I’m not 100, so Laurel & Hardy never really meant much for me or made me laugh very much, but there is no denying their importance to film history and comedy. To a certain generation alive in the 30’s & 40’s, they were very beloved and meant a great deal especially during a difficult period when it was important to laugh and smile. This film is about the later days of their lives towards the end of their career. Hardy is sick and Laurel is struggling to keep the team alive and relevant. It’s a very poignant film and sometimes quite sweet. It’s also a little sad. We’re watching 2 old pros who know they’re way past their prime and should be hanging it up, but can’t. Abbott and Costello are the new Laurel & Hardy and they can’t compete with them. Their spouses want them to stop, yet hang with them. The performances by John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are dynamite and so is the make-up job. They look just like them and the actors really became them. There really isn’t anything groundbreaking to this movie and at times it’s meanders along and drags, but if you stay with it until the end, it’ll bring a little smile.

Rating: (***)

I didn’t really get this weird movie about an aspiring American dancer (Dakota Johnson) who comes to a strange old dance school in Germany to win the lead in an elaborate production and to be taught by a prestigious instructor (Tilda Swinton). The school is somehow inhabited by old witches and an old man who deals with these strange ideas believes this is the case and investigates the school while dancers are dropping like flies concurrently with the rapid rise of Johnson’s character. I don’t mind weird movies like this as long as they make sense, but I got lost about 90 minutes in and the last 30 are just bananas. This is a remake and from what I understand, that film was nuts too. I admire Johnson’s performance and she is an actress that seemingly likes to take risks and works very hard at her roles no matter how goofy they are. I couldn’t even tell you what goes on with her character at the end because at that point I was so lost, turned off and didn’t really care anymore. This is a very disturbing movie to sit through visually at times and could give some nightmares. Pass on this one.

Rating: (**)

Julia Roberts is terrific as a desperate mom who does whatever she can not to give up and believe in her drug addicted son who comes home on Christmas Eve against better judgement. Ben (Lucas Hedges) is a 19 year old who deep down wants to be good and honest. He’s done some horrible things in the past after getting addicted to pain pills which led him down a bad path. He’s back for 1 night and when things start to spiral badly for his family, he tries to go out and fix things because it’s his fault. Roberts goes with him, but slowly she realizes that her kid was in deep and there really is no way to pull him back. Ben ditches her and disappears. She just wants him home safe. The story is pretty tense and you really feel and pull for these people. You would do anything for your kids, even knowing deep down they can’t be helped. Ben wants the help, but he’s done too much. I liked much of this. The performances by Roberts and Hedges are really good. My problem is the ending and I won’t spoil it, but I felt cheated. I also had a hard time with the dad, who was essentially a bit of a prick. Movies like this can be tough to sit through. It takes place at Christmas and there isn’t much Ho Ho Ho, but it’s a pretty good movie and does its job.

Rating (***)

Clint Eastwood just keeps going. He’s been playing a lot of cranky old timers lately and since he’s what mid 80’s, that makes sense. I didn’t much care for “Gran Torino” or “Trouble With the Curve”, but “The Mule” is a great fit for him. He plays a plan whose worked all his life in the horticulture field and pretty much was never there for his family. When the economy goes internet crazy, his flower business goes belly-up and so has a difficult times making ends meet. He takes a job as a driver for a drug cartel to earn a living and he gradually begins to get an assemblage of his family back and gains a little happiness because he’s able to help people with his earnings. The problem of course is that he’s breaking the law for very dangerous people. There is a charm to this gruf guy. Eastwood’s character, Earl is an old timer who is a bit of a racist and has no filter. He also doesn’t give a shit and won’t take any. He’s a good guy who likes to smell the roses and live life, which is why he took the gig knowing that what he is doing is really really wrong and potentially very dangerous. The film is kind of funny. It’s like Eastwood is winking at the camera. The story is based on a true tale and whenever he pulls into the garage and meets up with the bad guys, you wonder if Old Earl will finally reach his time limit. This is a really good film and a good movie for Clint Eastwood. If he were to never act again, this would be a nice swan song, much like Robert Redford’s “Old Man and a Gun”.

