The creative team behind THE ALTO KNIGHTS reads like a who's who of legendary mob film creators. Writer Nicholas Pileggi wrote "Goodfellas", "The Casino" two of my all-time favorite mafia flicks. Director Barry Levinson created"Bugsy" a Vegas set masterpiece. At the top of the pyramid sits Robert De Niro of "Godfather","Goodfellas" and "Casino" fame, the holy trinity of classic mob movies. With that lineage, you would think that this film would be another classic. While it's certainly not the disaster that its mega-bomb box office crash would suggest, it's foundation is built on the hook of having De Niro play both of the two main characters. CGI has created the ability for these two performances by De Niro to interact, to hug, to converse effortlessly in the same space. But to what end? The story is intriguing. De Niro stars as Frank Costello AND Vito Genovese, two of New York's most powerful crime bosses. They grew up together on the streets of NYC after immigrating here from Italy. In sparingly used flashbacks, we see Frank and Vito building a business on gambling, prohibition liquor and neighborhood protection. But most of the film sees the older version of these men. Frank narrates the film, often talking directly to the screen as he documents his life. Costello is by far the most diplomatic member of the crime duo. He has the patience and long term view of a politician. When Vito is sent to prison for years, Frank's gentler hand builds deep loyalties and a huge business. When Vito gets out, he wants all his power and business back immediately, ignoring the fact that the world has changed during his absence. DeNiro carves out two very different men. Vito has the explosive, hair-trigger temperament and paranoia of De Niro's Travis Bickle. Frank has the patriarchal, guiding hand of Michael Corleone. He does a hell of a job creating two very different men, whose lifelong friendship is frayed by the family business. But I couldn't help wonder during some of his scenes playing against himself, if the film wouldn't have been just as effective, or more focused if Levinson had just cast another actor in one of the roles. Joe Pesci was born to play Vito Genovese. The film spans many years, but it's never boring. As is typical in gangster films, you're introduced to many characters. Katherine Narducci (The Irishman) is perfectly cast as Anna, a successful club owner who falls for Vito's charms before she discovers the man beneath. Cosmo Jarvis (Warfare) is haunting as Vito's less than sharp enforcer, Vincent Gigante. He's scary as hell, but is terrified of Vito. Only Debra Messing (Will & Grace) seems miscast as Frank's longtime wife Bobbie, bringing little to the character and feeling out of place. Production values are first rate. The film is shot by Dante Spinotti of "Heat" and "LA Confidential" fame, it looks spectacular. Produced by the legendary Irwin Winkler (Rocky, Goodfellas, The Right Stuff) this turned out to be one of his biggest flops, earning $9 million against a $45 million budget. Warner Bros seemed to smell disaster, barely promoting the film, which seems like a huge mistake in light of the team behind it. Sell it as the next great mob film from the creators of "Goodfellas" and "Casino". They whispered it, no one heard and no one showed up. I expected a disaster based on the reviews I'd heard. It's far from that, but doesn't live up the legacy of its creators either. Maybe audiences would rather see a film about the rise of organized crime than the true story of how it collapsed from it's pinnacle. Frank Costello had a strong hand in it's loss of power and his story is a fascinating one. THE ALTO KNIGHTS gets a B- thank to two great De Niro performances that dominate the screen. While it can't hold a candle to the last time he played a mobster named Vito, De Niro still delivers, surrounded by Levinson's perfect trappings.

An enjoyable high-rise variation on a "Die Hard" theme, CLEANER sings under the capable helm of "Casino Royale" & "Goldeneye" Director, Martin Campbell. Daisy Ridley (Rey in the "Star Wars: films) is likable as Joey, a former soldier whose attitude has landed her a job as a window cleaner on one of the tallest skyscrapers of London. As the film opens, she has to pick up her autistic older brother Michael (Matthew Tuck) whose rogue gig as a right fighting computer hack has landed him on the outside of another clinic. Forced to take him to her job, she gently pawns Michael off on one of the building's doormen and heads up to her perch far above. The huge energy corporation housed in the upper floors (and what appears to be about half the building) is about to host their shareholders gala on the top floor. Of course, just like that fateful Christmas party at the Nakatomi Tower, a band of global activists takes over the party with a plan to make the honchos reveal all their climate sins. Three hundred hostages with massive bombs strapped to them and a villain with a kill switch that sets the explosives off if his heart stops beating for five seconds sets up some pretty clever showdowns. The film gets a lot of casting choices absolutely right. Ruth Gemmell (Bridgerton) takes no prisoners as DS Hume, running the police presence with a nose for the truth. Lee Boardman (Rome) is hilarious as the coke sniffing, no-time-for-business brother at the top of the corporate food chain. Taz Skylar OWNS the screen as the young terrorist who decides that the idealistic leader they came in with (Clive Owen) may not be the one to finish the job. Campbell is one of the best action thriller directors of the past three decades. Not only did he helm Pierce Brosnan's OO7 debut in "Goldeneye", he followed that up with Daniel Craig's Bond debut, "Casino Royale". He also directed "The Mask of Zorro", arguably Antonio Banderas' best action pic. The man knows how to stage action and hand-to-hand combat. He keeps the thrills rolling inside and outside the glass tower. He makes it believable that Ridley can kick some serious ass, and thanks to some serious training and a great stunt team, I bought it too. While its tributes and takeoffs on the "Die Hard" theme are present, it's not always predictable and I loved Skylar's villain, a bad guy so unhinged that half his team is scared he's going to kill them too. While it may not be a major film in the genre, it's certainly just as good as some of the creaky last films that got wrung out of the Bruce Willis/John McLane series. Campbell, Skylar and Ridley elevate this out of the B-movie bin to something very illogical, but damned enjoyable if you're looking for some mindless thrills. Without the three of them, it would just be left cleaning bird poop off the 51st story windows. CLEANER shoots & squeegees its way to a B-. Red band trailer below.

