Month: May 2022

Five women of different nationalities team up to keep a flash drive that can access any digital device on the planet out of the wrong hands, a McGuffin that might have felt much more fresh and urgent twenty years ago. It’s very stupid and lazy with double-crosses and ‘twists’ that are projected from the very beginning. Even the acting, with a cast that includes Oscar winners Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, and Lupita Nyong’o, is lackluster with the writing failing them at almost every turn. Amusingly, the ending seems to suggest the hope for sequels. 

Many times in Hollywood, two films come out at around the same time with a very similar theme. In 2000, that was the case with Red Planet and Mission to Mars. I know I had seen at least one of them in the theaters at the time, but even after watching this, I’m not sure if Red Planet was the one or not. In 2056, Earth is in crisis and scientists seeding Mars with algae in the hope of making it inhabitable. When the algae mysteriously begins producing less oxygen, a crew is sent to the planet to investigate. It has a pretty decent cast with Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Tom Sizemore, but other than being unmemorable, it also makes the egregious errors of relegating the one female crew member to stay ship-side and forcing her into an unnecessary romance. Apparently things haven’t improved much from 1959’s The Angry Red Planet . 

When detective writer Robert Downey Jr. is hospitalized with a crippling skin disease, he hallucinates musical numbers performed by the people he encounters mixed into the world of his novel and memories of his childhood. I watched, and kept watching, this because of its cast which also includes Alfre Woodard, Katie Holmes, and an almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson. The grotesque makeup used for the writer’s lesions made it difficult. The plot is strange and often challenging to follow, but the psychological aspects as the film progressed kept me interested.  

Ripken baseball coach John C. McGinley recruits Garret Dillahunt to be his assistant coach after he mistakes the identity of Dillahunt’s stepson for a much more athletic player. The vast majority of the film is the two men talking and navigating their different philosophies on coaching and life. There’s not a whole lot of actual baseball, but for fans of either of the actors, and I have enjoyed works by both of them, it’s about as entertaining as anything else they’ve done. I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out which park in Nashville had an elevated train in the background.  

After her granddaughter tricks her into signing over power of attorney and commits her to a senior home, Brenda Fricker’s long-time partner Olympia Dukakis sneaks her out of the home and they run off to Canada to get married. I hated the beginning and end of this film. The granddaughter’s activities in the first part are so over the top evil that it is next to impossible to understand why Fricker would have kept her in her life for long. The ending took an undeserved turn. But the middle part is so wonderful that I’d easily watch the film again. Dukakis and Fricker make a beautiful mismatched couple with love and mutual affection shining between them.  

Following the events of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, the turtles discover that a canister containing the same ooze that led to their formation years ago has gone missing along with a doctor who understands its power. A film of this type begs comparison to its original title and this one holds up fairly well. The story and action are silly but still entertaining. Paige Turco is a better choice for April O’Neil, but the change in Raphael’s voice actor was off-putting. Vanilla Ice being the musical guest firmly sets its time period even if what he has to offer is nowhere near memorable as Partners in Kryme’s Turtle Power. I don’t remember if it was an issue in the earlier film, but Michelangelo and Raphael’s bandanas were often not distinctive enough, especially in shadows, making for confusion whenever they weren’t on screen together. Overall, it makes for a good pairing with the original though I doubt I’ll find a need to watch the third.