Rating: (***1/2)

Better late than never, right? I finally saw “Vice”, the story of Dick Cheney, the puppet master behind “W”‘s presidency and the supposed architect of the Iraq War and many of the other major problems that the U.S. has had to deal with. Written and directed by Adam McKay, who made a similar film a few years ago called “The Big Short” which dealt with the housing crisis. This movie is handled much the same way minus a lot of the fourth wall cuteness that film had. It’s a very well written movie. No matter what side of the aisle you sit on, you’ll find this movie pretty entertaining. It does a terrific job at telling it’s story by weaving in and out and offering up a insider’s look at a failed presidency moving along at a good pace. Christian Bale is great. Maybe it was all the make up, but he became Cheney. He completely disappeared in the role. Sam Rockwell and Amy Adams also got nominated for their roles, but I didn’t think they were anything that special. Adams has been better before. I don’t know how much of this movie was fact or not. I’m guessing many liberties were taken, but nonetheless, this is still a very entertaining history lesson.

Rating (****)

Mary Queen of Scots explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan). Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne from Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie). This movie reminded me a lot of “The Other Boleyn Girl”, a film I liked a lot more than this one. Mainly because that movie didn’t seem as slow. The story is kind of interesting and the scenery and score are beautiful. Ronan is great as, always, but I really had a hard time getting into this. I think it was the pace. Period dramas tend to drag and I knew that going in, but I kept getting drifting while watching this. Pace is a big deal with me and I just wish the film moved along more. It’s not bad, just a bit dull.

Rating (**1/2)

We have had 5 previous Transformer movies and aside from the first movie, which I thought was terrific entertainment, these movies have gotten increasingly tougher to sit through. The second movie “Revenge of the Fallen” can only be described as noise pollution. It was a mess. The other 3 movies were no prize either, but at least they were somewhat coherent. Fortunately, Bumblebee is a back to basics prequel much more inline to the first movie. It’s a very nice balance of action, humor, sweetness & more importantly, fun. Halee Steinfeld finds the yellow car all beat up in a junk yard after it got sent to Earth on a mission from the Autobots. The two of them form a partnership, much like Shia Lebouef did in the original. Steinfeld’s character is a sad sack and the car brings her a new sense of purpose and joy. She later learns that she needs to keep the car safe as a couple of Decepticons are on his tail, as well as the military. The story is pretty straight forward and the action is simplistic and makes sense. After a goofy King Arthur version of Transformer, this was a nice change of pace. The film has heart and a sense of joy, which was missing form the last 4 films. I liked it.

Rating: (***)

At the end of 2018, we had 3 films about historical political figures. “Vice” (Dick Cheney), “On the Basis of Sex” (RBG) & this one. Not sure how many people were asking for a movie about Gary Hart, but here we are. This film was a box office flop, but as far as political dramas go, it isn’t too bad. Gary Hart, if you recall was the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency in the 80’s until he got caught cheating. Hart, denied and skirted the issue until he ultimately had to kill his campaign when everybody knew it was true. This doesn’t make for an exactly compelling movie, but it is well constructed and the performances by Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga & JK Simmons are well executed. The movie is a little over-written. The writers seemed to take a page out of the Aaron Sorkin playbook with much of its script and played up the cuteness and self righteousness in the dialogue. It got on my nerves after a while. The film does move along and I always appreciate that. I hate movies that drag and this one didn’t. Hart, by himself isn’t all that interesting, but as part of this story, I didn’t mind watching the story play out even though I knew the ending. Worth a Netflix viewing and that’s about it.

Rating: (**1/2)

A compelling and riveting mystery that weaves in and out using today’s social media to help tell the story of a missing teenage girl. A single and recently widowed father has a close relationship with his daughter. He keeps tabs on her and is probably overprotective. When she suddenly disappears, he contacts the police, but to no avail is there any resolution so he takes things on himself and delves into his daughter’s laptop and learns that maybe she doesn’t know her that well. The story is absolutely engrossing. Everything is spelled out and as a viewer, you feel for the dad. But something isn’t quite right as the mystery unfolds. That’s when the story is at its best. John Cho is terrific as the Mr. Kim, the worried dad. He’s come along way since playing a stoner in the “Pie” & “Kumar” films. Debra Messing is the officer on the case, as she does a good job too, but she may have been a bit of strange casting. The film has some twists and turns in it and if I have any complaints is that the resolution seemed a bit rushed, far fetched and doesn’t quite add up. I like movies that go in different directions as long as it makes sense. This one did for the most part just got a little fuzzy there. If I had seen this last year, it probably would’ve cracked my best of list.

Rating (***1/2)