I remember walking out of the theater after seeing SUPERMAN III in 1983 and wondering how in the hell this piece of garbage ever got made. After the superb first two entrees in the series, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind could no longer resist their schlock film background, spewing forth this stupid, unfunny third film. We should have known we were in trouble when Margo Kidder refused to play Lois Lane as a major role, showing up for 12 lines of dialogue. She must have read the script. She is in the first couple minutes and then walks right out of the film. We should be so lucky. Richard Pryor was hot off of 'Stir Crazy" and "The Toy" and the Salkinds were excited to sign him. Sadly, the film strands him with maybe one or two funny lines and a WHOLE lot of painfully awkward scenes ill suited to Pryor's delivery. It's the least funny he's ever been on celluloid. Pryor said in his autobiography that he thought the script was horrible, but that there was no way he was passing on the $5 million payday. He had also hoped the film would be more serious than the final cut proved to be, expressing a desire to move into more dramatic roles. He plays con man/computer expert (huh?) Gus Gorman, who comes to the attention of wannabe megalomaniac Ross Webster, who builds him a computer that can do anything. If that sentence sounds stupid, it's even dumber on screen. Pryor sits down at a Radio Shack level computer and after five minutes is writing world changing code. And man, what a computer this is. It can even affect the weather! Robert Vaughn starts off strong as Webster, playing a solid riff on his famous roles in "Bullitt" and "The Towering Inferno". He's a dude in charge that you don't want to cross. Eventually the script lets him down as it spirals down the drain in a lost search of entertainment. It's hard to believe this was written by David and Leslie Newman. These two wrote "Bonnie and Clyde", "What's Up Doc?" and the first Superman film. What happened? Sequels like this are so dumb and worse, disrespectful to the fans who deserve more than this cheap, silly trash. Only one man manages to escape fairly unscathed and that's Christopher Reeve as our man of steel. The film is better anytime he's on screen. Even when the dumbass story has him splitting into two Supermen, one good, one evil, he manages to pull off the evil role as if he's in a much better film. Director Richard Lester (Help!, The Three Musketeers) has an old fashioned, slapstick sense of humor that he kept in check when he took over for Richard Donner on Superman II. Some think that its a better film than the first. Not me, I'll always side with Donner's more powerful, grand & sweeping take. In this third film, Lester goes off the rails on goofy sight gags and eye rolling jokes that take forever to deliver a punch line. Lester demonstrates the rare ability to make Pryor unfunny. Annette O'Toole (Cat People) is fine as Lana Lang, who Clark falls for writing a story about the Smallville Class Reunion. Gavin O'Herlihy (Willow, Never Say Never Again) is saddled with the most bumbling idiot since Biff in "Back to the Future". He's Brad, former homecoming King, now janitor. Pamela Stephenson is gorgeous and pretty funny as Webster's female sidekick Lorelei, but she pales next to the memories of Valerie Perrine as Miss Schumacher. In all fairness, EVERYTHING in this mess pales compared to the first two films. Superman fans almost universally agree that this was a flop, but the producers have argued that while its $60-million USA box office fell short of the previous two movies' $100-million+ gross, it still made an impressive profit. They note this was exceptional, especially against two huge hits at the box office the same summer, "Return of the Jedi" and OO7's "Octopussy", released the week before. Christopher Reeve hated the final film and vowed to never return as the character again. Sadly, four years later, he donned the cape again after he was promised more involvement in the script. That fourth entry makes this one look good, which is damn near impossible. At Christmas time 1977, when the first teasers for Richard Donner's original film hit theaters, I remember rolling my eyes and thinking how dumb that was likely to be. Who knew that it would actually be the third film in the series that sunk to my original, low expectations of what a comic book film would look like. Lazy, unfunny and dull, SUPERMAN III is most despicable for stranding its sincere lead actor Reeve in a film so relentlessly undeserving of his heroic efforts to save it. Bring on the Kryptonite, this turd gets a D.

