Spider-Man No Way Home 2nd highest opening ever

For the weekend of December 17-19, 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home had the second-highest opening in box-office history, behind only Marvel's Avengers: Endgame. Theaters have been struggling ever since COVID, but if the title is big enough, and enough people feel good about being safe to go, whether it's third booster shots or COVID's a hoax, they went, and Disney has to be thrilled.

Spidey's success left no room for anything else. Nightmare Alley might have done better with a limited-release slow-rollout. Good cast, good reviews, but people would rather see Spider-Man. Its been a rough season for adult-oriented fare. Nightmare Alley, Last Night in Soho, The Last Duel, etc., all fell on their face despite their pedigrees.

In fact, when you look at how titles 2-10, there's still cause for concern. The blockbusters float all boats, but the midrange titles, the movies with $60 million budgets as opposed to $200 million budgets, those things are becoming a dying breed. West Side Story's hope of being a word-of-mouth Greatest Showman style hit are dead.

When I look at the highest opening weekends of all time, if you remove the movies that are sequels, comics, Disney live-action remakes, you have to go down to #23 to find The Hunger Games. In fact, of the 61 movies that have ever opened to $100+ million domestic, there are only 3 that weren't sequels/comics/Disney live-action remakes: The Hunger Games, It, and The Secret Life of Pets.

Opens This Week

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

THE KING'S MAN with Ralph Fiennes, Harrison Dickerson and Rhys Ifans.

SING 2 with the voices of Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.

A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN with Michael B. Jordan and Chante Adams.

AMERICAN UNDERDOG with Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin and Dennis Quaid.

House of Gucci - Movie Review

Starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston and Salma Hayek.

Written by Becky Johnson & Roberto Bentivegna.

Directed by Ridley Scott.

★★½ 

This reminded me a lot of Ridley Scott's other terrible-rich-people drama All the Money in the World. Instead of the Gettys, he's focused on the Guccis, and he decided to ramp up the camp factor in doing so. It's like he decided the Guccis needed a little more Dynasty flavor to it.

The protagonist is Patrizia (Lady Gaga), who marries into the Gucci family and has that Vanity Fair determination to make something of herself via social climbing among multi-millionaires. Patrizia has a meet-cute with Mauricio Gucci (Adam Driver), who falls in love with her and marries her. Patrizia sees once she is in, the dysfunction with Mauricio's dad (Jeremy Irons) and uncle (Al Pacino), who come across as Italian versions of the Duke brothers from Trading Spaces. Also around is Mauricio's cousin Paolo (Jared Leto), portrayed as a talentless idiot, with Leto somehow overacting in a movie that encourages Mommie Dearest level Jon-Lovitz-with-a-hankie capital-A "ACTING!"

This takes place over the course of 20 years, with legal maneuverings and backstabbing that makes Succession's Roy family look stable. It's a 2 1/2 hour epic, and it does drag in parts. The tone also shifts. Some scenes we're supposed to take seriously; other scenes, well, you half-expect JR Ewing to stroll in to buy a piece of the Gucci empire.

Lady Gaga, through it all, is terrific as Patrizia, and Driver, who is terrific in everything, doesn't disappoint as the stiff Mauricio. It strikes me as a movie that would work just as well with a home viewing, with some wine, and maybe some rare cheeses, and a vintage rug in front of a crackling fireplace to one side. And the two guys from Lady & the Tramp performing "Bella Noche" in the background.

2021 Golden Globe Nominations

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

BELFAST

CODA

DUNE

KING RICHARD

THE POWER OF THE DOG

BEST MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

CYRANO

DON’T LOOK UP

LICORICE PIZZA

TICK, TICK…BOOM!

WEST SIDE STORY

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

JESSICA CHASTAIN, THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE

OLIVIA COLMAN, THE LOST DAUGHTER

NICOLE KIDMAN, BEING THE RICARDOS

LADY GAGA, HOUSE OF GUCCI

KRISTEN STEWART, SPENCER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

MAHERSHALA ALI, SWAN SONG

JAVIER BARDEM, BEING THE RICARDOS

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, THE POWER OF THE DOG

WILL SMITH, KING RICHARD

DENZEL WASHINGTON, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

MARION COTILLARD, ANNETTE

ALANA HAIM, LICORICE PIZZA

JENNIFER LAWRENCE, DON’T LOOK UP

EMMA STONE, CRUELLA

RACHEL ZEGLER, WEST SIDE STORY

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, DON’T LOOK UP

PETER DINKLAGE, CYRANO

ANDREW GARFIELD, TICK, TICK…BOOM!

COOPER HOFFMAN, LICORICE PIZZA

ANTHONY RAMOS, IN THE HEIGHTS

BEST MOTION PICTURE – ANIMATED

ENCANTO

FLEE

LUCA

MY SUNNY MAAD

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

BEST MOTION PICTURE – NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE (FORMERLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (FINLAND / RUSSIA / GERMANY)

DRIVE MY CAR (JAPAN)

THE HAND OF GOD (ITALY)

A HERO (FRANCE / IRAN)

PARALLEL MOTHERS (SPAIN)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE

CAITRIONA BALFE, BELFAST

ARIANA DEBOSE, WEST SIDE STORY

KIRSTEN DUNST, THE POWER OF THE DOG

AUNJANUE ELLIS, KING RICHARD

RUTH NEGGA, PASSING

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE

BEN AFFLECK, THE TENDER BAR

JAMIE DORNAN, BELFAST

CIARÁN HINDS, BELFAST

TROY KOTSUR, CODA

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE, THE POWER OF THE DOG

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

KENNETH BRANAGH, BELFAST

JANE CAMPION, THE POWER OF THE DOG

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, THE LOST DAUGHTER

STEVEN SPIELBERG, WEST SIDE STORY

DENIS VILLENEUVE, DUNE

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON, LICORICE PIZZA

KENNETH BRANAGH, BELFAST

JANE CAMPION, THE POWER OF THE DOG

ADAM MCKAY, DON’T LOOK UP

AARON SORKIN, BEING THE RICARDOS

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, THE FRENCH DISPATCH

GERMAINE FRANCO, ENCANTO

JONNY GREENWOOD, THE POWER OF THE DOG

ALBERTO IGLESIAS, PARALLEL MOTHERS

HANS ZIMMER, DUNE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

“BE ALIVE” — KING RICHARD

Music by: Dixson, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter; Lyrics by: Dixson, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

