THE BEEKEEPER (2024) review
written by: Kurt Wimmer
produced by: Bill Block, Chris Long, Jason Statham, Kurt Wimmer
directed by: David Ayer
rated: R (for strong violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexual references and drug use.)
runtime: 105 min.
U.S. release date: January 12, 2024 (theaters) & February 2, 2024 (VOD)
“When someone hurts an older person, they are often left to face the hornets alone.”
Confession time: I’ve never been a big fan of Jason Statham movies. In fact, up until his brilliant appearance in 2015’s “Spy,” I was operating under the impression that he was the sort of guy who took himself very seriously. However, after seeing the trailer for—and getting several hearty laughs out of it—his latest starring vehicle, “The Beekeeper,” I began to rethink this entire perception. Had Statham finally embraced the utter absurdity inherent in the premises of his leading man vehicles? I am thrilled beyond measure to report that, yes, indeed he has. Read more…
CHAPERONE (2024) review
written by: Zoe Eisenberg
produced by: Zoe Eisenberg, G.B. Hajim, Devin Parnell Murphy & Alison Week
directed by: Zoe Eisenberg
rated: not rated
runtime: 99 min.
U.S. release date: January 19, 2024 (Slamdance Film Festival)
The older I get the more I realize that I didn’t know much when I was younger. That may seem obvious, but I’m a slow learner. It was especially true in my early twenties when I found myself struggling with what to do with my life. I wouldn’t say I figured it all out, but I found a way and it was largely based on surrounding myself with others my age or older and contributing to a community that was focused on serving others. Still, it was hard not to compare myself to where others my age were in life. I found myself thinking about while watching “Chaperone” a film from Hawai’ian writer/director Zoe Eisenberg that recently premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. Read more…
I.S.S. (2024) review
written by: Nick Shafir
produced by: Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon
directed by: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
rating: R (for some violence and language)
runtime: 95 min.
U.S. release date: January 12, 2024
“I.S.S.” is one of those one-location thrillers, in which the characters we spend time with remain in one single location throughout the movie. In this case, they are a group of astronauts and cosmonauts, three Russians and three Americans, living aboard the International Space Station (hence the movie’s title). The main conceit from screenwriter Nick Shafir finds the crew dealing with following orders and struggling to survive, in a story akin to something you’d find on an episode of “Black Mirror”. There is commendable set-up and tense build-up from documentarian-turned-narrative-filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite (“Blackfish” and “Meagan Leavey”), as close-quarters paranoia is established and escalated to trust issues. It’s an interesting premise and character study, albeit with some head-scratching plotholes. Read more…
Top Ten Films of 2023
2023 was the year of Barbenheimer and the year superhero movies took more than one fatal hit and I’m fine with all of that. It was great to see audiences flock to theaters to see two very different July releases, one by Greta Gerwig and the other by Christopher Nolan. It helps that both films happened to be worth the trip to the big-screen. I liked both of them, but not nearly as much as everyone else. That being said, I see the merits and re-watchability of each, but neither moved me or resonated with me the way any of the ten on my list did. Read more…
HE WENT THAT WAY (2023) review
written by: Evan M. Wiener
produced by: Marc Benardout, James Harris, Mark Lane, Hugh Broder & Jeremy Kotin
directed by: Jeffrey Darling
rated: not rated
runtime: 96 min.
U.S. release date: January 5, 2024 (select theaters) & January 12, 2024 (digital)
When a movie opens with an introductory note that reads “This really (mostly) happened”, it better follow with the weirdness or comedy expected from such a statement. It turns out, that the most interesting thing about “He Went That Way” is the end credit footage of one of the real people this is based on. Watching that footage makes it clear the material would benefit from a documentary treatment rather than this attempt at a noir thriller. Read more…
NIGHT SWIM (2024) review
written by: Bryce McGuire and Rod Blackhurst (story) & Bryce McGuire (screenplay)
produced by: Jason Blum and James Wan
directed by: Bryce McGuire
rated: PG-13 (for terror, some violent content and language)
runtime: 98 min.