Looking for a fun Saturday family movie? As the parent watching along with the kids, you may notice a LOT of OO7 connections to the 1968 family classic, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG . The most obvious link is the fact that its based on a book by Ian Fleming, the creator of my favorite spy. The film's produced by legendary Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli and he lavished the same care and budget on this adaption as he did Fleming's OO7. The screenplay is by Roald Dahl who had penned the adaption of Fleming's "You Only Live Twice" the previous year for Broccoli. It's co-written by Ken Hughes, one of the directors of the Bond spoof "Casino Royale" starring David Niven & Woody Allen as the world's least secret agent. By the time you realize that the main villain is played by Gert Frobe, who played Goldfinger and that Desmond Llewelyn (Q) is in the cast, Bond fans are all in. But this isn't a spy film, it's Broccoli's attempt to out-Disney Walt himself. He went right to the most famous Disney musical composers, Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman of "Mary Poppins" and "Jungle Book" fame and hired them to write a full slate of songs. He nabbed everyone's favorite chimney sweep, Dick Van Dyke, to play the lead as Caractacus Potts, a wacky, not-so-successful inventor with two children Jemima and Jeremy. Once Potts crosses paths with a beat up old car with a mind of its own ("The Love Bug" anyone?) and meets the beautiful young Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) the film is off an running. For kids, there is plenty of adventure, from car races to madcap escapes, to an evil King living in a giant castle. And there's the title car, a flying, swimming, fast machine that seems to know their every need. There's also the scariest henchman in any kids film of the era, The Childcatcher. Played by Robert Helpmann, a professional dancer who brings freaky movement and terrifying delivery to the role, this dude was in my nightmares as a child WAY more than any Disney villain. For the adults, Broccoli shoots everything in Super Panavision, on a grand scale. The sets are huge and the songs are well choreographed by film legend Dee Dee Wood (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins). Van Dyke has often said that he's not a great, trained dancer, but he delivers a lot of his best work here, dancing his shoes off in "Me Ol' Bam-Boo" and some memorable moments with "Hushabye Mountain". Broccoli had approached Julie Andrews for the role of Truly. When she declined, he hired Howes, who had replaced Andrews on Broadway in "My Fair Lady" when Julie had moved to London in the show. Howes is perfectly cast. Van Dyke also brought in famed English comedian Benny Hill to punch up some of the scenes and Hill appears as the Toy Maker in the big finale. He's terrific, but I kept waiting for him to chase Truly around in circles in sped up film while calliope music started playing. I LOVE "The Benny Hill Show" to this day. What a throwback. For kids, the film's a little long, I remember being in the theater as a very young child and groaning when Truly busted out another ballad, I was ready for that car to fly again. But 57 years later, its very easy to appreciate the size & scale of the filmmaking and Broccoli's absolute commitment to making a film that would last for generations, Disney-style. On that front, you'd have to admit he's succeeded. A stage version ran in London and on Broadway in the early 2000's, bringing another generation along to Fleming's adventure. It's hard to imagine a kid's musical of this size and scale being filmed today. The budget was $10 million in 1968, a massive budget today. There wasn't another children's movie this long in theaters until the Harry Potter films hit the cinema. From a different time with a more patient audience, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG flies its way to a family-friendly B. Do your kids or grandkids a favor and settle in for the afternoon with Van Dyke & Howes. I'm betting this one is more fun than you remember. See the original 1968 trailer below.