“DOS ORUGUITAS” — ENCANTO

Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda

“DOWN TO JOY” — BELFAST

Music by Van Morrison; Lyrics by Van Morrison

“HERE I AM (SINGING MY WAY HOME)” — RESPECT

Music by Carole King, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Hartman; Lyrics by Carole King, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Hartman

“NO TIME TO DIE” — NO TIME TO DIE

Music by Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell; Lyrics by Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

LUPIN

THE MORNING SHOW

POSE

SQUID GAME

SUCCESSION

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

UZO ADUBA, IN TREATMENT

JENNIFER ANISTON, THE MORNING SHOW

CHRISTINE BARANSKI, THE GOOD FIGHT

ELISABETH MOSS, THE HANDMAID’S TALE

MICHAELA JAÉ RODRIGUEZ, POSE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

BRIAN COX, SUCCESSION

LEE JUNG-JAE, SQUID GAME

BILLY PORTER, POSE

JEREMY STRONG, SUCCESSION

OMAR SY, LUPIN

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

THE GREAT

HACKS

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING

RESERVATION DOGS

TED LASSO

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

HANNAH EINBINDER, HACKS

ELLE FANNING, THE GREAT

ISSA RAE, INSECURE

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS, BLACK-ISH

JEAN SMART, HACKS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

ANTHONY ANDERSON, BLACK-ISH

NICHOLAS HOULT, THE GREAT

STEVE MARTIN, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING

MARTIN SHORT, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING

JASON SUDEIKIS, TED LASSO

BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

DOPESICK

IMPEACHMENT: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

MAID

MARE OF EASTTOWN

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

JESSICA CHASTAIN, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE

CYNTHIA ERIVO, GENIUS: ARETHA

ELIZABETH OLSEN, WANDAVISION

MARGARET QUALLEY, MAID

KATE WINSLET, MARE OF EASTTOWN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

PAUL BETTANY, WANDAVISION

OSCAR ISAAC, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE

MICHAEL KEATON, DOPESICK

EWAN MCGREGOR, HALSTON

TAHAR RAHIM, THE SERPENT

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ON TELEVISION

JENNIFER COOLIDGE, THE WHITE LOTUS

KAITLYN DEVER, DOPESICK

ANDIE MACDOWELL, MAID

SARAH SNOOK, SUCCESSION

HANNAH WADDINGHAM, TED LASSO

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ON TELEVISION

BILLY CRUDUP, THE MORNING SHOW

KIERAN CULKIN, SUCCESSION

MARK DUPLASS, THE MORNING SHOW

BRETT GOLDSTEIN, TED LASSO

O YEONG-SU, SQUID GAME

Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Movie Review

Starring Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor and Annie Potts.

Written by Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman.

Directed by Jason Reitman.

★★★

Another movie continuing the tradition of being a sequel to the original without really counting the other movies as canon. I can't think of anything it used from Ghostbusters II (and the Paul Feig Ghostbusters was a remake destined to be a forgotten footnote). And while it did feel like its own movie for most of it, it relies a lot on familiarity/nostalgia from the original to hit those emotional chords.

It centers on single mom Callie (Gone Girl's Carrie Coon) and her two teens Trevor (Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Annabelle Come Home's Mckenna Grace) who've inherited a rickety old farm in Summerville, OK, from Callie's father, whom she never knew. Context clues early say that her father was Egon Spengler, who died officially of a heart attack but there are larger, spookier forces at play. Trevor tries to get in with the local teens while brainiac Phoebe is too intrigued by all the research and gadgets her grandfather left behind. Meanwhile Paul Rudd is a nearby teacher who catches Callie's eye.

It had some late surprises I was expecting and a couple that I was
n't. The star of the show is Grace, who's been bouncing around in some good projects (Gifted, The Haunting of Hill House, young Carol in Captain Marvel, young Tonya in I Tonya) but this feels like a role that can boost her into Dakota Fanning level of Best Teen Actress roles.

Stay through the credits. (But avoid looking at the IMDB cast list before you see the movie so certain things don't get spoiled. Glad I didn't look until after the movie.)

The Harder They Fall - Netflix Review

Starring Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Idris Elba, Lakeith Stanfield, Delroy Lindo, Regina King, RJ Cyler, Edi Gathegi, Danielle Deadwyler, Deon Cole, and Damon Wayans Jr.

Written by Jeymes Samuel & Boaz Yakin.

Directed by Jeymes Samuel.

★★★

This stylized Sam Raimi-esque gun-totin' Western is cooler when you realize that most of these characters were real people. Sure, liberties have been taken to allow certain body counts to happen in a certain order, but for the most part, yeah, let's have some fun with real people.

Here we get Jonathan Majors (Loki) as Nat Love, an outlaw in his own right, but he's seeking revenge against someone badder - Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) , the man who killed his parents right in front of him. Turns out Buck has a gang that's sprung him from prison, so this is Nat's chance to find him and kill him himself.

Tons of other actors show up to have some shoot-em-fun. Never thought I'd want to see Zazie Beetz (Deadpool) and Regina King (Watchmen) dressed as cowgirls fighting to the death, but we get that here and that's what makes cinema fun, right? Lakeith Stanfield (Judas & the Black Messiah) is an actor I'll never tire of seeing. Delory Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) is that welcome old man who has one last gunfight in him. And so on.

I'm not really sure how Jeymes Samuel got to get this movie made - maybe there was some Jay-Z money behind it (he directed Jay-Z: Legacy) but his directorial debut was also a wild Western with an all-Black cast called They Die at Dawn, which I now want to hunt down.

This movie's a hoot.

The French Dispatch - Movie Review

Starring Benecio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Timothee Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Fisher Stevens, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, Lois Smith, Henry Winkler, Cecile de France, Steve Park and Mathieu Amalric.

Written by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness & Jason Schwartzman.

Directed by Wes Anderson.

★★½ 

There are plenty of actors I didn't even list above; the movie is bursting with recognizable faces. This ode to long-form journalism of a certain time is lovingly crafted by Wes Anderson, he of the very distinct flavor of films like Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and Isle of Dogs. While there is plenty to admire here and be entertained by, it's one of his most self-indulgent efforts to date, and I doubt it'll convert any newcomers not already on board with his sensibilities.

The movie is basically three stories attached with the narrative device of a magazine similar to The New Yorker. The French Dispatch is edited by Arthur Howitzer Jr (Bill Murray), and he has dedication to his writers. We learn at the beginning that he has died, and in his will, he wishes publication of the magazine to cease, so in this final issue, we get the last articles by JKL Berensen (Tilda Swinton), Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand), and Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright).