U.S. release date: January 5, 2024
There’s a ghoul in the pool. That’s where we’re at as the horror genre kicks off the new year. In 2023, there were nine horror flicks released from Blumhouse Productions, kicking off with “M3GAN”, a somewhat satirical look at the horrors of AI and ending with “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, a dull video game adaptation that offered the horrors of animatronics. Now, the production company teams with James Wan’s Atomic Monsters for the first time (along with Universal Pictures), to give us…a killer swimming pool. To be honest, I’d see writer/director Bryce McGuire’s “Night Swim” just out of curiosity to see how bad it will be and/or if it’ll have any redeeming qualities. It’s not awful, but it doesn’t have nearly enough to redeem itself. Read more…
ANYONE BUT YOU (2023) review
written by: Ilana Wolpert and Will Gluck
produced by: Will Gluck, Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum
directed by: Will Gluck
rated: R (for language throughout, sexual content and brief graphic nudity)
runtime: 103 min.
U.S. release date: December 22, 2023
I had more fun than I expected to watching “Anyone But You”, a rom-com I really wasn’t expecting to work based on poor word-of-mouth and, well, the fact that not many modern-day movies of this genre do it for me. But, there I was laughing-out-loud next to my teenage daughter, whom I had to accompany to this absurd and silly R-rated romp. It’s the kind of movie that knows how gorgeous its two leads are and is confident in blatantly showcasing this fact throughout in either revealing moments or situational gag humor. Once I acknowledged and was on board with what director Will Gluck (who co-wrote the screenplay with Ilana Wolpert) was doing, I sat back and got a kick out of it, which is a rare theatrical experience for me when it comes to comedy. Read more…
AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM (2023) review
written by: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenplay) and James Wan, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa & Thomas Pa’a Sibbett (story)
produced by: Peter Safran, James Wan and Rob Cowan
directed by: James Wan
rated: PG-13 (for sci-fi violence and some language)
runtime: 124 min.
U.S. release date: December 22, 2023
Considering the dismal year that live-action superhero movies had in 2023, especially for Warner Bros/DC Extended Universe, it’s no surprise that the sequel to their huge moneymaker from 2018, “Aquaman”, is dead in the water. Pun intended. That first movie was a delirious ride that took a fun kitchen sink approach which included exhilarating action and visual effects with actors seriously committed to cartoon pulp material. So, it’s a real head scratcher why “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” doesn’t work on the same level. James Wan returns as director, as do many others involved in the last movie, but the result is something bigger yet definitely not better. Perhaps too many people were involved in the story here (or we’re all just wiped out from a year of subpar superheroes), as there’s too much going on, but not in any kind of meaningful or original way. Read more…
REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE (2023) review
written by: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten
produced by: Deborah Snyder, Eric Newman, Zack Snyder & Wesley Coller
directed by: Zack Snyder
rating: PG-13 (for sequences of strong violence, sexual assault, bloody images, language, sexual material and partial nudity)
runtime: 134 min.
U.S. release date: December 15, 2023 (limited theaters) and December 22, 2023 (Netflix)
While subjecting myself to Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire”, I was reminded how baffling it is that so many people can come together to make such an utterly boring and snooze-worthy debacle of a movie. No one told Snyder and his co-writers (Kurt Johnstad, and Shay Hatten) that this copy of a copy of a copy of a screenplay is woefully bland and littered with dialogue that vacillates between awful and hilarious. That’s because he wrote it and it was co-produced by his own production company The Stone Quarry, which he founded with his wife, Deborah and their producing partner Wesley Coller, back in 2004. So, who’s going to tell him the script sucks and his gargantuan movie is a regurgitated slog? No one. Netflix funded it and here we are with the first of two chapters. Read more…
WONKA (2023) review
written by: Simon Farnaby and Paul King
produced by: David Heyman, Alexandra Derbyshire and Luke Kelly
directed by: Paul King
rating: PG (for some violence, mild language and thematic elements)
runtime: 116 min.
U.S. release date: December 15, 2023
When it was announced that there would be a movie giving us the origin story of author Roald Dahl’s famously demented chocolatier, I was less than enthused. After all, like so many other great characters (especially movie villains), we’re better off knowing less about Willy Wonka’s past. It keeps the mystery surrounding the quirky character intact. But, studios can’t just leave an established IP (that’s intellectual property, folks) collected dust, so here we are with “Wonka”, a delightful musical comedy from co-writer/director Paul King. He’s the man who gave us two delightful “Paddington” movies and the material here fits just right with his proclivities for sweet and whimsical entertainment. Read more…