Meticulously crafted, powerfully written and featuring one of the best acting debuts ever (no that's not hyperbole), ADOLESCENCE is a gut wrenching four-part miniseries that demands to be seen. Each of the hour long episodes are crafted as stand alone chapters and each was filmed with one camera that follows the action real-time, without any edits. It's an astonishing feat that wows you with its sheer logistical brilliance, but never takes you out of the events unfolding. Chapter One opens with Detective Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and his partner DI Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) and a police force bursting through the front door of a suburban home, wielding automatic weapons and full riot gear. Their target is 13 year old Jamie Miller (newcomer Owen Cooper) who cowers in his upstairs bedroom. His Dad, Eddie (Stephen Graham), Mom, Manda (Christine Tremarco) and sister Lisa (Ameile Pease) are all horrified, cowering from the shouting horde as they burst into their early morning. Jamie is taken from the home and loaded into a police van. This opening scene is brilliant taste of what's to come. The camera glides through the action, upstairs and downstairs in the home as terror turns to shock and the family tries to understand what's happening. The tension is relentless as we watch Jamie arrive at the station. We live these moments with him, being processed into the station, trying to answer questions between sobs, a very young stranger in a world of adults. The casting of every single person Jamie encounters is flawless. A lawyer is appointed, the family is given snippets of what's happening and the episode ends with a soft but harrowing interview by Bascombe and Misha. This first chapter is a roller coaster of emotion and fantastic story telling. Graham and Jack Thorne co-created and wrote the entire series and they've captured lightning in a bottle. While one-camera shots are frequently creative and sometimes jaw dropping, as in the opening scene of OO7's "Spectre" or Sam Mendes's feature length one-shot wonder 1817, those films have always used a momentary cheat, a dark wall, a character passing by the camera as a way to seam together 10-15 minute sequences. Here, Director Philip Barantini (Band of Brothers) choreographed each full episode as one camera shot from beginning to end, a creative high wire act that pays off time after time. Without a riveting story at it's core, ADOLESCENCE would be all flash and no substance. It's the opposite. An emotional powerhouse, we watch the dynamics of family, of trust, of death and the impact of social media on different generations. Mental health and the formative years of youth in the middle of social pressure seem escalated to the skies, but the creative team keeps it grounded by delivering tight observations across the widening ripples of one tragic crime. Each episode takes place at a different time. As the viewer, we pop into the lives of these characters and those pulled into the investigation a few days after Jamie's arrest, then many weeks later, then months later. Each chapter stands on its own and delivers, each from a different view. Episode Three is astonishing, as we sit in on a one-on-one session between Jamie and the psychologist examiner that his legal team has appointed, Brioni Ariston (Erin Doherty). It's a towering cat and mouse game between the two that rivets your eyes to the screen. Think about adolescence and the emotions of those early years. The "feels" of that time run the gamut. Confidence, terror, pride, weakness, flirting, having your heart broken, laughter, anger. Watch Owen Cooper as Jamie in this episode. I don't remember, in my lifetime, a more natural and assured portrayal by a first time actor. He is astonishing and there isn't a false breath. Now consider that the entire scene was done in one take, from beginning to end like a stage play. Doherty is excellent as well, a seasoned actress with roles in "The Crown" and the National Stage. The duo serve up a feast of acting and a turning point in the series. The final chapter focuses on Eddie, Manda and Lisa and their lives months later as the trial nears. There isn't a false, unrealistic move in the hour and the brilliance of the structure still echoes. A typical, conventional (lesser) take on these events would never delve into the ripples across this family. The final moments are a fist to the chest of emotion. This is career-best work from Graham. What an astonishing series. The next morning, I'm thinking about all the things that the series was able to say. Not by pounding messaging over your head. Through superb writing, incredible directing and a masterclass cast led by young Owen Cooper. What's the right word for a first-time actor of this relevance? A discovery, a prodigy? Move ADOLESCENCE to the top of your binge list. All involved get an A+.

The year after showing off his dramatic chops in "Deliverance", Burt Reynolds fell back into routine action mode with 1973's forgettable SHAMUS . Burt was cranking out 2 or 3 films a year during this early stage of his eventual rise to number one box office draw of the 70's. This one's got a higher budget than many, but suffers from a script so stupid and unnecessarily confusing that no amount of Burt can save it. Reynolds is likeable enough as NYC private eye Shamus McCoy. He loves the ladies, is up for any one-night romp and is quick with a one liner or a cocktail. Based on his office/pad he's either not doing very well or is blowing a lot of money on the seventies "booze & broads". Eccentric millionaire EJ Hume (Ron Weyand) hires Shamus when a thief steals a package of diamonds from his safe. It's a $10,000 payday for McCoy, but he realizes he may be in over his head when he tracks down the thief and he's been murdered. Writer Berry Beckerman (St. Ives) tries to create a strange blend of Humphrey Bogart gumshoe film noir, violent seventies action and light comedy. He's wrongly convinced that the more eccentric you make a supporting character, the more entertaining they are. Nope. There are standouts. Dyan Cannon (Heaven Can Wait, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) is at her best as the sister of a main suspect. She bounces through the film in garish seventies luxury garb, bringing an infectious laugh and style with her that the film screams for whenever she steps out. She and Burt have real chemistry. I'd rather see a movie about them having lunch and walking around NYC then sit through most of this dreck. There's a very goofy scene in the conclusion that takes place in an armory that falls flat as action or comedy, but that's followed by the film's best sequence on the enormous grounds of EJ Hume's palatial estate. Reynolds is finally in his element as he takes on a squad of bad guys. There is a famous shot in that sequence where Reynolds jumps off a wall to grab a tree branch, it breaks and he falls incredibly hard to the ground. The branch broke accidentally during filming but the results are so dramatic, they kept it in the film. It's one of the few stunts that Reynolds didn't attempt, and his stunt double Charlie Picerni suffered a concussion when he hit the ground. It's a wow. (you can see the fall in the original 1973 trailer below) The one real standout here is Jerry Goldsmith/s jazzy, cool music score. Like his music for "Coma" there is little to no music in the first half, but the back half of the film sees Goldsmith (Planet of the Apes, Capricorn One, Poltergeist, Gremlins) in his usual fine form. It's a great collectable soundtrack to this day. If someone's looking for a great Burt Reynolds cop/private eye film, I'd go all in on "Sharky's Machine". This one aimlessly winds its way to a muddled, dull place in his lesser films, no matter how hard he and Cannon try. SHAMUS tracks down a D.