The first story is the strongest of the three, about a convicted murderer (Benecio Del Toro) who happens to be a genius painter. The second revolves around a French student rebellion led by Timothee Chalamet, and the third is about the kidnapping of the son of the Commissaire (Mathieu Amalric). Toward the end of the second story, I was ready for it to be over, and toward the end of the third, I felt the same way. And with so many good actors, I have to wonder why they were willing to sign on when they only had one or two lines?

I'm trying to think of anthology movies I liked, and they tend to be horror (Trick R Treat) or from different voices (New York Stories). This is one I'm glad I saw but unlike the majority of Wes's films, I have no desire to see it again. In fact, the couple next to us said it was the worst movie they'd ever seen. But if Benecio Del Toro's story was on TV, I'd watch for a few minutes.

Eternals - Movie Review

Starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee and Harish Patel.

Written by Chloe Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo & Kaz Firpo.

Directed by Chloe Zhao.

★★½ 

This is the 26th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and some of the seams are showing in keeping such a franchise together. How many more new superhumans can be introduced without it feeling like we're going through the motions of the usual superhero origin story?

The Eternals are a group of ten immortal beings (though they can be killed) who were sent to Earth in 5000 BC to watch over it by Arishem, the leader of a gigantic god-like race called the Celestials. The Eternals are led by Ajak (Salma Hayek), and only she can communicate with Arishem. They have been told not to interfere with human conflict, as conflicts are what help a race of sentient creatures evolve. We see them throughout history and get to know their personalities a little. Ajak is the wise one who can heal. Ikaris (Richard Madden) closely resembles Superman in his abilities of flight, super-strength, and the ability to shoot fire-beams from his eyes. Sersi (Gemma Chan) can transform elements, such as turning solid rock into water. Druig (Barry Keoghan) can control minds. Thena (Angelina Jolie) was the inspiration for Athena, the goddess of war in ancient Greece. She is a master fighter and can generate weapons from energy. Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) can focus energy and fire it in blasts. Sprite (Lia McHugh) appears eternally 12 years old and can create illusions. Gilgamesh (Don Lee) has super-human punching power than puts Iron Fist to shame.  Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) is the intelligent inventor who can perform telekinesis. Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) has superspeed, and the MCU's first deaf superhero.

Game of Thrones' Kit Harington? Oh he's Dane Whitman, the regular human boyfriend of Sersi. I was amused when Ikaris and Dane meet, as if they weren't brothers from a fantasy world.

The Eternals' main task is to rid the world of the Deviants, mutant magical creatures that seek constant destruction on Earth. We eventually learn that 1521 AD is when the last of the Deviants was killed, and that point the Eternals parted ways and lived amongst the humans, waiting for Arishem to let them know their job was done and they can return to their home planet.

But 500 years later,  in "Present Day", a Deviant appears in London and attacks Sersi while she is hanging out with Dane and Sprite. She decides they need to find the other Eternals and figure out why the Deviants are back.

This massive ensemble - ten Eternals - means that few of the characters really get to stand out. It did have a couple plot twists I wasn't expecting, so that was nice. I'm not spoiling much by saying one of them dies within the first hour. But there's a lot of wheel-spinning as this character or that gives exposition and flashes back to different points in time. It does ultimately answer the questions of "Why didn't the Eternals help the Avengers? Or stop slavery or genocide?"

The fight scenes are fine, but where Shang-Chi found ways to make them feel original and exciting until the final CGI-heavy battle, this one is nothing but CGI-heavy battles. They feel like battles we've seen a hundred times before.

The best part of the movie for me is the last twenty minutes or so and the post-credits scenes, with its implications for the rest of the MCU. And I think it'd be fun to see these characters pop up in the next Avengers movie. I love the MCU. But if I'm ranking all 26 movies, this one would be closer to the bottom of the list than the middle.

Eternals is #1 at box office

For the weekend of November 5-7, 2021, Eternals isn't exactly a bomb for Marvel, but it's not at the level the MCU is used to. Considering that Venom 2 opened to $90 million, and that this opened lower than Shang-Chi ($75), it could be a combination of superhero saturation and that many people still aren't going back to the movies. It doesn't help that Eternals has the lowest score ever for an MCU title (48%). In fact, it's the only MCU title that hasn't had at least 66%.

Kristen Stewart's Spencer wasn't expected to be a hit, so its modest opening is about what was expected.

Speaking on Venom 2, it's on its way to join Shang-Chi as the second movie of 2021 to hit $200 million domestic.

Opens This Week

CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG with Rosie Perez, John Cleese and Sienna Guillory.

BELFAST with Caitriona Balfe, Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan and Lewis McAskie.

Worldwide grosses for US films in 2021:

1. F9: The Fast Saga - $721.07 million

2. No Time to Die - $667.46

3. Godzilla v. Kong - $467.86

4. Shang-Chi - $427.85

5. Venom 2 - $424.61

6. Black Widow - $379.63

7. Free Guy - $331.15

8. Dune - $330.44

9. A Quiet Place II - $297.65

10. Cruella - $233.27

Dune - Movie Review

Starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Chang Chen, and David Dastmalchian.

Written by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve & Eric Roth.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

★★★½ 

What most people know now is that this is Dune: Part One. This covers about half of Frank Herbert's classic 1965 sci-fi novel, and thanks to its successful opening weekend, we know we'll get Part Two in 2023. I am relieved. This did feel like the first 2 1/2 hours of a 5-hour story.

One of the most impressive aspects of Denis Villenueve's vision is his scope. See this on the big screen. I saw it in IMAX and he uses every inch of the frame. The spaceships, the sandworms, the armies, everything in this film conveys how HUGE these things are. It seeks to put "epic" back in "space epic"  and succeeds.

Approximately 8000 years in the future, the galaxy is ruled by an emperor (keep in mind this was written before Star Wars) who rewards contracts to ruling Houses from various planets. The planet Arrakis has a substance known as melange, or "spice", that is a vital ingredient in ftl space navigation. The Emperor Shaddam IV (unseen in this film) has decided to switch the Arrakis mining contract from House Harkonnen to House Atriedes. Naturally Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) isn't going to take this sudden loss of income to Duke Leto Atriedes (Oscar Isaac) lying down. No House wants to openly defy the emperor, but we learn early that the Harkonnens can be ruthless.

