Stubborn American teenager Antonio J. Bell is sent against his will to live with his aunt in Nigeria in hopes that he will connect with his native roots. On his first day in country, he meets his scam artist older cousin Chinaza Uche who convinces him to join in a con that could get him money needed to return home. I’ve generally dug the Nigerian films I’ve checked out and it was interesting to see the culture here through a more American lens. Maybe it’s a differences in culture issue, but it was hard for me from the get-go to get over the idea of parents lying to and then sending their child alone to a country the child has never been without any forewarning of what to expect. When the film switches over to Uche’s experiences, I found the story more interesting as I hadn’t been aware that the Nigerian Prince scam often actually comes from Nigeria and that there’s a whole scamming industry there.

In Steven Spielberg’s theatrical debut, Goldie Hawn is a struggling mother who breaks her husband William Atherton out of jail to reclaim their son from foster care. Based on a true story, what follows is an often slow police pursuit across the state of Texas after the pair hold officer Michael Sacks hostage and eventually become folk heroes in the eyes of the public. Hawn gives perhaps the best performance I’ve seen from her, equally determined and vulnerable in her singular goal. It’s really a solid bit of storytelling with little excess from a young director now known for greater things. 

The arduous task of flying mail across the Andes Mountains is made much more dangerous with airline director John Barrymore’s determination to have his night delivery program succeed. Putting real stakes in the delivery is a sick child in Rio de Janeiro desperately needing a polio serum from Buenos Aires. A star-studded affair that includes Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Lionel Barrymore, and Myrna Loy, these heavy stakes are oddly only discussed as bookends at the beginning and end while the rest of the film rests on conflict at the airline and the personal lives of its pilots. I have an affinity for postal films and this one certainly has gorgeous vistas and a lovely South America map showing the connections that must be made, but I wish it had an added runtime to really flesh out each of the star characters and the importance of the activity at hand.

Readying his company to sell for a handsome profit, hedge fund magnate Richard Gere is trying to hold it all together while the lies he has told and the corruption he has endorsed in his personal and professional life threaten to pull it all apart. Just like watching episodes of Billions, the financial maneuvers go […]

Right before her IRS audit meeting, struggling laundromat owner Michelle Yeoh is visited by an alternate universe version of her husband Ke Huy Quan who entreaties her to connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. I had seen many positive reviews for this film, but I was not prepared for how endlessly entertaining and thought provoking this film would be. Michelle Yeoh is a goddess who brings all her skills, including the ability to switch from being beaten down by life to kicking ass on the flip of a coin, to this fight. It doesn’t hurt that she’s supported by incredible performances, not only from Quan but also James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Stephanie Hsu. I love all the multiverse concepts and how committed the film is to fully realizing each and every one of them.      

Another edition of Peter Ustinov as the famous Belgian detective, here Poirot travels to a hotel on the Adriatic Sea run by Maggie Smith to relocate a ring that Colin Blakely’s mistress Diana Rigg stole from him. Once there, a murder is committed amongst the intertwined group of hotel guests, giving Poirot a further mystery to solve. Maybe a tad sillier than the others, but I enjoyed the central mystery here better than Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile. Even with a less lavish production than the other two, the location is stunning, the period details are delightful, and the cast, which also includes James Mason and Roddy McDowall, are top notch making it an entertaining murder mystery.   

Two American showgirls, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, are best friends with different tastes in men; Marilyn wants them rich while Jane just cares that they’re attractive. The two head to France on a cruise, unknowingly followed by a detective Monroe’s suspicious future father-in-law has hired to spy on her. The story is clichéd and uninteresting, the men are almost universally immature jerks, and the continuity is so off that I had to rewind multiple times to see if I had missed something. What it does have going for it is a refusal to condemn the women for their romantic choices, particularly within the constraints of the era in which they lived. Russell gets a chance to shine by frolicking with the entire American Olympic team who are clad only in flesh colored short shorts while Monroe has her iconic ‘Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend’ number.