When the world lost Val Kilmer last week, I wanted to go back and revisit one of his best performances in THE DOORS . Kilmer is mind blowing as Jim Morrison, the hot orange center of Oliver Stone's trippy, challenging film. I'm a huge Stone fan. At his best, in films like "Born on the Fourth of July" and my favorite Stone film, "JFK", he brings a one of a kind, visual, dense storytelling to the big screen. The film begins with Jim's earliest days as a child, crowded in the back seat of his parents car, an observer to a car accident that has left several bodies on the pavement. Is this an accurate memory? It is a New Mexico mirage, blurred by a drug induced haze? Stone shoots the entire film is an ever changing array of visual styles, swooping in post credits on Kilmer as Morrison, a free wheeling hippie poet/filmmaker. His film project attracts three other students in sync with his vision for changing the world. The four of them will soon form a new band called The Doors. Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan) is the brainy, solid businessman of the group. John Densmore is played by Kevin Dillon (Platoon), who trained with the real Densmore on the drums for many months to achieve those live performances. Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction) plays bassist Robbie Krieger, whose attempts to remain semi-sober grow increasingly questionable sharing a stage with Jim. Stone and his production designer Barbara Ling (who would create Los Angeles of the 1960's again for Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") immerse the viewer in the Sunset Strip, Whiskey A G-Go and San Francisco during the turbulent late 60's. The night club performances are jaw dropping and Kilmer performed the concert scenes live, channeling Morrison through every leather clad, love bead adorned pore. The final sound is a clever mix of Kilmer and Morrison and it's seamless. The real band members said that Kilmer did such an amazing job, they can't tell which track is Jim's and which is Val's. The first half of the film is an exciting history of the band's formation and their early success. Seeing Kilmer sing "The End" and "Light My Fire" is a thrill and Stone delivers each scene like a historian who treasures the era. The entire sequence detailing The Doors first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is fantastic. It's Morrison's first LOUD statement as a social rebel and it's hilarious. The set design and period detail is flawless. Stone pulls you into a psychedelic journey. Meg Ryan is winning as Jim's eventual wife Pamela. She's the girl next door...on acid. Michael Wincott (Nope) is a powerhouse as Paul Rothchild and Crispin Glover is perfectly weird as Andy Warhol. When the film reaches about the halfway point of its 140 minute running time, it begins to slip into a funk. As Morrison's life spirals, the film does too. It's not Stone's fault, he's accurately capturing a tortured man. But how long can you watch a talented soul alienate everyone around him, do drugs to the point of oblivion, fall in with a satanic woman (Kathleen Quinlan in a career best, sexually voracious, no-holds-barred performance) and Jim pissing off (and on) his band mates? Morrison's behavior becomes so obnoxious you start to feel sorry for the band and their promoters...and fans...and club owners..... MacLachlan and Whaley are great in the scenes where they know they are losing their friend. Once again, music saves the film, as "Back Door Man" and "Riders on the Storm" emerge off their final album. As Morrison prepares to head for Paris, he listens to the final album with the group and says, "sounds pretty good for four guys that weren't speaking to each other.." Only 27 when he died, Morrison is another tragic figure that burned out far too young. Even as the back half of the film turns from sheer entertainment to an endurance test for the audience, Kilmer holds court, oozing every desperate, cocky, self assured and terrified bit of Morrison's tortured being. This is spectacular movie making on every level. Kilmer and Stone dare you to look away as Morrison dances aimlessly over the edge, time after time. THE DOORS swirls around you in a druggy haze, sliding its way in and out of coherency to an appreciative A-. "I believe in a long prolonged derangement of the senses to attain the unknown... Although I live in the subconscious, our pale reason hides the infinite from us." - Jim Morrison

Revisiting Alan Parker's 1982 film PINK FLOYD: THE WALL , the animated sequences by Gerald Scarfe pop as the most triumphant moments, a perfect match for one of Pink Floyd's most iconic albums. Scarfe captures the darkness and violence of the tale, building off the rest of the film, which stands solidly today as a depressing but creative effort by Roger Waters and director Parker (Evita, Angel Heart, Midnight Express). Looking at the film 40+ years after its release, it lives on as a cultural artifact of its era, a feature-length music video that would have been just at home on MTV at the time of its release, sans the blood and nudity on display, of course. The story can be interpreted as desired, but most commonly, it's described as the inner brain musings of depressed rock star Pink (Bob Geldof) as he slips into madness. The film flows freely between his secluded state, locked in a hotel room alone, old memories of his WWII Father, over comforting Mother and the groupie who last wondered into his room. As his mental state dives, we're pulled into Scarfe's brilliant animations that flow into Pink risen to a Nazi-like cult leader, exhorting his followers as flames lick around him and restless, passionate & hungry crowds grow more angry. Those looking for a tight, easy to comprehend narrative will be left befuddled. Pink's trip from lonely little war torn boy to Hitler like fascist is all over the map, but Parker delivers compelling visuals at every turn. But let's be honest, we're all here for the music and on the front, the film wows. Some of Pink Floyd's greatest tunes blast forward including "Mother", "Another Brick in the Wall", "In the Flesh", "The Thin Ice" and "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" are superb. 