks and the Three Bears reference, obviously). But seriously, I laughed a ton, and when it was necessary I sat back and just took in the power of the moment. Nothing felt forced which is often a difficult balance with a film that touches on serious societal issues, and everything resonated with me. During one scene a very suburban “white” couple, and I can say that because I am very white myself, come out of their house and begin filming with their phones what they perceive as drug dealers on their property while yelling at them to leave before they call the cops. Once they leave the couple retreats to their home, seemingly satisfied, as they pass by their Black Lives Matter sign. I mean, hypocrisy at its finest.

Now it is time to talk about the acting and my guy RJ Cyler, as well as the rest of this fantastic cast. Cyler won me over after his role in the 2015 coming-of-age comedy-drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and because of that incredible film, I will always refer to him as Earl (I hope that’s okay with him). I’ve seen that movie easily 15 times, and it just gets better with every viewing, just be prepared to shed a few tears. I am a huge fan of a well-made coming-of-age film regardless, but it also has a deeper layer for lovers of the history of film, and I really appreciated that as well. Now I mentioned the fact that as an actor, Cyler is underrated and underappreciated, which I do firmly believe because let’s be honest, before reading this did YOU know his real name? Anyway, he has been getting his fair share of quality roles with the 2017 Power Rangers re-boot which I reviewed previously (our full review here), still waiting on a sequel, as well as the hard-hitting Netflix original film The Harder They Fall, which Andrew reviewed a few months ago (full review here). Cyler has a great on-screen presence and has proven he can play comedic and more serious roles with the best of them, while surely striving when he can do a little bit of both. Needless to say, he provided the majority of the comedic relief for Emergency while also handling the more dramatic roles perfectly. Cyler also has another film that looks really good, a historic drama called Freedom’s Path which should be available at some point soon, just waiting on news of a release date.

I know I have a problem talking about my appreciation for RJ Cyler, but he wasn’t alone when it came to this great cast. The other lead role was played by Donald Elise Watkins, who I thought was fantastic as well. His chemistry with Cyler was next-level, and the two played off of each other extremely well. With a film like this that relies on that nerdy “I care too much” role and the freewheeling “show up to class when I feel like it” role, both of these characters need to be believable otherwise the film quickly falls apart. Watkins, who admittedly I did not know much about prior to Emergency, has played a number of small supporting or very limited “background character” type roles, in films like Pitch Perfect (2012), Get on Up (2014), and Free State of Jones (2016). For me this is very much a breakout role for him as he is a big reason why the film works as well as it does.

He gets just as much screen time as Cyler, and arguably has a bigger impact on the film in terms of the dramatic element during the final act. In what is arguably the most powerful scene in the film, Watkins finds himself facedown on pavement with a single tear running down his face. This moment hit hard, and was really the culmination for the film and it’s underlying message. So yeah, he was great. The supporting cast did an incredible job as well, most notably Sebastian Chacon who plays Cyler and Watkins’ fanny pack wearing and pot smoking roommate. His chemistry with Cyler and Watkins was the icing on the cake for me, and the film simply wouldn’t be quite as good without him. I have nothing negative to say about the rest of the supporting cast consisting of Sabrina Carpenter, Diego Abraham, Gillian Rabin. Maddie Nichols, and Summer Madison. Just a great job all around.

THE BAD

I figured I would be able to easily speak to some of the negatives of Emergency when it comes to the social commentary etc, but I stand corrected. KD Dávila’s effective yet relatable screenplay simply works wonders with this cast, ensuring the entertainment value is prevalent from start to finish. The film feels authentic in terms of the overall goal of the story, and not a single scene or moment is wasted. I suppose you could argue that the comedic element takes a back seat during the film’s final act, but that is of course by design and surely not a flaw of the film. Bottom line, Emergency delivers on all fronts and is a movie with high replay value as well.

THE VERDICT

As hilarious and engaging as it is raw and purposeful thanks to breakout performances from RJ Cyler and Donald Elise Watkins, Emergency is a rare comedy drama that shines a light on a serious problem within our society without feeling overly political or one-sided. Rarely taking itself too seriously, the film manages to avoid limiting its reach and instead finds a way to appeal to all audiences thanks to a versatile mix of genres, and that is one of its biggest strengths. Director Carey Williams and screenwriter KD Dávila continue to develop their strong working relationship on the big screen, and I can’t wait to see what the duo comes up with next. Hollywood needs to take notice and start giving my guy RJ Cyler more opportunities because he always delivers. A Power Rangers sequel would be nice as well. Be sure to check out Emergency sooner than later.

TED TAKES RATING - 9.4/10

Emergency is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Prime Video. Check out the latest trailer below.