The story centers on the Duke's son Paul Atriedes (Timothee Chalamet), who's learning the political machinations he must know as the heir, but also the religious/mystical ways of his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), who hopes her son will fulfill a prophecy known to her order for centuries. Chalamet has a nice balance here, as a privileged son trying to keep himself grounded (with help from his warrior-mentors played by Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa) while also apprehensive of his dual destinies, as a Duke, and as a possibly supernatural leader. 

I read Frank Herbert's Dune (and National Lampoon's Doon) shortly after David Lynch's Dune came out, so I remember a lot of the basics of the story. (I also tried rewatching Lynch's version last year and made it about 30 minutes in before I stopped. It's bad.) I did have fun mentally comparing casts in my mind. Kyle MacLachlan is now Chalamet, Sean Young is now Zendaya, Patrick Stewart is now Josh Brolin, etc.

Villenueve's movie wants to show not tell, and this movie strikes me as one that will reward with repeat viewings. There is a complicated mythos behind the story; this is obviously a world and society well thought-out. I'm glad the director took his time and had faith enough in his vision that he didn't rush through plot points to get it all in one movie. Not to mention years pass by between where this movie ends and the second half of the novel. And hey, Herbert wrote six Dune novels so this could go as long as producers are willing to finance it. Maybe the next great sci-fi franchise has arrived.

Halloween Kills - Movie Review

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Anthony Michael Hall, Thomas Mann and Dylan Arnold.

Written by Scott Teems, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green.

Directed by David Gordon Green.

★½ 

I really liked Halloween (2018), the reboot/sequel that ignored all the other movies except the original Halloween. Halloween Kills picks up mere minutes after the first one ended, and it felt like a hammock movie in all the worst ways.

When the last movie ended, we saw Michael Meyers surrounded by fire and presumably burning to death in the basement of Laurie's house. The movie picks up with firefighters getting to the basement in time, and Michael shows his appreciation by killing all of the firemen and rising to kill some more. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is sidelined for a significant chunk of the movie in the hospital recovering from her wounds. Meanwhile the movie introduces Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), the protagonist from Halloween 4 (played then by Paul Rudd; glad he didn't return with this script). So the movie does try to use elements from sequels that allegedly don't exist in this timeline but okay, whatever.

The movie jumps around in choppy fashion from 1978 to 2018, and it started to remind me of the ill-conceived The Fourth Kind, as though the editors lost the story. But there's not much story. There's plenty of gore, but this film falls into the traps the previous film avoided. The movie relies on characters doing really dumb things, and Michael survives attacks that don't even phase him where a normal human would have died. He gets shot, stabbed, beaten repeatedly with a baseball bat, gets a full pitchfork in the back, and still manages to stand up and keep going without so much as a limp. Will we learn in the next film that he's a Mutant?

Very disappointed.

No Time to Die - Movie Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Arnas, Billy Magnussen, David Dencik, and Rory Kinnear.

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga & Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

DIrected by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

The 25th Eon production of Ian Fleming's 007 is a worthy final chapter in the Daniel Craig era. It's been six years since we last saw Bond, tying the longest gap since six-year break between Timothy Dalton's last Bond and Pierce Brosnan's first. Were it not for Covid, we would have seen this 18 months ago, but at least it's finally here!

Of all 25 films, it's in the upper half. I'd put it in the middle of the Craig movies. Better than Spectre and Quantum of Solace, but not quite on the level of Casino Royale and Skyfall.

We pick up five years after the events of Spectre. James is living the retired life with Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), and an MI6 agent named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) now has the 007 moniker. Ah, but old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) shows up with a big favor to ask, and Bond is pulled back into the world of international espionage. A nanobot program that can design poison to affect people with certain DNA but not others has fallen into the wrong hands. Those hands belong to Safin (Rami Malek), a man linked to Madeleine's past.

I loved the links to the past/bridges to the future here. Christoph Waltz is great in his Hannibal Lecter-esque cameo as Blofeld. Lashana Lynch is an interesting rival/reluctant teammate as the new 007. Craig's Knives Out co-star Ana de Arnas has a too-brief role as fellow spy Paloma, and this is in the longest Bond movie ever. (Her scenes were where I could hear Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge's contributions to the script the clearest, or at least I like to think so.)

The nice thing about Craig's Bond is we've seen him age 15 years. His Bond was a recently-promoted scrapper in Casino Royale, and here he goes out as the world-weary middle-aged man he naturally would be. Looking forward to see how they treat the new one, circa 2024. I also hope they keep the MI6 staff intact (Fiennes' M, Whishaw's Q, Harris' Moneypenny, Lynch's Nomi). 

The Many Saints of Newark - Movie Review

Starring Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta, Michael Gandolfini, Corey Stoll, Michela De Rossi, Billy Magnussen and John Magaro.

Written by David Chase & Lawrence Konner.

Directed by Alan Taylor.

The Sopranos is one of TV's all -time great shows, and it feels like a gift that we get a movie prequel that sends us back into that world, albeit into 30 years before the show began. It's an unusual viewing experience, one where I really don't know how this would play for those who've somewhere between zero and a handful of episodes. It has the meandering sensibilities of most of the Sopranos middle seasons, yet also has a central story that it periodically remembers to rejoin after a few side scenes.

The main character here is Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), and by making this decision, the film can feel like what the Disney+ series like WandaVision and Loki mean to the MCU as a whole. The Sopranos universe has been expanded, and this movie could be seen as a two-hour pilot for a 1970's Sopranos series. Dickie is the father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), who acts as narrator from beyond the grave. We know Dickie died when Christopher was young, so there's a decent chance Dickie doesn't make it to the end credits, which provides suspense as the movie progresses.

Dickie is dealing with his flamboyant crime-boss father Hollywood Dick (the instantly credible Ray Liotta) and his closeness with the Brothers Soprano, Junior (Corey Stoll) and Johnny Boy (Jon Bernthal). He takes a shine to Johnny's son Tony (Michael Imperioli, James' real-life son), who aspires to play college football but can't help get involved with illegal activities. Meanwhile one of his runners, Harold (Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr.), decides he'd rather go into business for himself, and their friendship turns into a rivalry.

We also get younger versions of Tony's mother Liv (Vera Farmiga, channeling Nancy Marchand AND Edie Falco), Silvio Dante, Paulie Walnuts, Big Pussy, Artie Bucco, and so on. Names like "Jackie Aprile" and "Hesh" are dropped. There's also one scene that is a direct recreation of a flashback from the series, when Tony saw his father and uncle get arrested.