'Run Like Hell" has always been a favorite. The finale, "The Trial" is a compelling mix of animation, live action and generational rock. Some of Pink's journey is hard to watch. His use of a straight razor to remove his chest and his casual trim of a few unintentioned bits has always grossed me out. I never knew nipples were quite THAT expendable. Geldof has shared stories of hating doing that scene, and also how much he hated being in that blood filled pool as a non-swimmer. I was fortunate enough to see Roger Waters live in his "Roger Waters: The Wall" tour, an experience that far exceeded the film for me. The classic tunes in a pounding concert setting, a full-size wall that spanned the entire stage and a 30' tall headmaster yelling about how you "can't have your pudding if you don't eat your meat" is hard to follow. But the film adaption still holds up. It's very dark, relentlessly depressing but for me, it's the best film adaption of a rock opera from that era. Ken Russell's "Tommy" is just plain stupid (and I'm a big fan of Russell's relentless excess) supporting Parker's genius in staying closer to the source material. It struck me watching it this time around that there are NO concert scenes in the film and only small snippets of characters actually singing the classic Floyd songs portrayed. More proof that it's indeed a music video and not a musical. Even though there are mentions in the film's end credits about a movie soundtrack being available, that never happened. Audiences either just went back to the double album they already owned, or bought it after seeing the film. It was the best selling double album of all time at 30 million+ copies and counting. After the film's release, Waters, Parker and Scarfe all described making the film as one of the most miserable experiences of their lives. Whatever hell they went through making it created some melodic, dark alchemy on screen as P INK FLOYD: THE WALL sings its way to a solid B. During the 15 minutes of Scarfe's animated sequences, it soars to an A+.

Falling under the "so unbelievable, it's gotta be true" category, LAST BREATH details one of the most extraordinary undersea rescues in history. Based on the 2019 documentary with the same title and delivered by that film's director, Alex Parkinson, it's a heart pounding ride into the depths. We meet a crew of deep sea divers in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland, taking on one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. They work on the ocean's floor, taking four days to adapt to the ever increasing pressure before they can don a suit and work on the massive pipelines and cables on the bottom. Four days to get to the ocean floor, four days to get back to the surface, there is no way of changing the clock. Chris Lemons (Finn Cole from "Peaky Blinders) is one of the youngest crew members. We watch as he and his wife talk about decorating their brand new home. She's clearly worried every time he leaves for another 28 day stint below the surface. He assures her there's nothing to be concerned about. Chris arrives at his ship, knowing that he's diving again with his long time mentor Duncan (Woody Harrelson), a seasoned vet who announces after the doors are sealed that this is his last voyage. He's being forced to retire by the company. The new member of their trio is Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) a no-nonsense and apparently no-humor diver whose sole focus is the job. He's an odd fit with the jovial Chris and Duncan. The film does a great job establishing the basics of the dive and the job at hand, without drifting into boring exposition or getting buried in the technical aspects of the intricate details. As the trio get ready to submerge, their huge mother ship finds itself in a storm that grows larger, huge waves smashing into the hull and over the deck. Modern stabilizers keep the diving platform stable. Chris and Dave depart the submersible and begin their work on the structures built on the seabed. Tragedy strikes when the stabilizing and navigation systems on the ship above fail, pulling the divers across the floor. Chris and Dave face terror as they are forced to make a survival plan in seconds. As Captain Andre Jensen (Cliff Curtis) takes manual control of the main ship, he and his team scramble to find a solution. Far beneath the surface, Chris's lines are severed and he's left with minutes of oxygen. What follows is a suspenseful, well paced tale of survival, heroism and commitment. The fact that this is a true story becomes more and more startling as the film unwinds. Harrelson, Liu and Lemons are all first rate actors and the emotion of the situation hits you square in the chest. Top side, Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water, Doctor Sleep) owns the screen as he faces impossible odds to find a solution,while trying to manually control his vessel in the huge storm. What happens is astonishing. It defies logic and any probability, just like life. There are moments that reminded me of "The Abyss", one of my favorite James Cameron films. Paul Leonard-Morgan's music is a great co-star, it sounds like the ocean depths feel. Dark, foreboding and all around you. Great score. At the film's conclusion, you see actual video of the real men portrayed, making the ending even more stirring. Harrelson is always so good, I feel like we take him for granted as one of our best American actors. His ability to play such a wide swath of characters is a gift that is too easy to overlook. As Duncan, he carries the weight of the ocean & responsibility brilliantly. LAST BREATH is guaranteed to take your breath away. Good luck searching for it for the final hour. Parkinson's work on the original documentary has bled into every frame of this Hollywood retelling, crafting one of the most inspirational survival tales I've ever seen. It gets an A.

