The Black Phone (2022)

★★★½
It didn't take long for Blumhouse Productions to redeem itself after the awful Firestarter. That was a cash grab, though its underwhelming box office performance showed that it failed as a cash grab as much as it failed as a horror movie. The Black Phone is serious horror. It's scary and original. It's based on a short story by Joe Hill, whose works I've never read, but if this movie is any indication, his imagination is just as rich as his father Stephen King. It's a ghost story and features a character with psychic powers, but it's largely about a child kidnapper with no supernatural powers but is still frightening just for his voice and personality. He's like a human Pennywise by feeding his need to terrorize children.

Killing Me Softly (2002)

★
Killing Me Softly exists because some filmmakers thought it would be a good idea to make an erotic thriller starring two good-looking actors and put them in a bunch of sex scenes. It can work, but here, the script was apparently the last thing anyone considered. Maybe someone should have thought up a decent plot first.

Coming to America (1988)

★★★★
Coming to America represents peak Eddie Murphy during his rise in the 1980s. A string of failures followed, resulting in critical and box office disappointments that would finally be reversed with 1995's The Nutty Professor, although Murphy reached peak form again with 1999's outstanding Bowfinger. Before all that, we got to witness a comic dynamo full of energy, whose rapid delivery of hilarious vulgarities was unmatched. His gut-busting concert films Delirious and Raw are some of the greatest stand-up performances ever. Working again with director John Landis after the role-reversing comedy Trading Places, Murphy gives us one of his most memorable roles. It's a fish-out-of-water story with some of the expected culture shock that goes with the territory, but it works because it's so well executed. The humor is great. The chemistry between the would-be couple is great. The dialogue is fun. There are subtleties everywhere that enrich the viewing experience. The leads are terrific, but the supporting cast is every bit up to the task. This is truly one of the '80s best comedies. It's a complete experience—a neat and tidy story wrapped in Murphy's boundless optimism and handed to us on a silver platter.

Nobody (2021)

★★★
Nobody may be a low-rent John Wick, but it's darn good one. It works largely because of our familiarity with Bob Odenkirk as the shady lawyer Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Saul Goodman is not a fighter or weapons expert, but he's good at feigning ignorance and relying on his wits to surprise the opposition. Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell is much the same way. Years ago he left his position as a top assassin working for the "three letter agencies" to start a new life as a family man. Just as in John Wick, the villains cross the retired hero without realizing who he is, which starts a series of fights that escalates into a final confrontation between the hero and an army of mobsters, featuring lots of amazing stunts and gun battles. Take those Saul Goodman traits and give them to a guy possessing everyman looks and the skills of an "auditor" (as he calls it), and you have an interesting blend of characteristics for a new kind of hero. He lacks Keanu Reeves's steely-eyed intensity and Jason Statham's gruff demeanor. Instead, he has this nonthreatening appearance that conceals the quick reflexes of a seasoned assassin.

Van Helsing (2004)

★★
This is one noisy movie. For almost the entire film, we're subjected to screeching, snarling, growling, thumping and yelling. When that's not happening, we get a pounding soundtrack to even things out. I had higher hopes for Van Helsing. I really liked 2003's Underworld, and I figured this movie would be of the same ilk. It isn't. Whereas last year's vampire movie depended more on style, plot, dialogue and acting, this movie is more concerned with crushing special effects and a loud soundtrack. These two qualities are so prevailing that an interesting story has difficulty emerging from the rubble.

Old Gringo (1989)

★★
Old Gringo is a movie so full of half-baked ideas that I gave up trying to find reason in the motives of its characters. There are scenes that are oddly disjointed, as if something was left out that would provide a better explanation. The movie is not helped by Jane Fonda's allure or Gregory Peck's commanding presence. In the absence of these two actors, Old Gringo would have turned out a lot worse.

3-Iron (2005)

★★★½
This review was written years before Ki-duk Kim's passing in 2020.

Ki-duk Kim is fast becoming one of the most interesting foreign directors (foreign to the U.S.) working today. His Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring was my pick for the best movie of 2004. In that film, he showed a fascination with the passage of time. He found interest in everyday actions, because it's the little things in life that can have a profound effect on how we mature. Kim's follow-up film, 3-Iron, also utilizes the passage of time as a way to develop a character, but he takes that growth one step further by giving it a metaphysical quality.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

★★★★
Everything Everywhere All at Once belongs in the same category as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Tree of Life and Synecdoche, New York—movies about the challenges of being alive and how it is worth it all the same. They have one thing in common. Their main characters experience a journey into worlds that stretch into infinity. Eternal Sunshine… went into the deepest recesses of the mind, the limits of which are unfathomable (imagine a human brain with the capacity of over 1000 terabyte hard drives). Tree of Life gave us a glimpse of the afterlife, which will exist well after the earth's destruction. In Synecdoche…, Philip Seymour Hoffman composed the grandest of plays to explore the nuances of his own life. The play eventually consumed him and everyone around him. Everything Everywhere All at Once works within the theory of infinite universes, based on the idea that every choice we make actually happens, resulting in the birth of new universes that branch off from those choices. In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Worf experienced this concept firsthand when he jumped into different versions of himself in multiple universes.

After the Sunset (2004)

★★½
Aside from the great locations and splendid chemistry between the actors, there’s not much to recommend After the Sunset. If you’re looking for a good caper movie, stick with Ocean’s Twelve. There’s very little here in the way of elaborate set pieces and cool precision. There is, however, an amusing good-guy/bad-guy relationship based on mutual respect and obsessive one-upmanship.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

★★★½
Top Gun (1986) was about the brotherhood, the camaraderie, the personal challenges. Top Gun: Maverick is about those things too, but it takes all that and gives them purpose and direction. Tom Cruise returns to one of his signature roles after so many years away from it and delivers a knockout performance. Once the student, he is now the teacher as he trains a new generation of Navy pilots for a mission behind enemy lines. This movie isn't just another entry in Cruise's impressively expanding list of quality action pictures. It is recognition that our time in the spotlight is limited, and that eventually it will be time to step aside to let others take the reins. I did that recently, having left my employer of 21 years because the rules required it. I received a nice sendoff, and my retirement will be sweet once I can start to collect, but I feel I could have done more, and I would have been in position to continue if I had made different decisions years ago. Cruise's Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell sees the end. As his commander tells him, his kind is headed for extinction. Maverick defiantly responds, "maybe so sir, but not today." He has some gas left in the tank, and he intends to get all the mileage out of it as possible before flying into the sunset. We all want to be useful; it's a strong motivator.