Plot-wise, there are so many gear-shifts, I couldn't tell where it was going. Which is a very David Chase thing. Young Tony really was just another supporting character; this is an ensemble film built around Dickie, and Nivola makes the most of it. So overall I enjoyed it, I was entertained by it. If you're a Sopranos fan, you'll want to see it. And if you weren't, well, I'd recommend watching a good chunk of the series before settling into this movie.

Side-Note: It didn't make enough to justify a sequel in theaters, but if HBO and Chase want to make more Soprano prequel movies for the network, I'll see those too.

Ridley Scott's Upcoming Projects

Ridley Scott, 83, is still one of the busiest men in Hollywood. The director of Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, The Martian, and All the Money in the World has plenty of stories left to tell.

==DIRECTING==

THE LAST DUEL (Oct 15, 2021) - Medieval movie starring Matt Damon and Adam Driver as the two men who participated in the last legally sanctioned duel by King Charles VI of France. Ben Affleck and Jodie Comer (Free Guy) co-star.

HOUSE OF GUCCI (Nov 24, 2021) - A decades-spanning story about the Gucci family and their billion-dollar fashion empire. It stars Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, and Salma Hayek.

KITBAG (2023) - A biopic about the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine, to be played by Joaquin Phoenix and Jodie Comer.

QUEEN & COUNTRY (In development) - Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) to play a Special Ops agent on the run after she assassinates a powerful figure in Eastern Europe.

ALIEN PREQUEL (In development) - He'd originally planned to make another film that happens between Alien: Covenant and the original Alien on the timeline, but I've also heard this could take place before Prometheus, when Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) is a younger man.

GLADIATOR 2 (In development) - This sequel would take place 25 years after the original, with Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), as the lead character. Lucius was played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original.

==PRODUCING==

DEATH ON THE NILE (February 11, 2022) - The next Hercule Poirot mystery directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. This one co-stars Gal Gadot, Annette Bening, Armie Hammer, Letitia Wright, and Rose Leslie.

EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON (In development) - A biopic of Quanah, the last formally recognized chief of the Comanche tribe. It'll be written and directed by Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines).

WAR PARTY (In development) - A Navy SEALs adventure starring Tom Hardy, written and directed by Andrew Dominik (Killing Them Softly).

EMMA'S WAR (In development) - Based on the true story of a British aid worker who married a warlord in Sudan bent on controlling part of the country.

DAVID (In development) - A retelling of David & Goliath.

Vacation Friends - Hulu Review

Starring John Cena, Lil Rey Howery, Yvonne Orji, Meredith Hagner, Robert Wisdom, Lynn Whitfield and Tawny Newsome.

Written by Tom Mullen, Tim Mullen, Clay Tarver, Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley.

Directed by Clay Tarver.

★★★

Is sincerity making a comeback in comedy? Maybe so. The eternally optimistic Ted Lasso swept the Emmys, and here comes a raunchy comedy that manages to combine The Hangover and Wedding Crashers and still reveal a heart the longer it goes.

Lil Rey Howery, scene-stealer in supporting roles in everything from Get Out to Free Guy, gets to be a lead here, in the uptight straight-man role as Marcus, who takes his girlfriend Emily (Yvonne Orji) to Cancun where he plans to pop the question. Unfortunately their room is flooded because the couple upstairs left their jacuzzi water running.

That couple are Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), a wild, irresponsible pair who live life to the fullest. At first Marcus & Emily resist, but they eventually get on the same YOLO wavelength and allow themselves to get crazy. They part as vacation friends, but Marcus & Emily are determined to never see them again.

Wellllllllll, seven months later, at Marcus & Emily's wedding, guess who decides to show up and keep the party going?

John Cena has demonstrated his strength is in comedy (Blockers, The Suicide Squad) and he doesn't disappoint here, and he has great odd-couple chemistry with Howery, not to mention he and Hagner make a great crazy couple. Orji probably is given the least amount to do of the four but she has her moments too.

I've heard they've already greenlit a sequel. Great. I hope they pull an unsuspecting third couple into their orbit next time.

73rd Emmy Award Winners

How was the show?

I enjoyed the show. It certainly put the Oscars to shame. I liked the 'Just A Friend' parody with Cedric the Entertainer, LL Cool J, and then more surprises, then all 100-ish join in. Like a fun high-school reunion. (Still weird to think Biz Markie is dead.) I liked Seth Rogen calling out the crowd for not social-distancing (then Cedric letting everyone at home know everyone in attendance is vaxxed). Cedric showed why comedians should always be hosts of shows like this. There was some #EmmysSoWhite hanging over it when we were halfway through the awards and I realized the only non-white people who'd won so far were members of writing teams. But then you had RuPaul, Michaela Cole...

Favorite moments:

Seeing in general how tight the Ted Lasso cast and crew are.

- Juno Temple bawling through Hannah Waddington's speech

- Hannah squeeeezing Brett Goldstein before he could get to the stage

- Brendan Hunt's old-school gent outfit

Kerry Washington's moment for Michael K. Williams.

Lorne Michaels' nod to Norm MacDonald.

The support circle for non-Emmy winners (Scott Bakula, Jason Alexander, etc).

Jean Smart's tribute to her husband who died six months ago.

DEBBIE ALLEN.

Anything Conan O'Brien did.

In Memoriam.

Low-point:

Old white man Scott Frank (director of The Queen's Gambit) refusing to get played off three times, acting like his reading of his windy two-page speech deserved more air-time than Debbie Allen.

==COMEDY SERIES==

BEST TV COMEDY - Ted Lasso

BEST ACTOR - Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

BEST ACTRESS - Jean Smart, Hacks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Hannah Waddington, Ted Lasso

BEST WRITING - Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky, Hacks

BEST DIRECTING - Lucia Aniello, Hacks

==DRAMA SERIES==

BEST TV DRAMA - The Crown

BEST ACTOR - Josh O'Connor, The Crown

BEST ACTRESS - Olivia Colman, The Crown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Tobias Menzies, The Crown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Gillian Anderson, The Crown

BEST WRITING - Peter Morgan, The Crown

BEST DIRECTING - Jessica Hobbs, The Crown

==LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE==

BEST LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE - The Queen's Gambit

BEST ACTOR - Ewan McGregor, Halston

BEST ACTRESS - Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown

BEST WRITING - Michaela Cole, I May Destroy You

BEST DIRECTING - Scott Frank, The Queen's Gambit

==VARIETY==

BEST VARIETY TALK SHOW - Last Week with John Oliver

BEST VARIETY SKETCH SERIES - Saturday Night Live

BEST COMPETITION PROGRAM - RuPaul's Drag Race

BEST VARIETY SPECIAL LIVE - Stephen Colbert's Election Night 2020

BEST VARIETY SPECIAL PRE-RECORDED - Hamilton

BEST VARIETY WRITING - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

GOVERNOR'S LIFETIME AWARD - Debbie Allen

The Voyeurs - Movie Review

Starring Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Katharine King So.