I'm a huge fan of the Russo Brothers, a lifelong fan of Sci-Fi and I enjoy Chris Pratt and big budget action flicks. So why did I have such a difficult time plugging into THE ELECTRIC STATE ? The first hour was like getting through a geometry test. Boring and pointless, the story squanders every bit of goodwill. $320 million worth of CGI spews over you like some half-assed mash up of "A.I." and "Ready Player One". The only math I walked away knowing is that Anthony Russo+Joe Russo<Steven Spielberg . The world is an alternate 1997 that's in the same dirty, broken down state as it was in "Ready", with the masses distracting themselves via immersive bulky VR headsets that take them to another world. These headpieces are bulky, ugly, all straight edges and dirty metal. Hell, the VR sets in Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm" all the way back in 1983 were 100 times cooler than these clunky beasts. Robots are everywhere, from tiny household bots to huge roving metal creatures. Regardless of size, they've all been banished to a walled off area in the southwest after a huge corporation was able to stave off their attempted metal rebellion. We meet Michelle (Millie Bobbie Brown from "Stranger Things") a rebellious orphan who has moved from foster home to foster home. She's on a quest with her robot sidekick Cosmo (Alan Tudyk) to find her brother Christopher (Woody Norman) who's so smart that our big baddie Ethan Skate wants to use him to power his government-approved global network that runs the world. Skate is played by Stanley Tucci in a performance that is the Hamburger Helper alternative to his wagyu role as Cardinal Belini in "Conclave" last year. To say his talents are wasted is like saying a couple of dollars were overspent on this movie's budget. Chris Pratt plays a street version of Star Lord named Keats, who is so vanilla as a smuggler that Pratt almost disappears in the role. Even his character transformation late in the film feels awkward. Pratt is a hugely enjoyable actor, he's just not given an actual character to play. There is a parade of stars voicing the wild array of robots in the film. Woody Harrelson (Last Breath, True Detective) is Mr. Peanut. yes, that Mr. Peanut, a joke ripe with opportunities that are as lost as his hat for most of the running time. Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Goonies) is PC, a square medical robot with a very early green dot matrix face. Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly) is a garbage robot, perhaps channeling the screenplay. Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) is a military man and a robot called The Marshall. Talented actors all, but nearly invisible in the unfocused, dull happenings that swirl all around them in a wall of noise and dust. There were two scenes that stood out and sparked my interest for less than a minute. Both were in the action climax that is visually spectacular, but could be interchanged for any Marvel battle against an invading bad guy or species the last twenty years and be judged identical. The big emotional impact that the Russos are going for in the final scenes lands with a thud. This is, for me, their worst film. Let's hope they got this dreck out of their system before they head off to film the next two Avengers installments in 2026 and 2027. During Michelle and Christopher's big "trying to be heart wrenching" final scene, I sat watching it, devoid of any emotional connection. My mind wandered back to the final scenes in Spielberg's "A.I.", with David, the young robotic boy meeting The Blue Fairy. John Williams music, Spielberg's deft hand, great effects, gut punches of emotional payoff...now THAT is a great movie about robots & family. This big, lumbering, gargantuan overstuffed mess just sits there, throwing everything at the wall as Alan Silvestri's score tries to manipulate you into feeling something, anything. Unless you count boredom and astonishment at how so much talent and so much money turns into this turd, I felt nothing. There isn't one tangible, physical robot in this movie, everything is CGI. I haven't seen an action epic this soulless since "Howard the Duck". Devoid of entertainment, THE ELECTRIC STATE sputters its way to an F.

