Becoming Bond (2017)

★★½
I'm all for trying new ways to tell stories via the documentary format. Documentaries often work just fine with interview subjects and supporting footage, but a little innovation can go a long way in giving us a fresh look. Errol Morris masterfully introduced his Interrotron in Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, while Jonathan Caouette spent just over $200 to edit home movies together into Tarnation, a story about his mother's mental illness. Innovation can't happen without risk. That brings us to Josh Greenbaum's Becoming Bond, an informative (most of the time) and whimsical account of George Lazenby's brush with fame as the iconic British spy James Bond. Many fans and Bond historians revere Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as one of the best. Count me among them. It is also his only time starring as the character. He left for reasons made unclear when you consider the multiple sources of information already out there. That aside, the documentary is a little flimsy, trying to balance comedy and drama and sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing.

Message in a Bottle (1999)

★½
I never reviewed Message in a Bottle (1999) during its original release. On my master list, I noticed that I gave it three stars, so I must have liked it at the time. I don't know what changed between then and now, and I won't try to understand it. This movie just didn't hold up at all. It's bad. I only have a small sample size from which to draw, but based on that small sample, I won't be in a rush to see the other adaptations of the works of Nicholas Sparks. Oh, I might like The Notebook, but time is too precious for me to bother with it. Now, the reader might notice my positive reaction to 2002's A Walk to Remember. Would I be disappointed upon a second look? I don't think so. Shane West and Mandy Moore made a lovely couple. I still remember that. I don't remember anything about Message in a Bottle, so this rewatch is a clean slate. I definitely remember 2012's dreadful The Lucky One, also based on a Sparks novel. Message in a Bottle, like The Lucky One, practically dares us to see ahead to a likely conclusion that it doesn't deliver, only to replace it with a hackneyed plot twist that is itself predictable because it can only end one way. To end otherwise would add no value to the relationship between the main characters.

Stuck on You (2003)

★★★
The Farrelly brothers hit a small road bump with Shallow Hal, but with Stuck on You, they're back in top form. Peter and Bobby have had a great amount of success with their comedies, starting with Dumb and Dumber in 1994. They're showing no signs of slowing down.

Prey (2022)

★★★½
Prey doesn't just go back to the basics; it builds on the basics so that instead of getting a retread, we get an entirely new way of experiencing the Predator story while re-experiencing what made the original movie so good in the first place. Director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Patrick Aison have created a worthy entry in a long-running series that has included too many disappointing sequels. The premise alone is brilliant: Take the familiar armored and high-tech Predator alien and transplant him to 1719 earth and have him do battle with Native American warriors. It absolutely could work, and it does. This is a thrilling and bloody action movie that gets the period details right while featuring a strong female character with aspirations of fighting alongside her male companions. It's a return to the wilderness environment of Predator with new challenges like the presence of French fur trappers, primitive weapons and the wild animals of the Americas.

Next Friday (2000)

★
As of this writing, I have yet to see Friday, a 1995 comedy of which I know nothing. After seeing Next Friday, it isn't likely that I'll watch the first film anytime soon, though failed sequels are common enough that I should probably check it out one day. This movie is an absolute abomination. It contains some of the unfunniest jokes to hit the screen. Is it really funny to watch a dog crap on someone's yard? To make it worse, the camera lingers on the pile for about five seconds before cutting away. Then Mr. Jones (John Witherspoon) steps out of his house, and the intelligent viewer will anticipate his coming into contact with the pile in one way or another.

The Killer (1989)

★★★½
There are basic themes explored throughout the Heroic Bloodshed genre, and The Killer exemplifies all of them. It is one of director John Woo's most ambitious projects, taking the crime story concept told to perfection in his A Better Tomorrow and the frenetic gunplay found in A Better Tomorrow II and combining them into this explosive tale of brotherhood, betrayal and redemption. It has a conflicted assassin who values loyalty and honor above all else and a cop who uncovers the good in him. When these two join forces, they make for a most satisfying partnership against a Triad organization that is slowly undergoing unrest due to corrupting influences. The story tells of a clash between an older breed of gangsters and the next generation, which includes members less likely to abide by the rules. Prosperity breeds contentment, which gives rise to complacency. Those who come in later, far removed from building the structure that beckons them, embrace a new way of thinking that poisons the well. Will adherents to the old ways push back? That's where Ah Jong comes in.

Rock Star (2001)

★★★
Rock Star is one of those standard rags-to-riches stories. Through an amazing coincidence, one faithful fan of a heavy metal band will get his chance at stardom with the same band. The plot contains many elements akin to such a movie, yet it all plays out with satisfaction. Perhaps it's Mark Wahlberg's giddy-eyed performance that saves the day, or it could be director Stephen Herek's faithful recreation of the 1980s music scene. Either way, I enjoyed the movie. It has a lot of light humor, pleasant surprises and good songs.