Written & Directed by Michael Mohan.

★★ 

This low-budget thriller now on Amazon Prime is somewhere between a Hitchcockian wannabe and a Skinemax throwback. It builds suspense slowly then it slams its foot on the gas for a psychotic convoluted Act III that defies logic while making you want to hide your eyes.

Young couple Pippa (The White Lotus' Sydney Sweeney) and Thomas (Detective Pikachu's Justice Smith) have moved into a spacious studio apartment, and they quickly notice their neighbors Seb and Julia across the street like to have sex in their kitchen, in their living room, etc., with no curtains drawn. At first it's amusing voyeurism on their part, but the more they watch, the more they see suspicious activity. Seb brings a mistress home, and Pippa is torn if she should say something to Julia, a woman she's never met in person.

They start playing with fire when they see Seb & Julia are having a Halloween party, so they put on face-hiding costumes and crash it, trying to learn more.

The build is deliberately paced, sometimes ploddingly so. Hey, more time for nude scenes if you take your time with the main plot. The big twist that gets the ball rolling for the second half is shocking, and it shows that it's not just going for genre thrills here; this movie is unafraid to go to some dark places. But as things ramp up to a rapid pace, with more danger and a couple dead bodies, the thin logic holding everything together vaporizes. There's more than one time with more than one character where I wanted to yell "Why aren't you calling the cops?!"

It has some vague morality-play messaging about overreliance on technology and some "curiosity killed the cat" finger-wagging, but I don't think I could say it's a good movie. It's not one you forget as soon as the credits roll either. I suppose I can tip my hat to it on that level, anyway.

What's Opening in September 2021

September 3

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS with Simu Liu, Tony Leung and Awkwafina.

(lim) WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING with Lisette Alexis, Pat Healy and Vinessa Shaw.

(Amaz) CINDERELLA with Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan and Billy Porter.

(Netf) WORTH with Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan and Tate Donovan.

September 10

THE CARD COUNTER with Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe.

MALIGNANT with Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson and Mckenna Grace.

(lim) DATING & NEW YORK with Francesca Reale, Alex Moffat and Jerry Ferrara.

(lim) LANGUAGE LESSONS with Mark Duplass, Natalie Morales and Desean Terry.

(lim) QUEENPINS with Kristen Bell, VInce Vaughn and Kirby Howell-Baptiste.

(Amaz) THE VOYEURS with Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith and Natasha Liu Bordizzo.

(Netf) KATE with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Woody Harrelson and Michiel Huisman.

September 17

CRY MACHO with Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam and Fernanda Urrejola.

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE with Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.

(lim) PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND with Nicolas Cage and Sofia Boutella.

(lim) BLUE BAYOU with Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander and Mark O'Brien.

(Amaz) EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE with Max Harwood and Richard E. Grant.

September 24

DEAR EVAN HANSEN with Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams and Julianne Moore.

(Netf) THE STARLING with Melissa McCarthy, Timothy Olyphant and Chris O'Dowd.

(Netf) MY LITTLE PONY with the voices of Vanessa Hudgens and James Marsden.

Free Guy holds on to #1, Paw Patrol #2

For the weekend of August 20-22, 2021, Free Guy managed to hold off all newcomers and remain #1 for its second week. It's a win for Ryan Reynolds, it's a win for 20th Century Studios, and it's one of the lone bright spots for a box office that is retreating in the wake of the Delta variant of COVID pushing people back to February levels of cases and caution.

Of the new titles, many felt like end-of-summer dumps, with Paramount managing to find the most success with Paw Patrol: The Movie, considering that it's also available on Paramount+.

Opens This Friday

CANDYMAN with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo.

DEATH RIDER IN THE HOUSE OF VAMPIRES with Devon Sawa and Julian Sands.

Opens September 3

SHANG-CHI with Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh and Tim Roth.

Opens September 10

MALIGNANT with Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson and George Young.

THE CARD COUNTER with Oscar Isaac and Willem Dafoe.

Opens September 17

CRY MACHO with Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam and Fernanda Urrejola.

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE with Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.

COPSHOP with Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo and Toby Huss.

The Suicide Squad is #1

For the weekend of August 6-8, 2021, The Suicide Squad had great reviews and no other wide releases as its competition, and yet the $26.5 million opening can't be seen as anything but disappointing. Perhaps because HBOMax subscribers could see it for free, or the R-rating, but mostly the growing COVID numbers, the Delta variant fears, and the US cases/deaths numbers back to February levels have to be factors in the box office numbers overall. It makes me wonder if some upcoming releases are going to be postponed again.

Opens Next Week

FREE GUY with Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi and Joe Keery.

RESPECT with Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker and Audra McDonald.

DON'T BREATHE 2 with Stephen Lang, Brendan Sexton III and Madelyn Grace.

Opens August 20

REMINISCENCE with Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton.

THE NIGHT HOUSE with Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg and Evan Jonigkeit.

THE PROTEGE with Michael Keaton, Maggie Q and Samuel L. Jackson.

Opens August 27

CANDYMAN with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo.

Opens September 3

SHANG-CHI with Simu Liu, Tony Leung, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh and Tim Roth.

F9 is #1 at box office

For the weekend of June 25-27, 2021, F9: The Fast Saga was the big winner, and its $70 million haul indicates that the box office is indeed on the road to recovery. Its opening wasn't as big at the eighth installment's $98 million opening, but it did open better than the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff. Audiences are making their way back to the multiplexes, and we're retuning to normalcy. F9 will inevitably join Godzilla vs. Kong and A Quiet Place Part II as the third movie of 2021 to pass the $100 million domestic mark.

Opens Next Week

THE FOREVER PURGE with Ana de la Reguera and Josh Lucas.

THE BOSS BABY 2 with the voices of Alec Baldwin and James Marsden.

Opens July 9

BLACK WIDOW with Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh.

Opens July 16

SPACE JAM 2 with LeBron James and Don CHeadle.

Opens July 23

OLD with Gael Garcia Bernal and Rufus Sewell.

GI JOE ORIGINS: SNAKE EYES with Henry Golding and Samara Weaving.

