Month: January 2022

Private investigator Mickey Rourke is hired by Robert De Niro to track down a man who owes him a debt. Rourke’s investigation soon leads him from New York to New Orleans, finding the man’s teenaged daughter Lisa Bonet and a supernatural conspiracy people want to keep hidden. There’s some silliness in its telling (De Niro’s 5 inch fingernails being one), but I really enjoyed the performances and the tale as it was being spun. What really sold me though was the climax. The tension palpably swirls around Rourke as he is spun to the solution to his query, the answer more coming for him than him finding it himself.    

After his partner hands over an assignment to guard stripper Halle Berry, former Secret Service agent turned Private Investigator Bruce Willis finds himself enmeshed in a conspiracy involving sports gambling. Along the way he teams up with Berry’s boyfriend and disgraced football star Damon Wayans. Wayans and Willis surprisingly have incredible chemistry together. The movie works best when they are allowed to just buddy up and riff off each other. I would enjoy seeing them buddy up together again. Unfortunately the movie often gets in the way of that. I’ll also give it points for Taylor Negron as a baddie. It’s a role different than any other I’ve seen him in and he shines.    

In an economically depressed area of Southern Ohio, Jessica Barden has recently been accepted into the college of her choice but most engage in more and more dangerous endeavors in hopes to pay for her future schooling. I was interested in this film because I’ve spent a lot of time in the area where it was set and filmed. That setting is presented well; the film evocatively captures the dark, cold, never-endingness of Midwestern winters. Unfortunately the camera work as a whole was rather distracting, not even bother with annoying shaky cam but graduating to full on swinging back and forth mode. The cast overall worked quite well and felt like believable people from the community, except for the main character. She came off as pouty and privileged instead of tough and resourceful. Though many actors pull it off, I’m not surprised she isn’t American.

In this fictionalized account of events that occurred in medieval France, knight Matt Damon challenges his former friend Adam Driver to a judicial duel after his wife Jodie Comer accuses Driver of raping her. The film is unnecessarily told in 3 versions, giving very slight differences in the perspectives of the three main characters, a feat that could have been accomplished easily with a more linear translation. This overextends the runtime to the film’s detriment. It detracts from some rather fine acting and period costumes and set pieces. The only weakness in the acting is Ben Affleck as the count overseeing all the proceedings. While he provides some comic relief, his bleach blonde, dude-bro portrayal is a bit over the top and quite silly.