NOVOCAINE left me comfortably numb after 100 minutes of John Wick style action, big laughs and a star making turn by Jack Quaid. It's likely Quaid's curse and blessing that he'll rarely be mentioned at this point in his screen career without a tie to his nepo roots, parents Meg Ryan & Dennis Quaid. He's inherited their charm and comedic timing, fully on display as Asst. Bank VP Nate. Quiet and a definitive loner, he keeps his biggest secret to himself, at least until he goes on a date with teller Sherry, perfectly embodied by the fun and seductive Amber Midthunder from "Prey". You see, he has a very rare condition that he's happy to describe in deeply medical terms that basically mean the dude feels zero pain. The film has fun showing all the ways he has to protect himself from this fact. He's not Mr. Glass, but he can burn, slice and break himself without his knowledge. The morning after is Christmas Eve and Nate and Sherry barely have time to make yuletide eye contact at the bank before a band of bank robbers dressed as Santa Claus come in through the front door, guns ablazing. In the violence that follows, Nate is knocked out and Sherry is kidnapped by the robbers. They exit the branch in a hail of bullets that take out all the police. As he awakes from his concussion (boy can this kid take a punch) he sees his new love being thrown into one of two getaway cars, speeding out of sight. Nate grabs one of the unmanned police cars and takes off after his girl. Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen navigate a smooth balance between the Wick-style violence, well choreographed mayhem and big laughs. I'm not going to reveal anything that happens in the film after Nate roars away from the bank, save the fact that the screenplay by Lars Jacobsen has one big & clever right turn that I never saw coming. Ray Nicholson from "Smile 2" (hey he's Jack's son, what's going on here) is well cast as lead robber SImon. You better do what Simon Says. Jacob Batalon (Ned, Spider-Man's sidekick in the recent film series) is hilarious as Nate's gaming buddy Roscoe, who he's never met in person. Batalon & Quaid share a relaxed and funny chemistry that plays well throughout the caper. Matt Walsh brings his "Veep" comic timing to the role of a Detective who was counting on a much quieter holiday. His partner, the by-the-book Mincy is well played by Betty Gabriel (Get Out, Defending Jacob). Mincy senses from the start that Nate isn't who he seems to be. He's stolen a police car from the robbery and sped off with the bad guys, but why did he stop to put a tourniquet on a wounded officer? Meanwhile, Nate is blazing a destructive trail across San Diego in pursuit of his newly found, true love. The amount of graphic violence and body damage he sustains and inflicts drives BIG laughs. I was hoping for that, and it delivered. What I didn't expect were the moments of heart that the film offers up. An early scene finds Nate trying everything he can to avoid foreclosing on the home of loyal customer Earl (Lou Beatty Jr.), whose just lost his wife. Nate goes above and beyond to stall and we feel Earl's gratitude. There are sincere, sweet moments between Nate and Sherry on that date that feel more genuine than most relationships you'd ever see in an action film. There's a clever moment during the date when they meet an old high school tormentor of Nate's at the bar. Think about that scene after the film ends and I bet you see it in a brand new light. When the film switches to action/comedy mode, it never lets up. REM's "Everybody Hurts" has never been so prophetic and the action music score by Lorne Balfe (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) rocks the movie house in full orchestral style. Jack Quaid's got star power. He reminded me of his Dad in "Innerspace" in moments of this film. He's an every man caught up in a crazy quest and he'll stop at nothing to get his girl. You've got to have a certain presence to get away with that. Quaid's bleeds it. All over every set. NOVOCAINE is a fast, fun and intensely violent action flick with heart. Betraying its title, it actually makes you feel every adrenaline rush. I'll smash, stab, shoot and punch it with a very solid B. R-rated Red Band trailer below.

Not nearly as funny or scary as it thinks it is, HELL OF A SUMMER is a disappointing writing/directing debut by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk. Trying to slash a bloody fine line between a comedy & an homage to the early Friday the 13th films (you know, the ones before Jason ended up in space or battling Freddy Krueger), it manages to deliver middling results on both sides of the knife. Wolfhard (It, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) is a charming, winning actor and he's fun as Chris, a naive camp counselor at Camp Pineway. He's come back with his best friend Bobby (Bryk) to kickoff the summer. The oldest Camp Counselor is Jason, whose mother drops him off, assailing him that $150 a week does not constitute a real job. Fred Hechinger (Kraven the Hunter) is the best part of the movie as a man child still living in the past and pining for a girl. Any girl really. He's funny as the old man in the room ( "I'm only 24!!" ) and plays terrified with hilarious results. D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) is well cast as Mike, whose relationship with the pampered, wanna be influencer Demi (Pardis Saremi) seems inevitable. Matthew Finlan steals every scene he's in as Ezra, the theater kid in the counselor room that seems to have strolled in from a better, funnier movie. His comic timing demands more screen time. There are moments that Wolfhard & Bryk nail. Bryk is perfectly cast as the self doubting hero/80's style jock and he's likable as hell. The camp atmosphere seems like a perfect fit, but they never really establish the layout of the camp, rendering their later escapes nonsensical as you never have any sense of where they are at. The tone shifts are wild and some of the editing around the killings is bizarre. At one point, it seems like they had to release some of the cast at the end of the day, so they just killed a bunch of them in fast succession. Most of the 80's fun in the slasher genre was the slow tracking shots of the jocks, nerds or cheerleaders doing going about their business as Jason or the killer d'jour lurked in the shadows. Music builds, something jumps out and we all laugh and scream. They never get the rhythm right here, especially in the killer reveal and a lackluster conclusion. Save one gruesome axe to the head, it's never really very scary. Left with a few decent laughs and a pile of of dead opportunities, HELL OF A SUMMER can't slash more than a paper cut on its way to a C-. Apparently, Camp Pineway is where originality comes to die. R-rated trailer below.