THE COMEBACK TRAIL with Robert DeNiro and Morgan Freeman.

Opens July 30

JUNGLE CRUISE with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

STILLWATER with Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.

THE GREEN KNIGHT with Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander.

In the Heights - Movie Review

Starring Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Jimmy Smits, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Written by Quiara Alegria Hudes & Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Directed by Jon M. Chu.

★★★½ 

To bring Lin-Manuel Miranda's breakthrough 2008 Broadway play to the big screen, director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) opted to be as bright and dazzling as possible. The sky is blue, the sun is hot, the streets are alive, and the background extras are ready to dance on a moment's notice if a lead breaks into song. We get some classic dance homages (Busby Berkeley being the most obvious) and breakout vocals from some of Broadway's best.

Miranda is a smaller role here, as he's aged out of playing Usnavi, our protagonist, the Our Town Stage Manager of Washington Heights, a block of culture hanging on while inflation and small businesses closing threaten its existence. Usnavi is played by Anthony Ramos, whom Hamilton fans will recognize ("Me, I died for him"), and it's nice to see some other faces in unexpected roles. Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans should get a kick out of seeing Stephanie Beatriz as the very non-Diaz salon worker Carla. Did I know Jimmy Smits could sing before? I don't know, but he can.

These are fun people to hang out with for a couple hours. Is it meaty? At times. The plot isn't exactly complex. We know how transferring musicals to the big screen can go horrifically wrong (Cats, anyone?) but this one delivers.

Stuff I'm Binging

TED LASSO (AppleTV) - Jason Sudeikis is really good at playing smarmy a-holes, so it's a warm surprise to see him play a character so optimistic and sincere, you can't help but root for him. It's not so much a laugh-out-loud comedy as it is a soothing warm-glass-of-milk comfort comedy, about an American college football coach who's been hired to coach a premiere English football team (aka "soccer"). The owner of the team is a recent divorcee who wants Ted to fail because she know it would make her ex-husband upset to see his favorite team lose, but his approach is so crazy it just. Might. Work. Fun supporting characters, especially Hannah Waddingham (Game of Thrones) as the owner.

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH (Disney+) - Never watch more than a few episodes of any of the SW animated series, but this one had a really good 70-minute episode 1. It picks up right when Order 66 is executed, and five clones who are a little different than everyone else don't get the order transmitted into their brains and don't feel compelled to follow it, which means they are torn between siding with their brothers or siding with the Jedi. Timeline-wise my understanding is this places it a few years before Star Wars: Rebels. I'm compelled to watch a few more with my kids and see how it goes.

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (Paramount+) - Finally started watching it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying how they've tweaked the ST formula. Instead of the main character being the captain and virtually every episode being stand-alone, the captain is a secondary character who's therefore free to be more flawed than every series before it. Best thing that ever happened to Sonequa Martin-Greene was getting cast on The Walking Dead as Sasha, and then having her character killed right when this opportunity opened up. It feels like it wants to be halfway between Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, which is a good thing.

THE CROWN (Netflix) - Finally finished season 4. Loved how the first two seasons had Claire Foy take us through the first 15 years as Queen Elizabeth II, then Olivia Colman took us through the next 20-25 years over S3 and S4, and then when S5 comes out in a few months, Imelda Staunton will take us from the 1990's to the present over the final two seasons. I wonder if the series finale will be Prince Philip's funeral. Then again, my understanding is they don't plan for Diana's death to occur until S6, so maybe it'll conclude while Tony Blair's still PM.

THE ORDER (Netflix) - It had 100% on Rotten Tomatoes so we tried it. It was terrible. Bad acting, humor that might have been funny on Buffy or Angel 20 years ago that lands flat now. I don't get it. My wife kept watching; she says it's terrible but okay to have on while she's doing puzzles.

Spiral wins box-office weekend

For the weekend of May 14-16, 2021, Hollywood's slowly getting back into things. Spiral was an attempt to reboot the Saw franchise with a different direction, and unlikely lead in Chris Rock. In a normal year, this would be viewed as a big disappointment. As is, it opened about as well as Jason Statham's Wrath of Man the week before.

Meanwhile a movie starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Taylor Sheridan (Wind River) should have done better in any other year, but since it's also available on HBOMax, that could have affected its success.

I'm rooting for Godzilla vs. Kong to be the first movie of 2021 to cross the $100 million mark domestically.

93rd Annual Academy Award Winners

BEST PICTURE

Nomadland

BEST DIRECTOR

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

BEST ACTOR

Anthony Hopkins, The Father

BEST ACTRESS

Frances McDormand, Nomadland

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Daniel Kaluuya, Judas & the Black Messiah

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Promising Young Woman

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Father

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Soul

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Another Round (Denmark)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

My Octopus Teacher

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Mank

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Mank

BEST FILM EDITING

Sound of Metal

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Tenet

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

BEST SOUND

Sound of Metal

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Fight for You", Judas & the Black Messiah

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Mank

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

If Anything Happens I Love You

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Colette

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Two Distant Strangers

The Morning Show - TV Review

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, Desean Terry and Jack Davenport.

An interesting timely approach. In the wake of Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, this examines what it's like for a Today-like morning program that has to deal with the fallout when their main male anchor (Steve Carell) is fired for sexual misconduct. Jennifer Aniston plays the head female anchor who was barely holding it together when the scandal broke, and Reese Witherspoon is a small-town reporter who has one of her stories go viral and gets an opportunity to join the show. Made me think of what it was like for Savannah Guthrie, Gayle King, Norah O'Donnell, etc. 

Fantastic cast, with Billy Crudup the Emmy-winning stand-out as the network executive who seems to like the chaos and may or may not want Aniston to fail so he can fire her and get a clean slate of leads on the show. 

The genius of casting Carell for this part is that he has this lovable persona and he's famously one of the nicest off-camera guys around. So to see him as this character be accused of these things, it makes the viewers secretly deep down hope some of these accusations are false.

The pace of the season is expert. When I take it as a whole, you can see the creators had a grand idea from beginning to end how this was going to go. Some actors in there seem like they don't have a lot to do and then the episode comes where we see just how important their role is in the grand scheme of things.

I'm very interested to see where Season 2 goes from here. With COVID, production was delayed and the season was rewritten to incorporate that into the show, but it should be out before the end of 2021. It's on AppleTV.

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Movie Review

Starring Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Connie Nielsen, Jeremy Irons, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Diane Lane, Joe Morton, Ciaran Hinds, Kiersey Clemons, Ryan Zheng, Amber Heard, Jesse Eisenberg, Jared Leto, and Billy Crudup.

Written by Chris Terrio.

Directed by Zack Snyder.

★★★

If it helps, don't think of it as a 4-hour movie. Think of it as a 4-episode limited series.

I thought Man of Steel was a thumbs-sideways and that Batman v. Superman was a let-down, though they both had their qualities. Justice League was a mess and about on par with BvS for me. I thought at the time that Joss Whedon did what he could with the troubled production, but stories have spread since what Whedon's really like to work with, and I felt bad about the personal family tragedy that led Snyder to walk away.

Now he's been granted the ability to tell the story the way he wanted to. Rather than making Justice League I & II, we get a full 4-hour experience. It's not perfect and it still pales in comparison to a similarly-plotted Avengers Infinity War & Endgame, but it's a vast improvement, and I really liked how the movie was able to take its time with these characters. I'd also be curious to go back and watch the 2017 movie again to see how different it was.

Ben Affleck is great as Bruce Wayne, and I was grateful to watch him stretch his legs in the role one last time. He's picking up the pieces after the death of Superman, and he knows he needs more people with special abilities to unite in order to fight what's coming. He has Wonder Woman on his side but he needs more. He tries to recruit Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash, some more successfully than others.

Of all the characters, it's clearest Whedon gave Cyborg the shortest end of the stick. We get full backstory here and a better idea of who the character is, what he can do, etc. Steppenwolf is also a more fully-realized villain here. His design's more impressive, his fighting ability makes more sense, and he has motive beyond Shiny Alien Wants to Conquer Earth. He has wronged his master Darkseid in the past and figures he can get back in his good graces by enslaving Earth for him. We only caught a glimpse of Darkseid in the original but he sure shows up here.

Other actors like Willem Dafoe and Kiersey Clemons, who'd been cut from the original, are able to deliver and expand their parts here, and even ones who weren't in it (like Jared Leto's Joker) pop by.

There are still some Snyderisms I'm not keen on. The sky is always this burnt sienna sheen from the sun in a perpetual state of setting behind some clouds. The slo-mo speed-up slo-mo approach to action scenes can make them seem repetitive. But I for one am happy that after everything he and his family's been through, Zack Snyder was able to return to his baby and fulfill his vision.

Vampires vs. the Bronx - Movie Review

Starring Jaden Michael, Gerald Jones III, Gregory Diaz IV, Sarah Gadon, Method Man, Shea Whigham, Coco Jones and Chris Redd.

Directed by Oz Rodriguez.

★★★

This low-budget indie is like 2020's answer to The Monster Squad. Three pubescent friends discover that vampires have moved into their neighborhood but how do you convince everyone else of a such a ludicrous reality?

There are some funny set pieces, some predictable jump scares, and the ambition of Act 3 only highlights how low their budget had to be. Some recognizable faces are sprinkled in (Alias Grace's Gadon, Joker's Whigham, SNL's Redd, a Zoe Saldana cameo, etc.)

It's 89% on RottenTomatoes, but I think it's really more of a 70% quality. I'd be interested in what teens think of it.

2020 Academy Award Nominations

BEST PICTURE

The Father

Judas & the Black Messiah

Mank

Minari

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

BEST DIRECTOR

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Emerald Ferrell, Promising Young Woman

David Fincher, Mank

Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

BEST ACTOR

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Gary Oldman, Mank

Steven Yuen, Minari

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman

Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sasha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Daniel Kaluuya, Judas & the Black Messiah

Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami

Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

Lakeith Stanfield, Judas & the Black Messiah

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilms

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy

Olivia Colman, The Father

Amanda Seyfried, Mank

Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Mank

Minari

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Father

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Nomadland

One Night in Miami

The White Tiger

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Onward

Over the Moon

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Soul

Wolfwalkers

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Another Round (Denmark)

Better Days (Hong Kong)

Collective (Romania)

The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)

Qu Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

Collective

Crip Camp

The Mole Agent

My Octopus Teacher

Time

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Father

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

News of the World

Tenet

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Judas & the Black Messiah

Mank

News of the World

Nomadland

The Trial of the Chicago 7

BEST FILM EDITING

The Father

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Love & Monsters

The Midnight SKy

Mulan

The One and Only Ivan

Tenet

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Emma

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Mulan

Pinocchio

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Emma

Hillbilly Elegy

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Pinocchio

BEST SOUND

Greyhound

Mank

News of the World

Soul

Sound of Metal

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Fight for You", Judas & the Black Messiah

"Hear My Voice", The Trial of the Chicago 7

"Husavik", Eurovision Song Contest

"Io Si (Seen)", The Life Ahead

"Speak Now", One Night in Miami

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Da 5 Bloods

Mank

Minari

News of the World

Soul

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Burrow

Genius Loci

If Anything Happens I Love You

Opera

Yes-People

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Colette

A Concerto Is a Conversation

Do Not Split

Hunger Ward

A Love Song for Latasha

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Feeling Through

The Letter Room

The Present

Two Distant Strangers

Last-Second 2020 Oscar Nomination predictions

Nominations will be out tomorrow so here are my last-second guesses.

PICTURE

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Minari

Nomadland

One Night in Miami

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Maybe: Da 5 Bloods, News of the World

Should Be But Won't: The Outpost

There will likely be 9 nominees, so there's my top 8, and I think one of those two titles will be the final one.

DIRECTOR

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Emerald Ferrell, Promising Young Woman

David Fincher, Mank

Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Maybe: Regina King, One Night in Miami

Should Be But Won't: Josephine Decker, Shirley

ACTOR

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods

Gary Oldman, Mank

Maybe: Steven Yuen, Minari

Should Be But Won't: Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami

ACTRESS

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman

Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Rosamund Pike, I Care a Lot

Maybe: Andra Day, The Unites States v. Billie Holiday

Should Be But Won't: Elizabeth Moss, Shirley

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sasha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Daniel Kaluuya, Judas & the Black Messiah

Bill Murray, On the Rocks

Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami

Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

Maybe: Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods

Should Be But Won't: Michael Stuhlbarg, Shirley

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilms

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy

Olivia Colman, The Father

Amanda Seyfried, Mank

Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

Maybe: Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian

Should Be But Won't: Elizabeth Debicki, Tenet

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Mank

Minari

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Maybe: Another Round

Should Be But Won't: Palm Springs

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Father

First Cow

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Nomadland

One Night in Miami

Maybe: The White Tiger

Should Be But Won't: The Outpost